Argentia officials to brief JAG

By Tanya Collier, CB Post, November 27, 1998

The Joint Action Group (JAG) held its monthly roundtable at Centre 200 in Sydney Wednesday. Following is a brief overview of some of the items discussed during the five-hour session:

- Representatives from an ex-military base in Argentia, Nfld. will be meeting with members of the JAG to discuss remedial options they used to begin cleaning a contaminated site. The event will take place at the former Woodill school in Sydney Dec. 8 at 7 p.m. and the public is invited to attend. The Newfoundland group is cleaning up contaminants such as aviation fuel that leaked from underground tanks at the base. The public presentation will be hosted by JAG's working group Environmental Data Gathering and Remedial Options (EDGAR). Diane Giffin Boudreau, representing Environment Canada, said the presentation will be paid for by the federal government with no strain on JAG's budget.

- Six paid employees will be hired by JAG in upcoming weeks. Four of the potential employees will be part-time administrative assistants, one will be a full-time community outreach officer and there will be one clerk. John MacMullin, JAG member, said the positions will be filled quickly.

- Hyd-Eng Geophysics Inc. was awarded the contract to do a geophysical study to further characterize underground structures at the Sydney coke oven site. The study coincides with Phase 2 and 3 of intrusive sampling and will cost between $50,000 and $100,000 to complete. The contractor will be attending a kick-off meeting in early December with JAG representatives to decide when the project will begin. It's expected to take three months to complete. Hyd-Eng Geophysics Inc. have an office in Bedford, Nova Scotia but are based in Mississauga, Ont.

Poll shows public is aware of JAG

By Tanya Collier

The public is aware of the Joint Action Group (JAG) but there are some gaps in how well it is understood, a poll has revealed.

David Ash, chair of the JAG working group Public Education and Participation (PEP), said 600 randomly-selected residents from industrial Cape Breton were contacted in the past month for the poll, which was outlined during a roundtable session in Sydney recently.

The majority of respondents (75.2 per cent) were aware of JAG although 97 per cent of respondents who heard of the group never visited the JAG office. A majority of the respondents also indicated they did not know what the composition of JAG was and less than half knew the Cape Breton Regional Municipality was involved in the process.

Ash said the majority of respondents said JAG's mandate was to clean up the but about 25 per cent indicated they didn't know what JAG¼s purpose was.

Respondents said they would be "somewhat comfortable" accepting clean up recommendations from JAG but "somewhat uncomfortable" accepting recommendations from government.

A green belt or park was the most popular choice of possibilities for the watershed once it was remediated with slightly fewer respondents saying they were unsure of what they would prefer. Ash said 26 years was the average length of time estimated by respondents to complete the clean up although six years was considered a reasonable length of time by the participants.

The newspaper was the respondents choice as the main source for local news followed by television then radio. Overall, respondents indicated they were very concerned about the possible health effects from the tar ponds site and were also concerned about possible health effects from the coke ovens site, he continued.

Participants also indicated they were dissatisfied with the progress made so far in cleaning up the watershed, added Ash.

Jag Examines Research Fund

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