Description

This is to advise that on October 2, 2019, Northern Pulp Nova Scotia Corporation (Northern Pulp) submitted the Focus Report for the Replacement Effluent Treatment Facility Project for environmental assessment, in accordance with Part IV of the Environment Act.

The Northern Pulp Nova Scotia Corporation Northern Bleached Softwood Kraft pulp mill is located at Abercrombie Point adjacent to Pictou Harbour in Pictou County, Nova Scotia. The proposed project will consist of the development of a new effluent (wastewater) treatment facility (ETF) constructed on Northern Pulp property, and a transmission pipeline that will carry treated effluent overland and in the marine environment and discharge via an engineered diffuser (marine outfall).

The new ETF will employ the AnoxKaldnes BAS™ Biological Activated Sludge process purchased from Veolia Water Technologies, which combines Moving Bed Biofilm Reactor (MBBR) technology with conventional activated sludge. Once treated onsite at Northern Pulp's facility, effluent will be sent through an approximately 15 km long pipeline. The pipeline will enter the south side of Pictou Harbour and make landfall on the north side of the harbour roughly following Highway 106 right-of-way to Caribou, and then re-enters the marine environment adjacent to the Northumberland Ferries marine terminal and continues for approximately 4.0 km through Caribou Harbour to the Northumberland Strait, terminating at an engineered marine outfall.

Please note: In Table 6.1 on Page 33 of Appendix 6.2 - Updated Air Dispersion Model there was a typo in the unit of measurement. The typo has been corrected to clarify that the units for the Dioxin and Furans ambient air quality criteria and predicted concentration results are in picograms of toxic equivalent (TEQ) per cubic meter (pg TEQ/m3).

Minister's Decision

In accordance with Sections 15-18 of the Environmental Assessment Regulations, the Minister of Environment will decide if the project can be granted conditional environmental assessment approval.

Project Documents

• Focus Report Terms of Reference (PDF:630k)
• Minister’s Decision (PDF:191k)
• Public Notice (PDF:16k)

Focus Report

• Focus-Report (PDF:18.1mb)
• Appendix 0 - Impacts and Mitigation (PDF:342k)
• Appendix 1.1 - Concordence Table (PDF:599k)
• Appendix 1.2 - Engagement Plan (PDF:244k)
• Appendix 2.1 - On-Land Pipeline Info (PDF:3.8mb)
• Appendix 2.2 - Marine Geotechnical Survey (PDF:102.2mb)
• Appendix 2.3 - Characterization of Effluent (PDF:173.7mb)
• Appendix 2.4 - Treated Effleunt Characterization (PDF:2.8mb)
• Appendix 2.5 - Changes to Pipeline (PDF:5.7mb)
• Appendix 3.1 - Treatment Technology Specifications (PDF:680k)
• Appendix 3.2 - Effluent Flow Data (PDF:845k)
• Appendix 3.3 - Effluent Discharge Parameters (PDF:2k)
• Appendix 3.4 - Spill Basin (PDF:491k)
• Appendix 3.5 - Effluent Pipeline Leak Detection (PDF:6k)
• Appendix 3.6 - Dangerous Goods (PDF:399k)
• Appendix 4.1 - Baseline Marine Studies (PDF:22.5mb)
• Appendix 4.2 - Receiving Water Study (PDF:73.4mb)
• Appendix 4.3 - Sediment Transport Modeling (PDF:3.6mb)
• Appendix 5.1 - Wetland Baseline Survey (PDF:14.1mb)
• Appendix 5.2 - Monitoring Methodologies (PDF:6k)
• Appendix 6.1 - Revised Air Contaminants (PDF:6k)
• Appendix 6.2 - Updated Air Dispersion Model (PDF:17.3mb)
• Table 6.1 – Summary of Maximum Predicted GLCs from the Operation of the Project – Revised October 28th, 2019 (Updated) (PDF:116k)
• Appendix 6.3 - Updated Air Monitoring Plan (PDF:1mb)
• Appendix 7.1 - Fish Habitat Survey (PDF:7.7mb)
• Appendix 7.2 - Fish Habitat Baseline Survey (PDF:19.8mb)
• Appendix 7.3 - Impact Assessment Marine Fish (PDF:5.2mb)
• Appendix 7.4 - Environmental Effects Monitoring Program (PDF:158k)
• Appendix 7.5 - Contingency Measures (PDF:6k)
• Appendix 8.1 - Plant Baseline Survey (PDF:2.3mb)
• Appendix 8.2 - Migratory Bird Survey (PDF:745k)
• Appendix 8.3 - Bird Baseline Survey Survey (PDF:961k)
• Appendix 8.4 - Herptile Survey (PDF:527k)
• Appendix 9.1 - Baseline Study Marine Species (PDF:1.1mb)
• Appendix 9.2 - Human Health Risk Assessment (PDF:3.4mb)
• Appendix 10.1 - Archaeological Resource Impact Assessment (PDF:59k)
• Appendix 10.2 - Shovel Testing Areas (PDF:581k)
• Appendix 11.1 - Mi’kmaq Ecological Knowledge Study (PDF:219k)
• Addendum 1.0 - New Technology at Mill (PDF:557k)
• Addendum 2.0 - Effluent Discharge Parameters (PDF:278k)
• Addendum 3.0 - Receiving Water Study (PDF:8.1mb)
• Addendum 4.0 - Environmental Effects Monitoring Updates (PDF:6k)

Comments Received during Class I Environmental Assessment Process

• Document of all submissions - 4,423 pages  (PDF:138.4mb)
• Breakdown of the submissions received:
• Government submissions  (PDF:9.8mb)
• Pictou Landing First Nation submissions  (PDF:3.4mb)
• Group submissions from:  (PDF:5.3mb)
  • Clean Ocean Action Committee
  • Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society
  • Ecology Action Centre
  • Forest Nova Scotia
  • Harbour Authority of Caribou
  • Nova Scotia Salmon Association and Atlantic Salmon Federation
  • Save our Seas and Shores Coalition
  • Shore Nova Scotia Chapter, Council of Canadians
  • Sierra Club Canada Foundation
  • Tourism Industry Association of NS
  • UA Local 244
  • UNIFOR
• EcoJustice submission A – part 1  (PDF:10.5mb)
• EcoJustice submission A – part 2  (PDF:16.2mb)
• EcoJustice submission B – part 1  (PDF:17.2mb)
• EcoJustice submission B – part 2  (PDF:32.4mb)
• Gulf Nova Scotia Fleet Planning Board and Fishermen's Working Group submissions  (PDF:24.1mb)
• Individual public submissions – part 1 (Feb. 7 – Mar. 4, 2019)  (PDF:17.2mb)
• Individual public submissions – part 2 (Mar. 4 – Mar. 9, 2019)  (PDF:25.4mb)

Registration Document

• Registration Document – Section 1-7 (PDF:4.3mb)
• Registration Document – Section 8 (PDF:9.4mb)
• Registration Document – Section 9 - 15 (PDF:1.2mb)
• Appendix A - D (PDF:2.5mb)
• Appendix E1 - E2 (PDF:6.3mb)
• Appendix E3 (PDF:8.8mb)
• Appendix F – H (PDF:3.1mb)
• Appendix I1 – I2 (PDF:3mb)
• Appendix I3 (PDF:4.4mb)
• Appendix I4 (PDF:6.5mb)
• Appendix J1(part 1) (PDF:6.9mb)
• Appendix J1(part 2) (PDF:9.5mb)
• Appendix J2 – K1(part 1) (PDF:5.9mb)
• Appendix K1(part 2) – K2 (PDF:7.5mb)
• Appendix L (PDF:3.9mb)
• Appendix M – N (PDF:5.4mb)
• Appendix O - R (PDF:6.9mb)

Opportunities for Public Input

Public comments on this project were accepted until November 8, 2019.

For questions related to the EA process, please contact us

E-mail: EA@novascotia.ca
Toll-free phone number: 833-424-8694