The Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board has placed a $208-million biomass project on hold.
Nova Scotia Power Inc. (NSP) and NewPage Port Hawkesbury Corp. had asked the regulatory agency to approve a plan that would see 650,000 tonnes of wood waste burned in the Cape Breton paper mill’s steam generator.
Half of the biomass for the power generation station would come from Crown land and the other half from NewPage’s papermaking and sawmill facilities.
NSP told the board hearing, that got underway July 26 in Port Hawkesbury, that the proposal would create 150 forestry jobs and help the mill maintain 550 employees. It said the biomass would produce enough electricity to power 50,00 homes annually.
NSP hoped to have the plant operational by December 2012 and wanted a decision by October.
But on July 29, the URB decided to put the application on hold until other proposals for renewable energy projects could be reviewed and analyzed.
Critics who opposed the application included a coalition of environmental groups that represented the Ecology Action Centre, the Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter, and the Margaree Environmental Association.
The coalition asked that the province and the regulator put the proposed NewPage/NSPI biomass project on hold until the Natural Resources Strategy was completed, in the fall 2010 or early in 2011.
