Drafting
Recently the NS Goivernment announced “Environmental Assessment Changes [to] Reinforce Commitment to Fight Climate Change, Move to Clean Economy” (NS Gov ECC News Release May 8, 2025).
Dizzying amount of publicity, PR…. on one hand, and Govs. concern about critics
Latest sounds good, prob is good. On its own, and comnducted wqith proper accvohntiung and transparency.
The issue: what else. already committed… x XXX
Flotaed….YYY
On the Benefits and Risks of Forest Biomass Projects in Nova Scotia in 2025.
Bring it on…
Screenshot
Regional Spotlight: Nova Scotia
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Attraction
Nova Scotia stands out as a top location for FDI, offering an array of compelling advantages that attract global companies looking to expand in Canada, such as:
May 8, 2025:
Nova Scotia to speed up environmental reviews for clean energy projects
By Keith Doucette for Canadian Press reported in the National Observer “The Nova Scotia government is accelerating the environmental review process for a number of clean energy projects to meet its climate goals and get off coal by 2030. Under changes announced Thursday, large biomass, biogas and clean fuel projects have been changed to Class 1 from Class 2, meaning they can be approved within 50 days. The more rigorous Class 2 assessment, which can take more than two years, is now reserved for projects such as pulp mills, cement plants, incinerators and large energy plants…Under the changes, small wood biomass projects will now be exempt from the environmental review process and will be managed through the Environment Department’s industrial approval process.” View related NS Gov News Release
May 6, 2025:
Weathering the storms
Andrew Snook in Canadian Forest Industries “Anyone who has ever experienced a hurricane, knows of the destruction they leave behind in their paths. The residents of Halifax are no strangers to dealing with the aftermath of these powerful storms. One resident, Joe Lewis, president of BioBurn Pros Inc., used his experience with a recent hurricane to build a new business that is taking off across Nova Scotia. “BioBurn was very much born from a hurricane,” he says. “Just about every year in September, October – sometimes as early as August – we get hit with some significant hurricanes; and there’s always some down trees and old growth falling.”
Apr 29, 2025:
– Northern Pulp mill seeks another extension to prepare for potential sale
By Sean Mott for CTV News “…The Northern Pulp mill, which has been under creditor protection after it shut down more than four years ago, is seeking its second extension on a stay of proceedings this year…“The company will use this time to further advance preparations for a potential sale of its assets, should a new mill not be feasible,” a news release from the company reads. “Additionally, Northern Pulp will continue discussions with various stakeholders and rights holders regarding the feasibility of establishing a new bioproducts hub in Liverpool, Nova Scotia”. The company previously said designing and building the bioproducts hub could cost more than $2.5 billion. “The feasibility study examined the economics of developing a bioproducts hub that includes established products such as Northern Bleached Softwood Kraft pulp, as well as emerging products like biogas and biochemicals used in food, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and adhesives,” a previous news release read.
Apr 16, 2024:
Pursuing a new CSA Standard to heat Canada with wood pellets
By Dutch Dresser, Ed.D. and Gordon Murray in www.pulpandpapercanada.com “The Canadian Standards Association (CSA) is working to adopt the European standard, EN 303-5:2002+A1:2023 Heating Boilers – Part 5: Heating boilers for solid fuels, manually and automatically stoked, nominal heat output of up to 500 kW as a National Standard of Canada anticipated by Fall 2026…The rationale for this work is set out in a white paper, Certification of Small Solid Biomass Combustors (SSBC) in Canada (available in English and French). The Paper is the culmination of nearly five years of work by experts across the country to address administrative barriers which restrict the sale of boiler systems that use wood pellets into the Canadian market…Once adopted, Canada can more easily design, manufacture and import small solid biomass combustors for Indigenous, remote and rural communities across Canada that use fossil fuel heating systems due to accessibility and affordability. What is a small solid biomass combustor? A small solid biomass combustor uses small quantities of biomass materials, such as wood pellets or chips, to generate heat or energy…Small solid biomass combustors are typically designed for small- to medium-scale applications such as residential, commercial or institutional heating systems. Over 600 are operational in Canada today, displacing propane, oil or electric baseboard heating systems for many communities.”
Apr 14, 2025:
– N.L.’s wind-hydrogen hype is on fumes, but this Placentia Bay project is forging ahead
Terry Roberts for CBC News “…one expert who studies the production, conversion and use of energy tells CBC News that so-called green hydrogen is still far too expensive, and is a decade away from being commercially viable, at least without big subsidies.”
Apr 7, 2025:
– Corgan offers a tool to measure mass timber’s real production carbon footprint
By John Caulfield for Building Design & Construction. “Its calculator accounts for “overlooked” factors, like harvesting residue and tree species…Global demand for wood as a building material is expected to quadruple by 2050. Demand is being driven in part by the rising popularity of mass timber for its aesthetics and eco friendliness. One of the perceived advantages of choosing mass timber panels and..
Mar 21, 2025:
Nova Scotia’s energy system and the risks of America’s tariff war
Larry Hughes in the Hfx Examiner. “… there are ways in which we can reduce our exposure to the potential threats posed to our energy system by American tariffs…The first is to reduce our energy consumption by doing the same activity using less energy;..The first is to reduce our energy consumption by doing the same activity using less energy..To do this, the province needs an energy strategy, one that explains where we are now, where we want to go, and how we plan to get there. Premier Tim Houston’s legislation to develop uranium and natural gas, and his calls for a revival of the Energy East crude oil pipeline are not an energy strategy. The energy strategy Nova Scotia requires must examine the province’s primary energy sources through to its end-use services.”
Mar 20, 2025:
– “This is transformational for East Hants.” Mass Timber Company setting up in Elmsdale
By Pat Healey for thelaker.ca “ELMSDALE: You could forgive Municipality of East Hants Warden Eleanor Roulston for smiling ear-to-ear like it was Christmas morning on
Mar 14
– Former Drax lobbyist claims “extremely dysfunctional” company tried to silence her
Post on Bioenery Insight “A report by The Times has outlined how Drax attempted to ‘silence’ an employee, after she raised concerns that it had misled British energy regulator Ofgem about its true sustainability credentials..A 2022 BBC documentary alleged the company’s felling of old-growth forests in Canada. Ahmar said this triggered ‘a level of chaos that I have never seen before’ within the company. She was ‘unable to prove that [Drax] only sources sustainable wood for its biomass and that it was, in fact, using unsustainable wood.’.”
– Province tells Nova Scotia Power to burn more wood to generate electricity
Taryn Grant · CBC News “The Houston government made a regulatory change this week that requires Nova Scotia Power to use 160 gigawatt hours of biomass each year until 2027. The new regulation builds on earlier directives for Nova Scotia Power’s biomass use. In 2022, the province called for 135 gigawatt hours of biomass-powered electricity each year until 2025…in order to get more renewable energy on the grid while waiting for additional wind and solar projects to come online…The regulation used to stipulate that biomass burned for electricity had to be a forestry byproduct. In other words, it couldn’t come from trees harvested for the sole purpose of producing biomass. The province did away with that provision. A spokesperson for Boudreau’s department said it wouldn’t make economical sense for the forestry sector to harvest trees explicitly for creating biomass — essentially calling the previous stipulation redundant.”
Jan 30, 2025:
How Bioenergy and the Forest Sector Can Help Meet Canada’s Energy Demands
In MacLeans.ca, cited as “Created for Forestry for the Future” [so evidently but not obviously, a paid advertisement]. Cites “Jamie Stephen, managing director with TorchLight, a Nova Scotia-based bioenergy and decarbonization advisor and project developer” at length. Says Stephen: “Though counterintuitive, we ac
Dec 16, 2024:
– Will there be enough sustainable timber to go round?
By Stephen Cousins, The RIBA Journal “Timber buildings will be instrumental in the global response to climate breakdown, locking in carbon from the atmosphere and replacing high-impact materials like concrete and steel. But increasing reliance on sawn and engineered wood over the coming decades is also expected to put huge pressure on sustainable commercial forestry. And with fierce competition for wood biomass from other industries, such as aviation and power, there are concerns that supply may be outstripped by demand, putting net-zero targets in jeopardy.”
CLIMATE
May 8, 2025:
– Even as emissions level off, carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is growing faster than ever. Here’s why
by Issy Borley, Cathy Trudinger and Ray Langenfelds, The Conversation on phys.org “Recent research suggests a weakened biosphere has strongly contributed. Severe droughts across the northern hemisphere in 2024 cut the ability of the planet’s soils and plant life to soak up and store CO₂.” Low latency carbon budget analysis reveals a large decline of the land carbon sink in 2023, Piyu Ke et al., manuscript on arxiv.org “… Land regions exposed to extreme heat in 2023 contributed a gross carbon loss of 1.73 GtC yr-1, indicating that record warming in 2023 had a strong negative impact on the capacity of terrestrial ecosystems to mitigate climate change.”
Apr 28, 2025:
– Canada’s deforestation tracking ignores logging’s contribution to climate change and forest degradation, researchers say
Olivia Piercey in Hfx Examiner (Subscription required) “Forestry researchers say Canada’s logging industry is more harmful for the environment than is reported by the government. A report released this month by the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and the David Suzuki Foundation detailed ways in which logging makes Canada’s forests more vulnerable to natural disasters, diminishes biodiversity, and releases sequestered carbon…”
Apr 23, 2025:
Biomass, a satellite to look inside the world’s forests like never before
on www.airbus.com/ “The Biomass satellite will accurately map aboveground biomass (AGB) over large areas using a synthetic aperture radar (SAR). What’s unique about this SAR is that it operates in the P-band wavelength, a first for use in space. The 12-metre-wide wire mesh reflector is provided by L3Harris. Unlike commonly used X-, C-, and L-bands, P-band’s 70 cm wavelength offers distinct advantages. Its longer wavelength enhances the SAR signal’s ability to penetrate the vegetation canopy down to the ground. An electromagnetic wave only interacts with objects of roughly the same size as its wavelength. So, with the P-Band, SAR can “see” all objects of 70 cm and more but not the smallest ones, such as leaves. Biomass waves will therefore pass “through” the foliage, interacting with the larger woody components, including trunk and branches, thus enabling accurate measurements of tree height, structure and density, even in dense forest.” Also view related post below for Apr 7, 2025.
Apr 15, 2025:
– Why the Forest Service is logging after Hurricane Helene — and why some say it’s a mistake
Katie Myers for Grist.org “Volunteers, scientists, and hikers are asking for transparency in a process they say could prioritize profit over ecosystems.”
Apr 11, 2025:
– The tax has been axed, but Nova Scotia still has emissions targets
Larry Hughes in the Hfx Examiner “The shortcomings of Canada’s entire carbon-pricing
Mar 27, 2025:
– Losing forest carbon stocks could put climate goals out of reach
Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research “In the past, intact forests absorbed 7.8 billion tonnes of CO₂ annually – about a fifth of all human emissions – but their carbon storage is increasingly at risk from climate change and human activities such as deforestation. A new study from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) shows that failing to account for the potentially decreasing ability of forests to absorb CO₂ could make reaching the Paris agreement targets significantly harder, if not impossible, and much more costly…According to the study, postponing action to reduce emissions and to protect and monitor forests could jeopardise climate targets. “We must act immediately to safeguard the carbon stored in forests,””
– Dead Trees Keep Surprisingly Large Amounts of Carbon Out of Atmosphere: Study
By Lauren Milideo, The University of Vermont “New research from UVM suggests that fallen logs in streams are unsung climate heroes, locking up heretofore-unrecognized stores of climate-warming carbon.” Cites this paper: An Emerging Carbon Sink in Headwater Streams and the Role of Large Wood and Riparian Forest Structure, Stephen Peters-Collaer 2025 in Ecosystems
– Climate change: Correlation between wildfires, flooding in Nova Scotia
Hina Alam, The Canadian Press, July 25, 2023, on cp24.com ” There is a correlation between rising temperatures, wildfires and heavier rainfall, said Kent Moore, an atmospheric physics professor at the University of Toronto.”
The myth of sustainable logging: lessons from a life in the woods
By Bruce Ellingsen, director, Cortes Island Community Forest
National Observer, May 13, 2025
I grew up in logging camps on the BC coast. …Back then, we didn’t talk about “sustainability.” …Today, that word is everywhere — but the way we’re managing BC’s forests tells a different story. We call current forestry “sustainable,” but it isn’t — not in any real or lasting way. …So how do we fix it? We start by grounding forest policy in ecology, not economics alone. If we applied this ecological rule [predator-prey systems] to forestry, it would mean taking no more than 15 to 20 per cent of the forest’s mean annual increment, its yearly growth. Not 50 per cent. Not clearcuts. A modest share allows the system to keep functioning over generations. …I know this kind of shift would have real economic impacts. I also know we’re already feeling them. Timber supply is dropping. Mills are closing. Companies are moving south.