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Northern Pulp pursues legal injunction against fishermen

December 7, 2018 – Northern Pulp has undertaken legal action against the Nova Scotia fishermen that barricaded the Northumberland Strait and prevented its survey boats from assessing the area as a proposed location of an effluent drainage pipe. 

The Canadian Press reports that the mill is asking the courts for an interim injunction that would prohibit blockades of the strait while it completes its research. 

The Abercrombie, Nova Scotia–based Northern Pulp, which is owned by Paper Excellence, has been ordered by the provincial government to stop diverting its effluent through the nearby Pictou Landing First Nations reserve, and, in an effort to find an alternative, the mill has been attempting to conduct surveys of the water in Northumberland Strait as a site for the terminus of its pipeline. 

The local fishermen preventing the mill from its survey work say the 70 million litres of treated effluent per day the pipeline would deposit are a threat to their livelihood and the environment.

Several independent senators and fisheries researchers have called on the federal government to conduct a thorough environmental assessment. The Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency could take up to two years to complete the review.