Northside residents reject the idea of burning Sydney's toxic sludge in NSP plant
By Tanya Collier MacDonald
Cape Breton Post
Sat., Sept. 17, 2003
Residents unanimously reject
the idea of burning toxic sludge
in their community, a message
Sydney should get used to, says
a provincial spokesperson.
The message?
"Don't burn it here," said
Parker Donham, spokesperson
for the provincial Sydney Tar
ponds Agency.
A report on public meetings
held in Point Aconi and surrounding
communities on proposed cleanup technologies
was recently released by the
Joint Action Group.
It details the residents powerful
rejection of the proposal
to burn toxic sludge at a power
plant owned by Nova Scotia
Power and located in their
backyards.
About 300 copies of that document
are now available in the
community including the local
post office and grocery store.
"I think an important message
for the residents of Sydney
is that whether you're talking
Mercier, Que., Sarnia, Ont.,
or Point Aconi, Cape Breton, it
does not fill any other community's
heart with joy to learn
tar ponds material may be coming
their way," said Donham.
And, scientific advice doesn't
seem to be a persuasive factor
in those discussions, he
added.
Sydney should be "mindful
that there is considerable pressure"
to find a local solution.
Donham said JAG's recommendation to move and
destroy toxic waste at the Sydney
tar ponds and coke ovens
sites has yet to make it to cabinet
but it's expected a presentation
will be made in October.
As well as picking a technology,
who will complete the
work as well as how it will be
paid for, are questions that
need to be answered, he said.
"They'r'e all difficult questions
with hundreds of millions of
dollars at stake.
Nobody is going to rush into
it," said Donham.
He said he is disappointed
by Point Aconi's response.
"It is the one option that
would enable us to burn the
material without creating any
additional air emissions
because we would be displacing
a tonne of coal for every
tonne of tar ponds material
that we burned. Chemically,
the materials are very, very
similar and the experts assure
us that they would produce virtually
identical emissions."
It's too bad residents
weren't open to that advice, he
added.
tcmacdonald@cbpost.com
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