Domtar pulp mill in Crofton to close permanently this month
Mayor Rob Douglas to talk with Premier, senior cabinet ministers
The Domtar pulp mill in Crofton is closing permanently this month, sending an economic shock wave through North Cowichan.
Brian Houle, the mill's environment manager, told sixmountains.ca on Tuesday: "Basically, the price of fibre in BC is unaffordable and the price of pulp right now in the market isn't good and isn't improving."
During the week of December 13 "we will have this place down and will not produce pulp again," he said.
Domtar says about 350 workers will be impacted by the closure.
"It's devastating news," North Cowichan Mayor Rob Douglas said in an interview. "I did not see this coming."
Douglas said he is scheduled to talk Wednesday afternoon with Premier David Eby along with Forests Minister Ravi Parmar and Labour Minister Jennifer Whiteside, along with representatives of the union — the Public and Private Workers of Canada.
"I'll be asking for any support I can get, whether it's for the impacted workers or the municipality. Plus there's all these other businesses throughout the region that depend on the Crofton mill."
Douglas said the mill is the municipality's "biggest single taxpayer, roughly $5 million a year. To lose that tax revenue is devastating. It's a significant revenue source for our core services here at the municipality."
As for the future of the site, Douglas said Domtar had been in talks with BC Hydro re: the potential production of electricity at the mill site but he had no specifics.
BC Hydro said it "does not typically disclose details of discussions with potential electricity generators."
Domtar simply said it is "exploring a variety of possibilities...."
Douglas' family has connections to the mill spanning generations, starting with his grandfather who helped build it, he said. "Working at the mill paid my way through university," he added.
Not everyone will miss the mill, opened in 1957.
Odours have been a longstanding issue.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, pulp mills also became a leading environmental target due to the release of chlorinated dioxins and furans—persistent organic pollutants, or POPs — that worked their way into the food chain. Research on great blue herons next to the Crofton mill helped result in Canada adopting regulations in 1992 to reduce pulp emissions of POPs to non-detectable levels.
In recent years, the mill has repeatedly come under the scrutiny of the province for a variety of violations related to issues such as effluent discharges.
Hakai Magazine published a feature on the Crofton mill in 2022 entitled The Price of Paper: https://hakaimagazine.com/features/the-price-of-paper/
Paper Excellence Canada (the company name that preceded Domtar) announced in January 2024 the indefinite curtailment of paper operations at the mill. https://www.domtar.com/paper-excellence-canada-to-indefinitely-curtail-paper-operations-at-catalyst-crofton-mill/
The company stated: "Market dynamics, inflationary pressures on raw materials, energy cost opportunities, and a lack of local domestic fibre supply resulted in substantial increases in operating costs. These pressures have materially impacted the current and future financial viability of the paper operation."
Read more about Domtar owner Jackson Wijaya: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-domtars-media-shy-indonesian-owner-plots-more-growth-in-canada-says/
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