PUBLICATIONThe Halifax Chronicle-Herald
DATE Friday July 23, 1999
PAGE A3
BYLINE Tera Camus
HEADLINE:Creek scares Sydney residents
Orange stream runs from dump, coke ovens site, past homes
Sydney - Some residents of Beech Street in the city's Ashby
district are worried they're being poisoned by a creek that runs off
the toxic coke ovens site.
They say the creek overflows and floods their homes and neighborhood
near Vulcan Avenue when it rains and they want the problem fixed.
"I'm very concerned, very concerned," said one woman. "I have a
breathing problem now that I never had before."
She said that on windy days, coal dust or sulphur from an open pit
on the site also gets on her line of clothes.
"This is a health hazard," she said. "It's life-threatening to us
and we have to deal with it every day. ... They'll have to get us
out of here."
Like Frederick Street on the north, Vulcan Avenue to the south runs
parallel to the coke ovens. But unlike Whitney Pier residents, Ashby
homeowners have said little about the toxic mess nearby.
On Wednesday, a group of concerned residents followed the creek
across the coke ovens and found it flows from the municipal landfill.
The bright orange stream can be easily seen from the overpass
linking Whitney Pier and Ashby.
In 1986, Ottawa determined the brook contained a mix of toxins
including benzopyrene, lead, arsenic, iron, lead, manganese and
other cancer-causing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.
In a study last year for the Joint Action Group, charged with
cleaning up Sydney's toxic sites, the brook was identified as one of
15 sources of pollution blamed "for ongoing release of contaminants."
Wayne Pierce of Environment Canada says it hasn't received any
complaints about water runoff from the coke ovens.
"It sounds to me that it's part of the municipal storm-water system,
but I don't know," he said. "But I suspect that's what it is and
maybe when there's a storm, a larger than ususual volume of water,
maybe there's a backflow."
Mark Ferris, chairman of site security for JAG, says the runoff is a
provincial and municipal problem.
"They are responsible for the drainage," he said. "When it rains on
the coke ovens it gets so saturated and the drains on site get
plugged from the coal dust and what have you. ... It takes days for
it to dry up."
The area surrounding the brook is a popular spot for berry pickers
and all-terrain vehicles. On Wednesday, three ATVs were racing in
the area and crossed through the toxic brook.
"You're pretty close here to a residential area," Whitney Pier
resident Ada Hearn said.
"If you think about small kids roaming ... if they fall into the
muddy stream, they'll never get out."
The site is not thoroughly fenced in, yet the stream winds close
enough to one home on Frederick Street that their cows can be heard
snorting by anyone walking past the brook.
"I just can't believe the government doesn't realize the problem
here," concerned citizen Larry Nixon said.
Don Deleskie, a former Vulcan Street resident who fell into the
toxic brook after his boot got stuck in the mud, was not surprised
by the open site.
"It's the worst nightmare in Canada, if not in North America. You
think the coke ovens is bad, but then you got the tar ponds, then
you got the dump and then you got this here, a cancer-causing stream,
that's wide open," he said.
"You've got to move the people, there's too many people dying," he
said. "What price does the government want us to pay? Do we have to
sacrifice everyone?"
Mr. Ferris said the group in charge of the cleanup is powerless to
help. "We have no jurisdiction there," he said. "There's nothing we
can do."
Regional counillor Lorne Green, who lives in Whitney Pier, said he's
concerned the fence doesn't keep people out of the area.
"I thought it should be continued down the rail bed so that no one
can get on the site," he said. "The site is supposed to be secured
and the bare fact that you can drive down there in a car amazes me."
PUBLICATIONCape Breton Post
DATE Thu 22 Jul 1999
EDITION FINAL
SECTION/CATEGORY Cape Breton
PAGE NUMBER7
BYLINE Tanya Collier
STORY LENGTH 315
HEADLINE: Tender for vendors now being prepared: Tar ponds contract for three years
A tender to hire an organization to screen potential vendors vying
to clean up the Sydney tar ponds is now being prepared.
Darren Andrews, chair of the Remedial Options working group with
the Joint Action Group (JAG), says the terms of reference are
complete and the tender should be issued by September.
The contract is for three years, which is deemed enough time for
the company to adequately review businesses showing interest in
the clean up.
Andrews said the successful consulting company will need several
months to familiarize themselves with the clean up, another year
to review submitted proposals, and additional time to evaluate the
technologies.
After conducting tests to determine which technologies are most
viable for the site, the company will then make recommendations to
JAG.
``JAG will make the final decision.''
The step to hire a consulting company is included in phase four of
the Canadian Council of the Ministers of the Environment (CCME)
six phase approach to the clean up.
Improving the coke ovens site is in Phase 2 and Phase 3, he said.
Before the next remedial options meeting - set for Aug. 30 - a
sub-committee of the working group is also planning to provide
suggestions for the site's future use, continued Andrews.
Establishing a site usage is needed to aid the consulting company
hired to oversee the technology selection process.
Since 1996, JAG officials have been studying the problem to
determine the exact extent of the contamination and what
remediation effort would best suit the cleanup. Officials have met
with various interests from several countries offering expertise
and development of particular methods.
JAG is mandated to develop a remediation plan for the Muggah Creek
Watershed, which includes the famed tar ponds that contain more
than 700,000 tonnes of toxic waste left from nearly a century of
steel making. In addition, the watershed includes other properties
which are also contaminated.
PUBLICATIONCP Wire
DATE Thu 22 Jul 1999
SECTION/CATEGORY Atlantic regional general news
STORY LENGTH 288
HEADLINE: AM-Toxic-Street code:4; hqq; HALIFAX OUT; INDEX:
Environment; More residents fear for health
SYDNEY, N.S. (CP) - Residents of another Sydney neighbourhood are
worried they're being poisoned by a creek that runs from the
highly polluted Sydney Steel coke ovens site.
They say the creek overflows and floods their homes on Beech
Street when it rains and they want the problem fixed.
``I'm very concerned, very concerned,'' said one woman. ``I have a
breathing problem now that I never had before.''
She said that on windy days, coal dust or sulphur from an open pit
on the site also gets on her line of clothes.
``This is a health hazard,'' she said. ``It's life-threatening to
us and we have to deal with it every day. . . . They'll have to
get us out of here.''
On Wednesday, a group of concerned residents followed the creek
that has bright orange water across the coke ovens site and found
it flows from the municipal landfill.
In 1986, Ottawa determined the brook contained a mix of toxins
including benzopyrene, lead, arsenic, iron, lead, manganese and
other cancer-causing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.
In a study last year, the brook was identified as one of 15
sources of pollution blamed ``for ongoing release of
contaminants.''
Wayne Pierce of Environment Canada says it hasn't received any
complaints about water runoff from the coke ovens.
Environmentalist Don Deleskie calls the area most polluted in
Canada, if not North America.
``You've got to move the people, there's too many people dying,''
he said. ``What price does the government want us to pay? Do we
have to sacrifice everyone?''
The provincial government has agreed to buy the homes of residents
living on the other side of the former cokes ovens because of
arsenic-laced goo leaking into some basements.
(Halifax
Chronicle-Herald)
The following letter was sent to Bradford Duplisea from Dr. Rosalie Bertell.
Dear Brad,
I have made four trips to Europe since June, and must go again in August.
I have been fighting the use of depleted uranium (radioactive waste) by
NATO in its bullets and missiles. They used it extensively in the Gulf
War, Bosnia and Kosovo. The UN Human Rights Tribunal will hear this case
in August, so I have been over my head in work and travel.
I have tried to keep up my understanding of the struggle in Sydney, and
I was glad for the letter of response which Roger Dixon sent on arsenic.
The evacuation of any home with any of the toxic material in it is
imperitive. No toxic meterial should be found in living quarters.
I support your struggle for justice.
Best wishes,
Rosalie Bertell
Rosalie Bertell, Ph. D., GNSH
President, ACS (1998-2000)
President IICPH (1984+)
710-264 Queens Quay West
Toronto ON M5J 1B5 CANADA
Tel: 1-416-260-0575
Fax: 1-416-260-3404
Email: Dr. Bertell
