SAINT JOHN, N.B. (From news reports) -- A multimillion-dollar water treatment facility is expected to come to the west side pulp and paper mill five years after its owner Irving Pulp & Paper, Limited was fined for environmental violations.
More than $150 million worth of environmental upgrades were announced by Irving Pulp & Paper, Limited this week. The proposed upgrades include a new environmental treatment facility, as well as a cooling water heat exchanger and pumphouse closer to the mill.
The new treatment facility project is expected to "substantially" improve water quality and also reduce water consumption from Spruce Lake by up to 50 per cent, according to Mark Mosher, vice-president of Irving Pulp & Paper, Limited, in a press release.
A public open house for the project is scheduled for Wednesday at St. Mark's United Church. The company has filed an environmental impact assessment for the project with the province as part of the approval process.
The proposed new upgrades are expected to help Irving Pulp & Paper comply with a "new enforcement to federal regulations," according to the release.
In 2018, Irving Pulp & Paper, Limited was sentenced for three Fisheries Act convictions and issued a total of $2.34 million in fines for 10 instances of toxic effluent from the mill leaking into the St. John River between 2014 and 2016. The company also agreed to pay $1.16 million to a research institute, making the $3.5 million in penalties one of the country's largest environmental court rulings.
At the time, Robert Robichaud, regional director for Environment and Climate Change Canada's enforcement division, said there were "reasonable grounds to believe that further violations will occur" unless a new approach was taken to operation.
Former J.D. Irving, Limited spokesperson Mary Keith said at that time the construction of a treatment lagoon would be the "only option to sustain the continued operation of the mill," and that plans were in the works.
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