The picturesque town of Pictou, N.S., has a dark cloud hanging over it.
A steady plume of thick, grey smoke pours from the stacks of the coastal region’s pulp mill. Its pollutants are choking the air, and have been for the past decade, some locals say.
But with the mill employing 230 workers in the town of just 3,800, Northern Pulp’s factory has as much of an impact on the lives of Pictou residents as it does on the skyline.
Opinions on the factory are divided. "It's not right,” one resident of the coastal town tells CTV News. “I'm not allowed to put that stuff in the air, I'm not allowed to put that stuff in the ground. So why is anyone else allowed to?"
Others see the necessity of the mill.
"No one wants to see the mill closed, but we definitely want it cleaned up,” says another member of the community. “It bothers a lot of people."
Though the mill has been belching away uninterrupted for decades, some groups are beginning to stand up for the environment. Ann Emmett from the Clean Pictou Air Group wants to see the mill and its rank emissions shut down entirely.
"Yeah, there's going to be a lot of people out of work and a lot of associated businesses too,” she says. “But at what cost? The whole community's health?"
Northern Pulp says it plans on installing scrubbers by the spring to pare down its particulate levels that sit 80 per cent above acceptable limits. The company’s website also says they’ve made efforts to cut back on the stench surrounding the mill, improving their odour control system in 2012.
“Upgrades to the mill have resulted in reduced odour compounds by 70 per cent,” the site reads. “Odour reduction is the mill’s biggest challenge from an environmental point of view.”
But efforts are falling short in the eyes of many, with some calling for the factory to at least shut down until the scrubbers are installed. Concerts have been held to raise awareness of the issue, and activist Erin Brockovich has joined the fight to cap the smokestacks.
“Not only is it virtually impossible to breathe clean air in Pictou, Nova Scotia, or the surrounding areas, children and adults alike are forced to endure asthma, nausea, burning eyes, headaches and a vast list of other respiratory symptoms,” reads a post on her Facebook page.
As the voice calling for action grows louder, those in charge of the factory say shutting down the mill, even temporarily, isn’t possible.
"We have to maintain our workers, we have to maintain our suppliers,” says Northern Pulp spokesperson Dave MacKenzie. “We have to maintain our income stream at the mill to make us viable."
With a report by CTV’s Todd Battis
