Governments are failing to report the annual release of more than 80 megatonnes (Mt) per year of greenhouse gases from boreal forests, Environmental Defence Canada, Nature Canada, Nature Québec, and Natural Resources Defense Council conclude, in a report [pdf] released in the week leading up to the COP. That’s a significant increase over Environment and…
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Victory for Mi’kmaq as Nova Scotia’s Alton Gas Project Cancelled
Seven years after local Mi’kmaq Elders first moved to block a project that would have left salt caverns along Nova Scotia’s Shubenacadie River full of natural gas, and the river itself dangerously saline, the company in charge of the project has pulled the plug. Announcing its decision in a release last week, Alton, a subsidiary…
Read moreNorthern pulp appeals ministerial cleanup order, pauses environmental assessment – HalifaxToday.ca
HALIFAX — The parent company for the idled Northern Pulp mill says it has filed an appeal with the Nova Scotia Supreme Court related to a ministerial order issued last month for the management of the site. The pulp mill stopped production on Jan. 31 after the province rejected its request to continue pumping treated…
Read moreN.S. government extends Northern Pulp’s use of Boat Harbour wastewater treatment plant until April – Halifax | Globalnews.ca
Northern Pulp will continue to use its Boat Harbour wastewater treatment plant until the end of April as the company prepares the facility for its indefinite closure. On Wednesday, Northern Pulp announced it had received an order from Nova Scotia Minister of Environment Gordon Wilson that directs the continued use of its wastewater treatment plant…
Read moreNova Scotia pulp mill issues layoff notices as facility winds down operations | CTV News Atlantic
HALIFAX -- Northern Pulp says it has started giving layoff notices to employees at the Nova Scotia mill. The company has moved to mothball the mill after its plan for a new treatment system that would see it pump treated effluent into the Northumberland Strait was rejected by the province. Nova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil…
Read moreNova Scotia’s forestry transition team to spend $7M on silviculture | CBC News
Nova Scotia's forestry transition team will spend $7 million on silviculture work and forest road building, a move Premier Stephen McNeil says should keep up to 300 people working in the woods as usual for the next year. The money will be for programs on Crown and private land in central and western Nova Scotia…
Read more‘No clear answers’: PC leader calls for details on Northern Pulp transition team
Without a place to send its effluent, the mill cannot operate. In announcing his decision, McNeil also detailed plans for a transition team that would include officials from multiple departments, the forestry sector and Nova Scotia Community College and work with a $50-million fund to help workers trying to determine their next step. In a…
Read moreThe Derailment of Climate Talks by Polluters
In The Big Stall, author Donald Gutstein shows how Big Oil owns the Paris Agreement.Quoting ecological economist Clive Spash, Gutstein points out that what came out of theParis talks at COP21 “is a fantasy which lacks any plan of how to achieve the targets foremissions reduction.”There are no mentions of greenhouse gas sources, not a…
Read moreNorthern Pulp plans to shut down Nova Scotia mill after premier refuses to grant extension | CBC News
Pictou Landing First Nation Chief Andrea Paul quickly became emotional as she spoke to reporters following McNeil's announcement. "It's been a long time coming," she said. Paul said she's grateful to the premier and government, as well as her community. "This has been a very challenging issue. I know it wasn't going to be easy…
Read moreTop Northern Pulp official speaks as premier refuses to grant extension | CBC News
After three days of public silence, Nova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil delivered a decision that could define his time in office — his government will not amend the Boat Harbour Act, forcing the closure of Northern Pulp's effluent facility by the end of January. The move keeps a promise McNeil made to a First Nation…
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