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Northern Pulp granted permanent injunction to stop fishermen barricade

January 29, 2019 – Northern Pulp has won a permanent injunction to stop fishermen in Nova Scotia from blocking its boats from completing survey work for its proposed effluent drainage pipeline in the Northumberland Strait. 

The Canadian Press reports that Nova Scotia Supreme Court Justic Josh Arnold approved the injunction, which Northern Pulp applied for earlier today. It prevents the fishermen from blocking boats in the strait, as well as in Pictou Harbour and Caribou Channel.

The Abercrombie, Nova Scotia–based Northern Pulp has been ordered by the Nova Scotia government to stop diverting its effluent through the nearby Pictou Landing First Nations reserve, which sees untreated effluent piped into the Boat Harbour facility before being emptied into the strait. Following a public consultation, the mill was given five years come up with a new plan, with the deadline coming up in January 2020. Stephen McNeil premier of Nova Scotia, has said his government will not amend the deadline, but that if a public consensus results in a desire to change the legislation, he would be open to it.

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Northern Pulp to submit effluent treatment plan by end of January

Northern Pulp’s proposed plan has the effluent treatment on-site at the mill, with a mostly land-based pipeline leading to a terminus at Caribou Point – which the mill says has deep waters to make it more ideal for dilution. The local fishermen and the Friends of Northumberland Strait say that the pipe is a threat to their livelihood and the environment. In October, fishermen blocked the mill’s survey work of the strait using boat barricades, before a temporary injunction was granted in December.

Northern Pulp intends to submit its plan for the replacement of its Boat Harbour effluent treatment facility by the end of January to Nova Scotia’s Department of Environment, which will kick-start the province’s own environmental assessment.