Focus Report Required from Northern Pulp

Environment Minister Margaret Miller released her decision today, March 29, on the environmental assessment of Northern Pulp’s proposed effluent treatment plant.

The minister’s decision is to require the company to submit a focus report that provides more information.

“We make our decisions based on science and evidence” said Ms. Miller. “In this case, I require more information to determine the impacts on the environment.”

Through the environmental assessment process, the department received comments from government reviewers and more than 900 submissions from the public. The decision and the comments are available at https://novascotia.ca/nse/ea/Replacement_Effluent_Treatment_Facility_Project/.

By April 24, the department will give Northern Pulp terms of reference for the focus report and post them on the department website. The company has up to one year from that date to submit the report.

The focus report will be posted on the department website and the public will have 30 days to comment. Government reviewers will also submit comments.

At that point, the minister’s decision options are to accept the project, reject it, or require an environmental assessment report.
https://novascotia.ca/news/release/?id=20190329002

Related Posts

Estonian and Polish National Systems Achieve PEFC Re-endorsement

Estonia and Poland have become the latest countries to successfully achieve PEFC re-endorsement of their national forest certification systems for the first time. This not only confirms that they continue to meet PEFC’s globally recognized Sustainability Benchmarks, but also ensures that certified forest owners and companies in these countries continue to benefit from the global acceptance of PEFC. "The re-endorsement of these national forest certification systems shows both the commitment of our members to PEFC and underlines PEFC's leadership in the continuous improvement of forest certification," said Ben Gunneberg, CEO of PEFC International. “We appreciate their continued commitment, as well as the contributions of all the stakeholders who have participated in the standards revision and assessment processes.”

AF&PA Welcomes Modernized EPA Guidance on Ambient Air Policy

American Forest & Paper Association President and CEO Donna Harman issued the following statement regarding Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) guidance to modernize ambient air policy under the National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) program. EPA released a draft memo with the updated guidelines for receptor placement. “Applying decades-old ambient air policy under the NAAQS implementation program, represents an unrealistic ‘once-size-fits-all’ modeling approach. Paper and wood products manufacturers welcome EPA’s recognition that times and technology have changed by taking action to modernize ambient air policy. “By clarifying where the public is truly exposed, EPA eliminates many hypothetical modeling scenarios that can bog down projects unnecessarily. For example, assessments have been done for areas inside property boundaries where the public does not have legal access. Using receptor locations where the general public has legitimate and realistic access makes scientific and common sense. This action takes a long-overdue first step toward ensuring real-world air quality modeling is used to determine any air quality impacts from a project.”

India Launches Process to Develop Forest Certification System

“With forestry in India being at a critical crossroad, the decision to develop our own national forest certification system will be an important driver to promote the sustainable management of our forest resources,” said KK Singh, Chairman of the Network for Certification and Conservation of Forests (NCCF). “While India is among the world’s most forested countries, we also have a growing demand for wood products, and unsustainable use of forests, for example for wood fuel, is a significant challenge,” continued Mr. Singh. “Forest certification will help us not only in mainstreaming sustainability in forest management, but also in raising awareness with companies and consumers about the importance of sourcing and buying responsibly sourced wood products.”
Back To Top
×Close search
Search