JAG to reopen talks on toxic cleanup
Boularderie Island residents oppose any sludge burning at Point Aconi
By Matt Hunt Gardner
Sydney - Sydney's Joint Action Group confirmed this week that it will reopen its
public consultation on how it should clean up toxic sludge left from years of
steel making in the area. JAG's spokeswoman Germaine LeMoine said Thursday the group will organize a new
workbook session to gather Point Aconi residents' opinions about burning the
sludge at a nearby power plant. She said Mark Eyking, MP for that area, asked for the consultation. "After we had a meeting a couple of weeks ago in Point Aconi with residents, who
showed a lot of concern, (Mr. Eyking) sought out our intervention to gather
comments from people and to offer them up workbook sessions," she said. "He wanted to make them feel they can have some input into what might happen." Boularderie Island residents, though, are fuming over the possible burning of
toxic tar ponds sludge at the Point Aconi power plant. More than 100 were
present at that meeting. "I'm totally against the idea," says Big Bras d'Or resident Lloyd MacLeod. "They
have the facilities in Sydney to burn the stuff. To bring it to Point Aconi
would mean shipping it through two or three residential areas, and right next
to the Pottles Lake Reservoir, which is a big no no." In May, the Joint Action Group recommended to government that co-burning
contaminated sediments would be the best option to clean up parts of the Muggah
Creek watershed. The process would burn sludge at the plant, while creating electricity for Nova
Scotia Power. Point Aconi is a possible spot to perform the co-burning. The new workbook sessions will cost approximately $15,000 for photocopying and
hall rentals. The workbooks will be handed to government with the cleanup
options that have been selected. "If government (says) . . . it's safe for the people who live in the (area north
of the coke ovens), then it must be safe to co-burn at Point Aconi. They tell
us it's safe to live in our area, so it must be safe to transport the sludge
and to burn it in an open kiln in the Point Aconi area," said Ann Ross of
Whitney Pier. Parker Donham, spokesman for the Sydney Tar Pond's Agency, and a Boularderie
Island resident, says the province is prepared to listen to people's concerns. He said Thursday that the last public meeting "doesn't sound like it was
successful at calmly and rationally examining the information that is out there
on the co-burning option." He says he's 100 per cent comfortable with burning sludge at Point Aconi. He
points out, though, that his house is on the opposite end of Boularderie Island
and farther away from Point Aconi than downtown Sydney. Mr. Eyking's home and family egg farm is much closer to Point Aconi. In the past he's told residents to trust JAG's safety and risk assessments. His
office didn't respond to questions Thursday. The recommendation to co-burn the sludge - toxic with arsenic, lead, and
fuel-based chemicals, among other pollutants - has not yet been approved by
government, nor has Point Aconi been chosen as one of the final sights to burn
it.
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