SYDNEY - Operations at a tank removal site were up and running again Saturday.

"We are well within our specs," Parker Donham, spokesman for the Sydney Tar Ponds Agency, said.

The contractors removing coal tar from a former Domtar tank on the tar ponds site corrected the problem by adding more charcoal to huge carbon filters and venting one piece of equipment directly to the outdoors, Mr. Donham said.

On Thursday, air filtration systems showed higher than allowable emissions coming from the building, which triggered a shutdown.

"Our protocol is, we must get 95 per cent of the contaminants out, and we were only getting 90 (per cent)," Mr. Donham said.

The raised levels were largely due to diesel fumes from a high hoe, backhoe and BobCat loader operating inside the tank and attached building, Mr. Donham said.

The three-year project to remove the tank and its contents is almost complete.