By Tanya Collier, Cape Breton Post, March 27, 1999
The Nova Scotia
Department of
Environment will not
issue a stop-work order
for the Sobeys
expansion on Prince
Street in Sydney.
Terry MacPherson,
hydro geologist, said the
department does not
have reasonable or
probable grounds to
believe irreparable or
adverse affects are
occurring at the
construction site.
“We don’t feel a
stop-work order is
prudent.”
MacPherson noted the
department does not
normally regulate
building construction but
they used a section of
the Environmental
Protection Act that says
there is a duty for the
company to take
remedial measures.
A uniquely engineered
sub-slab vapour barrier
system to mitigate
volatile and toxic gases
emerging from the
ground, other design
changes, and a health
risk assessment report
due from the Atlantic
Shopping Centres Ltd.
are all remedial
measures by the
company, he said.
“They are taking our
requests seriously.”
The slab is being
constructed now under
the agreement that if the
health risk assessment
recommends
modifications to the
project, the company will
be required to comply.
Sobeys confident they have answer to environmental concerns
