JAG chair urges support for process

By Steve MacInnis, Cape Breton Post, October 27, 1998
If Cape Breton residents ever want to see the Muggah Creek Watershed cleaned up, it had better start showing its support to the Joint Action Group (JAG).

"We have an opportunity for a solution and instead of knocking JAG, why not become involved in the process," said Carl (Bucky) Buchanan, JAG chairperson, in an address Monday to the 48th annual meeting of the Sydney unit of the Canadian Cancer Society.

In his first public address since being re-elected JAG chair over the weekend, Buchanan told his audience that all three levels of government, which fund JAG, have made it clear that the community must support JAG if a cleanup is to proceed.

"If the community doesn't rally around and support JAG then it's our own fault if the area is not cleaned up," he said "I challenge all of you to become a part of the process."

Formed in August, 1996, JAG is a volunteer community group mandated to develop a remediation plan for Canada's worst toxic waste dump. The is a 325 acre site which Buchanan described as containing pretty well every contaminant known to man.

Buchanan said JAG has been chastised because of infighting but urged his audience to realize the magnitude of the problem.

"Yeah, we do fight and argue but this is an emotional issue and trying to run process by consensus is not an easy thing," he said.

He said JAG volunteers have so far racked up some 20,000 hours in personal time towards finding a remediation option.

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