Editing Domtar (section)

== Environmental issues ==
===Nova Scotia===
The company was originally known as the Dominion Tar and Chemical Company, Limited. Its first plant was located in [[Cape Breton Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia|Cape Breton]], [[Nova Scotia]].

Dominion Tar and Chemical Company Ltd (Domtar) operated a coal tar refining plant and a coal tar storage facility in [[Sydney, Nova Scotia|Sydney]] from 1903 to 1962. This facility was situated directly adjacent to and north of the coke oven operations. It diverted coal tar from the coke ovens, refined it, moved it through pipes, and stored it in tanks for shipping elsewhere. Domtar ceased operations in Sydney in 1962 abandoning its storage tanks, waste disposal lagoons, pipes, buildings and equipment. Domtar conducted little or no clean up of the site. A large tank, referred to as the "Domtar tank", remained in place adjacent to the coke ovens site into the 2000s, measuring 28&nbsp;m (92&nbsp;ft.) in diameter and 6&nbsp;m (20&nbsp;ft.) high. It contained materials abandoned by Domtar and other materials added in the years since the facility's abandonment.

This site, which is located adjacent to the former Sydney Steel plant, is included in a $400 million [[government]] sponsored cleanup of what is referred to as the [[Sydney Tar Ponds]].

In 2008 Domtar partnered with [[World Wide Fund for Nature|WWF]] as a part of an ongoing effort to help them source their materials responsibly.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Domtar and WWF {{!}} Projects {{!}} WWF|url=https://www.worldwildlife.org/projects/domtar-and-wwf|access-date=2020-06-03|website=World Wildlife Fund|language=en}}</ref> They are also a long-time member of the Two Sides initiative.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2020-04-07|title=Member Spotlight: Domtar Paper|url=https://twosidesna.org/US/member-spotlight-domtar-paper/|access-date=2020-06-03|website=Two Sides North America|language=en-US}}</ref>

===Cornwall===
Domtar operated a paper mill in [[Cornwall, Ontario]] until 2006. The original mill was built by the [[Toronto Manufacturing Company]] in 1881 and purchased by [[Howard Smith Paper Mills]] in 1919.{{citation needed|date=February 2015}}

In the early 1970s, Domtar persuaded the City of Cornwall to permit the dumping of its paper mill waste (sludge, bark and lime dregs) behind a shopping mall in the middle of the city. Part of the dump was sodded over while dumping continued, and Domtar funded a "bunny" ski hill there, known as "Big Ben".<ref>[http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/financialpost/story.html?id=963faa4b-ce93-4a35-9296-eb19817d7b21&k=73383 City hopes 'clean' image will save it<!-- Bot generated title -->] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120907013613/http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/financialpost/story.html?id=963faa4b-ce93-4a35-9296-eb19817d7b21&k=73383 |date=2012-09-07 }}.</ref>

By the late 1980s, Domtar was pumping "an average of 102 million litres of waste water into the St. Lawrence River every day".<ref name="TorStar">{{cite news|newspaper=The Toronto Star|date=March 11, 1989|page=D1 and D5|title=The Dirty Dozen|author=Tom Spears}}</ref> In May 1988, Greenpeace hung a banner from the company's smokestacks demanding: 'Zero discharge now', referring to discharges of [[heavy metals]], [[polychlorinated biphenyl|PCB]]s, [[phenols]], and [[Polychlorinated dibenzodioxins|dioxins]].<ref name="TorStar"/> Domtar was "fighting efforts to make it clean up" and it was listed as one of the worst polluters in Ontario in 1989.<ref name="TorStar"/>

By the mid-1990s this Domtar landfill was rapidly filling up with sludge, bark, and lime dregs from the Cornwall kraft and fine paper mill. The problem was exacerbated when new waste water regulations required the Cornwall mill to also remove lignin and starch—formerly discharged into the St. Lawrence River—from its waste water. In response, Domtar began selling dewatered mill waste to Cornwall and area residents labeled as "Soil Conditioner".<ref>[http://www.agrinewsinteractive.com/archives/article-1315.htm Domtar soil conditioner - Clearing the water or muddying the question? - Eastern Ontario AgriNews<!-- Bot generated title -->].</ref>

For some five years—until high levels of fecal coliforms and fecal streptococcus were discovered in the waste—this "Soil Conditioner" was sold for home garden use and was used by local farmers as fertilizer. Domtar at first claimed that their process could not have contributed e-coli and fecal coli from human feces. The company later revealed to the [[Ministry of the Environment (Ontario)|Ontario Ministry of the Environment]] (MOE) that some toilets and urinals at the mill connected with the mill's waste water treatment process, rather than with the city's sanitary sewers. Moreover, a stormwater system also emptied into the sludge generating system.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20031221221449/http://www.life.ca/nl/73/tempest.html Tempest in a Toilet] by Wendy Priesnitz. Retrieved 2010-04-23.</ref>

The paper mill site (now a [[brownfield]]) was sold to Paris Holdings of Cornwall in 2006 with undisclosed terms and covenants relating to liability and clean up of soil and water<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.dcnonl.com/article/20061010400|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090122070401/http://www.dcnonl.com/article/20061010400|url-status=dead|title=Cornwall's Domtar land sold – Daily Commercial News<!-- Bot generated title -->|archive-date=January 22, 2009|access-date=Sep 18, 2020}}</ref> affected, for over 120 years, by mill and human waste. Domtar still maintains control of the adjacent dump which is the source<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://list.web.net/archives/sludgewatch-l/2004-December/000350.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716055000/http://list.web.net/archives/sludgewatch-l/2004-December/000350.html|url-status=dead|title=Sludge Watch ==> Goodbye Domtar Cornwall kraft mill sludge<!-- Bot generated title -->|archive-date=July 16, 2011|access-date=Sep 18, 2020}}</ref> of a [[leachate]] plume polluting ground water between it and the St. Lawrence River (with the City of Cornwall Water Purification Plant in between). The dump which is officially named, the "Big Ben Landfill And Recreation Area", currently receives demolition waste and asbestos from the decommissioned paper mill.

In 2007, Domtar Corporation made a request to the MOE to additionally allow the dumping of soil at "Big Ben", contaminated with coal tar and bitumen waste, from another Dominion Tar and Chemical Co. Limited site in Cornwall.<ref>[http://www.ebr.gov.on.ca/ERS-WEB-External/displaynoticecontent.do?noticeId=MTAwMjk3&statusId=MTQ5ODAz&language=en Environmental Registry<!-- Bot generated title -->] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090114215935/http://www.ebr.gov.on.ca/ERS-WEB-External/displaynoticecontent.do?noticeId=MTAwMjk3&statusId=MTQ5ODAz&language=en |date=2009-01-14 }}.</ref> This manufacturing facility at 7th St. W. and Cumberland Street in Cornwall produced "bituminous fibre" pipe,<ref>[http://www.library.cornwall.on.ca/New_DP/search/pop_image.php?cardID=622 Full Size Image – Cornwall Public Library Digital Archives<!-- Bot generated title -->] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081229135003/http://www.library.cornwall.on.ca/New_DP/search/pop_image.php?cardID=622 |date=2008-12-29 }}.</ref> from 1929 to 1976 known variously as; Cornwall "Standard" Fibre Conduit (1929–38), Cornwall Nocrete Conduit (1938–44), and finally No-co-rode Co. Ltd. – Fibre Conduit Division (1944–76).

In September 2008, over public opposition and in spite of MOE reports indicating off-site [[leachate]] impact from the dump and the likelihood of runoff to the St. Lawrence River, the MOE permitted dumping at the "Big Ben" site of contaminated soils from Domtar's former No-co-rode Ltd. site.

Domtar has not remediated its former lands in Cornwall including; its paper mill site, its sludge and bark dump, and its coal tar pipe lands.

===Western Canada===
Domtar also operated a wood treatment facility in [[Cochrane, Alberta]], treating [[railroad]] ties. This ceased operation about 1982, leaving significantly contaminated land. The latest of several clean-up operations is attempting to prevent the underground migration of the main contaminant plume. Building of non-residential structures is now in progress on part of the land.

The company once operated a wood treatment facility in the [[Transcona]] section of [[Winnipeg, Manitoba]]. The facility has been dismantled, and a [[residential]] [[Housing development|development]] was created adjacent to the site in the early 1980s. The site itself remained largely vacant. In the late 1990s, years of debate and scientific [[Research|study]] culminated with the re-detoxification. Many properties adjacent to the site were excavated to remove contaminated earth. Dozens of homes had their [[backyard]]s completely dug up, and a handful also had parts of their homes removed and rebuilt—all at the company's expense. The site itself, was converted to a [[wildlife]] [[sanctuary]] with a nature path.

Domtar operated a wood treatment plant in northeast Edmonton from 1924 to 1987. The 37-hectare property in question served as a Domtar Inc. wood-treatment operation from 1924 to 1987. Cherokee bought the land in 2010 to build a residential subdivision. Between 1924 and 1987, Domtar used this area to treat wood with creosote and other chemicals. Until 1972, the company simply dumped its untreated waste into a drainage ditch. When the plant went out of business, the soil and groundwater were left contaminated. In 1991, the Edmonton Board of Health issued warning letters, telling Hermitage neighbours to keep their children away from that area.

But Domtar and a Toronto-based brownfield specialist, Cherokee, carried out extensive remediation of the site. Eventually, Cherokee bought the whole 37-hectare parcel for $1.8 million. Parts of the property were more polluted than others.

===Other locations===
Other Domtar sites contaminated by creosote and coal tar by products include; "Sunalta" in [[Calgary]], [[Alberta]]; [[Truro, Nova Scotia]]; [[Newcastle, New Brunswick]]; and [[New Westminster, British Columbia]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/environmental-workplace-health/reports-publications/environmental-contaminants/canadian-environmental-protection-act-priority-substances-list-assessment-report-creosote-impregnated-waste-materials.html|title=ARCHIVED - Creosote-impregnated Waste Materials - PSL1|first=Health|last=Canada|date=Jul 26, 2004|website=aem|access-date=Sep 18, 2020}}</ref>
Domtar also operated a tie treating plant in [[Trenton, Ontario]] for many years.

Domtar operated a paper mill in [[Toronto]] from 1961 to late 1980s and is now site of [[Crothers Woods]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.lostrivers.ca/points/DonPmill.htm|title=Don Valley Paper Mill|website=www.lostrivers.ca|access-date=Sep 18, 2020}}</ref>

As of 2019, amongst the [[Coronavirus disease 2019|COVID-19]] outbreak, Domtar announced a temporary reduction at its paper-making capacity at its [[Kingsport, Tennessee|Kingsport]] Mill, Tennessee due to decreased demand during the [[pandemic]].<ref>{{Cite news|last=Kilgore|first=Tomi|title=Domtar to lay off 400 employees as it idles Kentucky mill|url=https://www.marketwatch.com/story/domtar-to-lay-off-400-employees-as-it-idles-kentucky-mill-2020-04-27|access-date=2020-06-03|website=MarketWatch|language=en-US}}</ref> The Kingsport Mill was then converted to the company's first 100 percent recycled containerboard manufacturing facility, which opened in May 2023. Domtar is the second-largest recycler in the state of Tennessee.

Permanent paper machine closures were completed at the [[Ashdown, Arkansas|Ashdown]], Arkansas pulp and paper mill, and the [[Port Huron, Michigan|Port Huron]], Michigan paper mill.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20191003005120/en/Domtar-Reduce-Papermaking-Capacity-Mills|title=Domtar to Reduce Papermaking Capacity at Two Mills|date=2019-10-03|website=www.businesswire.com|language=en|access-date=2020-04-16}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-04-06 |title=Domtar Announces Temporary Idling of Paper Capacity to Address COVID-19 Related Business Impact {{!}} Financial Post |url=https://business.financialpost.com/pmn/press-releases-pmn/business-wire-news-releases-pmn/domtar-announces-temporary-idling-of-paper-capacity-to-address-covid-19-related-business-impact |access-date=2020-04-16 |language=en-CA}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Martin|first=Jenna|title=Domtar cutting jobs as it pulls back on production at two paper mills|url=https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2019/10/03/domtar-cutting-jobs-as-it-pulls-back-on-production.html|website=Charlotte Business Journal}}</ref>