Northern Pulp ponders a move to Queens County, say sources

The company that owns the Northern Pulp mill is casting its gaze on Nova Scotia's South Shore as it contemplates its future in the province, multiple sources tell CBC News.

An announcement is expected as soon as Thursday that Paper Excellence will explore the possibility of setting up a mill in Queens County, where famed industrialist Izaak Walton Killam founded the Mersey Paper Company in 1929.

It operated until 2012 when Resolute Forest Products shut down the operation in Brooklyn in the face of financial struggles.

Mayor Darlene Norman of the Region of Queens Municipality declined comment when contacted by phone Wednesday.

"You're digging deep into things I really can't talk about," she said.

She said council has not had any discussions about the potential of a mill coming to the area, but she declined to say if municipal staff have been in contact with officials connected to Northern Pulp.

A spokesperson for Paper Excellence did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Northern Pulp mill ceased operations in Abercrombie Point, Pictou County, in January 2020 after failing to secure approval from the provincial government to build a new effluent treatment facility.

The mill previously used Boat Harbour, a former tidal estuary by the Pictou Landing First Nation, to treat its waste.

But after a pipe break that spewed millions of litres of pulp mill effluent spurred a blockade by community members, the Liberal government of the day promised to close Boat Harbour as a treatment lagoon. Legislation was passed with all-party support in 2015 ordering an end to the mill's arrangement to use Boat Harbour by 2020.

Despite intense lobbying by the company and forestry industry to change the legislated deadline, then premier Stephen McNeil refused to budge and the mill was forced to close, removing the largest purchaser of low-grade wood products from the industry's supply chain.

Since then, the company entered creditor protection and filed a lawsuit against the province for $450 million on account of the government prematurely ending its lease to use Boat Harbour. That lawsuit and other legal wranglings have been on hold while the company and province engage in court-ordered, non-binding mediation in an effort to reach a settlement.

Company has mused about a move

Court documents have suggested mediation could be nearing a conclusion. Meanwhile, the company has continued to say it wants to reopen the site, but a proposal to discharge treated effluent into Pictou Harbour was met with resounding opposition by locals. The mill received an extension on its deadline to file an application with the province for environmental assessment approval of a new project.

Earlier this month, while campaigning for a byelection in Pictou County, Premier Tim Houston said he did not know how it would be possible for the mill in Abercombie Point to reopen after being out of commission for so long.

"It's not on my radar," Houston said while campaigning with eventual byelection winner Marco MacLeod.

"It's not something that, as a province, we would be in favour of."

Paper Excellence has mused in court filings as part of the creditor protection proceedings that it could consider relocating to another community.

Following a cabinet meeting last week, Public Works Minister Kim Masland, who is the MLA for Queens, said she would welcome any industry into the province "if they're meeting all the requirements" from the government to operate.

"Absolutely, there is a strong need for a pulp mill in the western end of this province," she told reporters.

Masland said she did not know if the company is kicking tires in her constituency, nor had she received a proposal from the company. She said people in her area still talk about the loss of the Bowater paper mill.

"It was significant for the community. We certainly rebounded very quickly, but we were a one-industry town at that point so it created a lot of hardship."

Some people affected by the mill shutdown were forced to move West for work while others found jobs at the Michelin plant just up Highway 103 in Bridgewater, said Masland.

If a mill were "done properly," Masland said she thinks it would be accepted by the community.