The Minister of Environment has delayed a decision on the Northern Pulp’s proposed effluent pipe.
Gordon Wilson says now the company is required to submit a full environmental assessment report which will answer lingering questions from the focus report.
Wilson says a decision on that report could take up to two years.
Speaking to reporters after the announcement Tuesday, Wilson wouldn’t say what will happen after Jan. 31 when Northern Pulp’s industrial approval, to pump effluent into Boat Harbour, expires.
“My complete focus has been on this environmental assessment application, from the very start. The Boat Harbour Act is really not anything that’s in my purview, in my jurisdiction,” he says. “It is my responsibility to take information that I have… and deal with that information that we have at hand. I am not going to speculate on anything further.”
Wilson says Northern Pulp applied for an extension to their industrial approval, to continue pumping effluent into Boat Harbour, on Dec. 5, but the government hasn’t made a decision on that application yet.
