Sobeys confident they have answer to environmental concerns
By Tanya Collier, Cape Breton Post, March 31, 1999
Sobeys representatives are confident a
specially engineered floor designed by local
engineering consultants will satisfy ongoing
environmental concerns.
John Keizer, corporate director with the
national food distributor, said the uniquely
engineered sub-slab vapour barrier system
will more than adequately deal with
contaminants that “may or may not” be
contained within soil at the construction site.
The system - developed by Jacques
Whitford and Associates Ltd. - will mitigate
volatile and toxic gases emerging from the
ground. Earlier soil samples revealed
elevated levels of poly aromatic
hydrocarbons and petroleum hydrocarbons
in the soil.
In information provided by Keizer, it’s
reported the floor consists of four layers.
The first layer is about 12 inches of gravel
laid over undisturbed soil. On top is two
inches of concrete, called a concrete mud
slab, which acts as support and protection
between the gravel. The third layer is a
vapour barrier membrane. The membrane
blocks the movement of both liquids and
vapours. The final layer is an eight-inch
thick concrete floor. Also, within the gravel
there are perforated pipes that act as a
venting system. If vapours do accumulate
under the floor, they will enter the pipes and
be vented outside though a network of
sealed pipes.
Keizer said work on the floor was
suspended March 18 but restarted March 26
when the Department of the Environment
informed the company construction work
would not interfere with a health risk
assessment being done on the site. The
report is due in about four weeks.
Sobeys to beef up floor at Sydney site
By Tera Camus / Cape Breton Bureau
Sydney - Sobeys says a thick floor will prevent cancer-causing toxins from
getting into its expanded store on the banks of the tar ponds.
Construction crews will soon pour 30 centimetres of gravel over the toxic
soil on Prince Street, followed by a vapour barrier and five centimetres of
concrete.
"The Department of Environment has left the decision of continuing to work
on the floor to Sobeys officials," a news release from the food chain stated
Tuesday.
The Joint Action Group had called for a work stoppage after tests by the
Environment Department found six times the acceptable limits of polycylic
aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and excessive amounts of petroleum
hydrocarbons.
However, Environment officials said the stoppage wasn't necessary,
despite the unacceptable limits of cancer-causing airborne toxins. There's
about 700,000 tonnes of PAHs and polychlorinated byphenals (PCBs) in
the adjacent tar ponds.
Karl Sobey, in a press statement, stated the thick floor should calm
environmentalists, who earlier threatened to boycott the Prince Street
store.
"We are confident the assessment will again demonstrate that all
environmental issues are being dealt with appropriately," he said.
The renovated store is expected to be completed by early summer.
Late last year, black sludge oozed into the construction site after huge
steel beams were driven into the ground.
Customers tracked it into the Sydney Shopping Centre.
No shellfish to be taken from harbour
By Wes Stewart, Cape Breton Post, March 31, 1999
A rise in the fecal count
may close a popular
boating area in the Bras
d’Or Lakes to shellfish
harvesting.
Pat Bates, chairman of
the Bras d’Or Lake
Stewardship Society,
told Tuesday’s meeting
of the Sydney Rotary
Club that Maskell’s
Harbour, a sheltered
mooring west of the Iona
Bridge, is recommended
to be closed.
It is latest area of the
lake where oysters,
mussels and clams
traditionally have been
harvested to be closed
due to high levels of
fecal coliform
contamination. Closed
area include Deny’s
Basin near Orangedale,
Whycocomagh Bay,
Baddeck Inlet, Iona, as
well as small sites in
East Bay and Eskasoni.
The society is after
Department of Fisheries
and Oceans to have
these shellfish areas
posted closed to
harvesting.
Sydney group urges more to join lawsuit
