The No. 1 concern he has is where the effluent is going.

 “Regardless of what’s coming out of the pipe, whether it’s treated or untreated, it’s a concern,” Ryan said.

The second part that rings alarm bells for him is the plan to burn sludge in the power boiler at the mill. While the company has said there would be no smell from this process, Ryan said there are trust issues.

While every municipality in Pictou County has been impacted in some way positively or negatively by the mill, Ryan said the Town of Pictou has the potential to be impacted the greatest.

“I think people who don’t live in Pictou probably don’t recognize the low-level emissions that landed on our town a lot of times.”

With the mill closed for more than a year, he said residents have become accustomed to the new normal.

“We are very used to now and very comfortable with our lovely clean air and the beautiful clean waters,” he said.