When the City of Nanaimo tabled a zoning amendment to Bylaw 4500 that could effectively change the heavy industry zoning in Nanaimo on Nov. 17, there was one main target: Nanaimo Forest Products. NFP owns Harmac Pacific, ‘the little pulp mill that did,’ which continues to pay around 350 full-time employee-owners while maintaining consistent profitability, and is a major Vancouver Island success story. They’ve done that thanks to an employee ownership model that sees workers share in its profits, as well as clever leadership which has made several key investments. …One of NFP’s key strategic moves was purchasing the 61 hectares adjacent to Harmac, which is industrial land. Developing that will benefit NFP and its worker-shareholders, companies that want to set up business in Nanaimo with ocean access, Harmac employees and taxpayers.

The anti-Harmac bylaw specifically targets bio-mass/cogeneration, thermal electricity generation from fossil fuels or biomass, liquefied natural gas, petroleum refineries, and anything else that might produce a whiff of emissions. Not to mention that Harmac uses biomass to supply most of its energy needs and they use 100 per cent biomass to produce all of the electricity it supplies to BC Hydro. It would make sense that future operations should include similar companies as fuel costs rise. The original goal of having Harmac where it is – and Duke Point – was to move the industrial land out of town where exhaust wouldn’t impact local residents. This motion aims to curtail that. …NFP has been progressive in its thinking and pro-active in its movements. Jobs on that site will be good for them and for the local economy. An expanded industrial tax base could be expected to keep residential taxes lower.