JAG process brought benefits to community
Once the process got rolling, progress toward cleanup was rapid
Letter to the editor from Dan Fraser
Cape Breton Post
Saturday, Jan. 31, 2004
It is not unexpected that Bruno
Marcocchio continues to be
unwilling to acknowledge that
the Joint Action Group or any
other progressive organization in our
community has accomplished so
much while working co-operatively
and within its official mandate (After
Seven Years and $68 Million, Cleanup
Stillborn, Letters, Jan. 24).
As a direct result of input from
knowledgeable and dedicated citizens
who took part in the JAG process, the
characteristics of the contamination
at and around the tar ponds and coke
ovens sites are now well understood.
The reports are available for all to
read and use. The old stacks, buildings,
coal, coke and sulphur piles, and
tonnes of other debris, are now gone
from the coke ovens site. The safe removal
of the Domtar tank is well
underway and that structure will soon
disappear.
Of equal significance is the financial
and technical support provided to
Cape Breton Regional Municipality as
a direct result of the JAG process,
which has benefited all residents. I
refer to the construction of the interceptor
sewer and the additional funds
provided through JAG's funding partners
for the coming construction of
the sewage treatment plant at Battery
Point. In addition, CBRM will benefit
from the recently announced infrastructure
funds to construct the Byng
Avenue interceptor sewer, which will
tie into the JAG-initiated interceptor
sewer.
Such funding from the provincial
and federal infrastructure program
was made possible only because of the
work carried out by JAG in preparation
for a major cleanup.
The capping of the old landfill site
has saved CBRM millions it would
have been forced to secure for such a
project if not for the work of insightful
members of JAG who insisted the
Job be included in the cleanup. An
emergency response vehicle, equipment
and training requested by JAG
to respond to an emergency on the
sites is now the property of CBRM
and benefits all of Cape Breton.
The air monitoring project, the
technology demonstration project, the
geographic information system, various
health studies and countless other
projects have added to the preparation
of the sites for a major cleanup. At the
same time, all activities under JAG
provided employment for many
involved in the various projects.
Hotels, food and beverage providers,
printing companies, airlines and a
host of other companies also benefited
during the JAG process.
The loss of JAG has meant lost
opportunities for local unemployed
construction and trades people; the
members of JAG were working with
government to start the process of
brook diversion and cofferdam construction.
These are but a few of the
projects for which JAG asked governments
to provide interim funding
while they sort out the funding
formula for the major cleanup.
Could it be that some of the downward
trend in employment statistics
is due to the JAG partnership and
funding not being continued during
this time when governments are
determining how to proceed?
Mr. Marcocchio notes that little is
known about government intentions
and the process underway at this time.
That, of course, goes directly to the
heart of the reason JAG was so important
to our community.
JAG was a community government
partnership. With the JAG process,
senior government officials came to
our community on a monthly basis
and provided updates, listened to
citizens, took away information and
requests, and then turned these into
actions.
Rarely do senior government officials
come to Sydney these days to discuss
the tar ponds and coke ovens with
citizens. When they do, it is for their
agenda and on their schedule. All
information is now in the hands of
government representatives; as it was
before JAG.
Mr. Marcocchio can take considerable
credit for minimizing citizen
involvement. As a representative of
the Sierra Club of Canada, he worked
closely with Mayor John Morgan to
help put an end to the four-party
partnership and citizen involvement
under the JAG process.
Most of the visible progress under
the JAG process occurred from 2000 to
2003: this is the time after the new
process and the project participants
had gone through extensive discussions
and had learned to work as a
team. In this period, the tar ponds and
coke ovens cleanup progressed faster
than other large projects in North
America.
With pressure from the community,
an aggressive schedule was set in
March 2001 and was on track up to and
including the recommendation to
governments by JAG in May 2003. That
same schedule would have seen a government
decision on a cleanup made
by now, and the environmental assessment
of the defined project would now
be underway. Construction on actual
cleanup was scheduled to start one
year from now.
Governments have decided to start
a new community liaison process
with less public involvement. Let's see
how the schedule progresses now that
it is subject to government priorities
and no longer subject to community
priorities.
Mr. Marcocchio believes there is
only one cleanup method out there
capable of doing the job. He will not
accept that JAG presented 10 proven
and viable cleanup options to our
community and that citizens have spoken
their wishes for a cleanup. Mr.
Marcocchio and members of the Sierra
Club of Canada refused to complete
a workbook where their wishes could
have been stated and considered as
governments now determine what
processes they are prepared to fund.
Mr. Marcocchio continues to support
a form of incineration by stating
that thermal desorption and hydrogen
reduction are safe and cost effective,
an "elegant" way to clean up PAHs
and PCBs. The report on the 10 technologies
presented to JAG included
this process. Regrettably, this "elegant"
process is slow and expensive,
produces emissions, and is considered
experimental on the scale of the tar
ponds and coke ovens. It is re commended
as a viable option for the
smaller part of the waste that will be
treated as PCB material.
The JAG process has in fact pointed
out what technologies are preferred
by citizens of our community
while providing information on technologies
that are capable of carrying
out a cleanup in a reasonable time and
at reasonable cost. That was the mandate
of JAG, and government now has
those recommendations.
Dan Fraser is the chair of the Joint Action
Group.Though government support to
JAG ended in Septembey JAG is registered
under the Nova Scotia Societies Act and
citizen members continue to meet in the
interests of seeing a major cleanup.
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