Wednesday, August 13, 2003 Link To Herald The Halifax Herald Limited

Meeting tonight on JAG changes

SYDNEY - The Joint Action Group will hold an impromptu round-table meeting tonight to discuss a draft proposal for a scaled-down version of the group that could take over in September.

Federal and provincial officials asked JAG for the proposal at the group's annual meeting in June.

The government-backed citizens advisory group was created in 1996 to allow the community to decide how to clean up Sydney's two toxic waste sites, the tar ponds and coke ovens sites.

When JAG made its official cleanup recommendation to the federal and provincial governments in the spring, members were told their mandate had been fulfilled and the group's funding would be cut off after Sept. 18.

At the time both levels of government said they would continue to engage the public on the cleanup process, but did not say how.

The proposed mini-Joint Action Group would act as a liaison between government and the public during the run-up to the actual cleanup work two years from now.

It calls for 10 community members. Organizations in the community could also participate.