Pictou Landing Band Council blockading route to Northern Pulp mill leak

Members of Pictou Landing First Nations are angry that they weren’t notified of a leak that happened this morning at the Northern Pulp Mill sooner, protested in front of a blocked entrance to the site Tuesday afternoon and stopped  any machinery from accessing the site because they say it is on an aboriginal burial site.  We will be allowing environment experts in but won’t allowing digging until the band has been consulted.

Chief Andrea Paul said she found out through social media about the leak.

“I was quite concerned that we were not notified this morning of the leak,” she said.

Paul personally inspected the leak.

“We have some historical claim to this piece of property,” she said. “History has it that it’s an ancient burial site, so they are not supposed to be digging unless we’re consulted first through the proper channels. They need to consult with us.”

Sue Fraser, a resident of Pictou Landing, was also out at the protest. She said it’s troubling to hear of the effluent pouring into the water that her father once fished and her son now does.

“What kind of stuff is going into the water that will affect the fisheries,” she asked.

She has long been bothered by the mill and the pollution coming from it.

“That thing going every day is concerning,” she said.

The leak was detected at around 7 a.m. on Tuesday near the pipe’s landfall on the Pictou Landing side of the East River. The mill was shut down to allow Northern Pulp to assess the situation.

The pipe carries 90 million litres of pulp mill waste every day from the mill site at Abercrombie Point, under the East River in Pictou Harbour to a treatment facility at Pictou Landing.

The company said it does not know what went wrong or how much effluent was discharged.

“Our primary concern is the safety of the public, mill employees and protection of the environment,” David MacKenzie, speaking for Northern Pulp, said in a statement.

“At this time, all resources are focused on ensuring that the shutdown of the mill and containment of any effluent is carried out in a safe and timely manner.”

Repeat occurrence

This is the second time in six years this pipe has broken down. In 2008, the underwater pipe broke and caused a lengthy shutdown of the mill.

Matt Gunning, with the Clean Up the Pictou County Pulp Mill group, said a considerable amount of money went into repairing a pipe in 2009.

“Provincial taxpayers either loaned or gave the $15 million to make sure this wouldn’t happen again and to have it happen so soon is concerning,” he said.

Gunning said the province should have the ability to to tests on the grounds without advance notice. He said more information is needed to confirm the effects of the effluent.

“You can name any number of harbour towns and we seem to be the only one that has a shellfish fishery closed,” he said.

“I don’t believe they’ve satisfied our questions regarding that.”