Anglais
Pressure mounts on Ottawa to review N.S mill’s contentious effluent pipeline
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A proposal to pump millions of litres of treated pulp mill waste into the Northumberland Strait is a clear case for Ottawa’s toughest environmental review process, say veteran fisheries scientists – who contend many questions remain on how a swirl of sea life will mix with warm effluent and a changing climate.
The Strait touches three provinces, and the wider Gulf of St. Lawrence fisheries region is home to lobster and crab fisheries that brought in over $1.2 billion worth of catch in 2016.
Bruce Hatcher, a Cape Breton University biologist, says Ottawa should appoint a panel to study the potential damage if Northern Pulp is allowed to pump 62 million litres of effluent daily from its Abercrombie, N.S., mill into the Strait.
“I believe this is a good example of a place that justifies a full environmental review,” said Hatcher, who has studied marine ecosystems for over three decades.
“I think this is precisely the situation where you take the precautionary approach and you say, ‘Well, I’m sorry, but we just don’t have enough evidence to say that this is going to be OK.”‘
READ MORE: N.S. premier hoping fishermen end blockade of Northern Pulp Mill survey boats
The plan has raised the ire of local fishermen, the P.E.I. government and even Hollywood actor Ellen Page, who is from Halifax. A group of independent senators have also called for a full panel review by the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency.
“I’ve reviewed the documents, and whereas Northern Pulp seems to be adhering to ‘best practices,’ I do believe this project should be the object of a federal environmental assessment,” lobster researcher Remy Rochette, the chair of biological science at the University of New Brunswick’s Saint John campus, wrote in an email.
However, as a clock ticks down toward a provincial deadline, it remains to be seen if Ottawa will order a full-scale look at whether highly treated effluent – and the mix of chemicals and finely ground up biological materials it still contains – should receive the country’s top level of environmental scrutiny.
Provincial legislation forces the closure of effluent flowing to a facility at the heavily polluted Boat Harbour lagoon by Jan. 31, 2020, a commitment made by Stephen McNeil’s government in 2015, after five decades of the waste water flowing into the estuary on the edge of the Pictou Landing First Nation.
The province plans a 50-day, level-1 environmental review, while a federal “full-panel” process could take up to two years after a referral by the federal environment minister, according to the environmental assessment agency.
Kathy Cloutier, the director of communications at Northern Pulp’s parent firm Paper Excellence, said her company will submit a project description in early January, and she’s confident the mill’s treatment proposals will meet the test of either a federal or provincial review.
But a federal review means her firm would require the province to extend the deadline for ending use of the Boat Harbour estuary, she said.
“That’s certainly one that’s going to require an extended period of time … to accommodate any environmental process, commissioning and construction of the new facility,” she said in an interview.
That would throw the ball back into the province’s court – where McNeil has repeatedly said he’s committed to Pictou Landing First Nation to meet the 2020 deadline.
Chief Andrea Paul of the Pictou Landing First Nation said in a telephone interview that her band would not agree to any further extensions, as the company has known for years that a federal review was possible.
WATCH: Blockade of Northern Pulp Mill continues
A spokeswoman for the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency said in an email it’s reviewing fisheries groups’ requests for an independent panel review – and is awaiting a final pipeline route and proposed project from the company.
Under the province’s class-1 review, the proponent does much of the work to determine potential impacts, and reviewers look at the result, along with a public commentary period.
The province has said it’s not applying its higher level-2 review, where outside experts would oversee the process, because a new pipeline and treatment facility is considered a “modification” of an existing facility.
Michael van den Heuvel, an expert on environmental toxicology and the director of the Canadian Rivers Institute at the University of Prince Edward Island, says he understands why the fishermen would be concerned, but doesn’t think damage to their catch is likely.
“In my opinion, in terms of environmental damage, I don’t see grounds for stopping it (the pipeline),” he said in an interview.
Van den Heuvel, who has worked with the pulp and paper industry to study effluent effects on marine life, said concerns about chlorinated dioxins and furans have been significantly reduced as methods that produced the compounds were phased out. “The switch to chlorine dioxide effectively got rid of most of those compounds,” he said.
However, research by two DFO scientists published last year found that when lobster eggs are released they rely on the currents of the Gulf of St. Lawrence and drift for three to 12 weeks after release.
READ MORE: ‘Stop it at all costs’: The blockade of Northern Pulp Mill continues
Marine biologists working with fisheries groups say that raises the possibility of multiple exposures to the fresh water effluent reaching the Strait. The area where the pipeline is planned for, known as fisheries area 21, helps seed six other areas described in the study.
Further DFO research is showing some lobster larvae are retained for up to 120 days and some actually end up west of where they started, defying previous expectations.
Rochette viewed the company’s public presentation and the counter arguments from fishing groups, and concluded Ottawa should be involved.
“That the treatment plant functions at accepted standards does not speak to long-term and cumulative impacts of different discharge components. I believe these impacts should be assessed and considered before moving ahead with these kinds of projects, but perhaps particularly in this case given that the Northumberland Strait supports important fisheries, including for American lobster.”
The company says various regulated emissions, such as the amount of organic material and suspended solids in the effluent, would be well within federally regulated limits.
Regulated compounds such as nitrogen and phosphorous are dissolved in the massive flow of saltwater to the point where they blend into levels in surrounding waters just two metres from the pipe outlet, according to the consultant hired by Northern Pulp.
The company says most other regulated factors, from water temperature to salinity, fade to background levels within 100 metres.
“We’re confident in the science, we’re confident in the project. With 131 kraft mills operating in North America and 20 per cent operating our proposed system … we have no concern about an environmental assessment, be it federal or provincial,” said Cloutier.
Hatcher says he understands the argument of “diffusion is the solution to pollution,” where the proposed water effluent may diffuse to the point of harmlessness into a current that mainly flows west to the Atlantic.
But he said major changes are coming to the Strait from climate change, and research suggests the waters may become more like a swirling washing machine than a conveyor belt to deeper waters.
“We’re at the beginning of the fast accelerating point of global climate change. Any standard predictive models of what water does in the Northumberland Strait … with every passing year are less valid,” he said.
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In downtown Montreal, it’s festival season.
In the city’s entertainment district, a musical act was conducting a sound check on stage Friday evening — the second day of the French-language version of the renowned Just For Laughs comedy festival. Tickets for many of the festival’s free outdoor shows — limited by COVID-19 regulations — were sold out.
Two blocks away, more than 100 people were watching an acoustic performance by the Isaac Neto Trio — part of the last weekend of the Festival International Nuits d’Afrique, a celebration of music from the African continent and the African diaspora.
With COVID-19 restrictions continuing to limit capacity, festival organizers say they’re glad to be back but looking forward to next year when they hope border restrictions and capacity limits won’t affect their plans.
Charles Décarie, Just For Laughs’ CEO and president, said this is a “transition year.”
“Even though we have major constraints from the public health group in Montreal, we’ve managed to design a festival that can navigate through those constraints,” Décarie said.
The French-language Juste pour rire festival began on July 15 and is followed by the English-language festival until July 31.
When planning began in February and March, Décarie said, organizers came up with a variety of scenarios for different crowd sizes, ranging from no spectators to 50 per cent of usual capacity.
“You’ve got to build scenarios,” he said. “You do have to plan a little bit more than usual because you have to have alternatives.”
MONTREAL — MELS Studios will build a new film studio in Montreal, filling some of the gap in supply to meet the demand of Hollywood productions.
MELS president Martin Carrier said on Friday that MELS 4 studio construction will begin « as soon as possible », either in the fall or winter of next year. The studio could host productions as early as spring 2023.
The total investment for the project is $76 million, with the Quebec government contributing a $25 million loan. The project will create 110 jobs, according to the company.
The TVA Group subsidiary’s project will enable it to stand out « even more » internationally, according to Quebecor president and CEO Pierre Karl Péladeau. In the past, MELS Studios has hosted several major productions, including chapters of the X-Men franchise. The next Transformers movie is shooting this summer in Montreal.
Péladeau insisted that local cultural productions would also benefit from the new facility, adding that the studio ensures foreign revenues and to showcase talent and maintain an industry of Quebec producers.
STUDIO SHORTAGE
The film industry is cramped in Montreal.
According to a report published last May by the Bureau du cinéma et de la télévision du Québec (BCTQ), there is a shortage of nearly 400,000 square feet of studio space.
With the addition of MELS 4, which will be 160,000 square feet, the company is filling part of the gap.
Carrier admitted that he has had to turn down contracts because of the lack of space, representing missed opportunities of « tens of millions of dollars, not only for MELS, but also for the Quebec economy. »
« Montreal’s expertise is in high demand, » said Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante, who was present at the announcement.
She said she received great testimonials from « Netflix, Disney, HBO and company » during an economic mission to Los Angeles in 2019.
« What stands out is that they love Montreal because of its expertise, knowledge and beauty. We need more space, like MELS 4, » she said.
There is still not enough capacity in Quebec, acknowledged Minister of Finance, the Economy and Innovation Eric Girard.
« It is certain that the government is concerned about fairness and balance, so if other requests come in, we will study them with the same seriousness as we have studied this one, » he said.
Grandé Studios is the second-largest player in the industry. Last May, the company said it had expansion plans that should begin in 2022. Investissement Québec and Bell are minority shareholders in the company.
For its part, MELS will have 400,000 square feet of production space once MELS 4 is completed. The company employs 450 people in Quebec and offers a range of services including studio and equipment rentals, image and sound postproduction, visual effects and a virtual production platform.
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