Muggah Creek Watershed
Saturday, May 15, 1999
The Halifax Herald Limited
Editorial
Oozing their way toward moving vans
THE FIRST CHINK has finally appeared in what had been the MacLellan
government's
unsympathetic armour. A handful of residents of Sydney's toxic Frederick
Street
has been offered temporary relocation. Environment Minister Michel Samson
and
his fellow Liberal cabinet ministers might as well just throw in the towel
on
the tar ponds ooze controversy and call up the moving vans.
As Debbie Ouellette told the minister on Thursday, after receiving word she
was
being moved, for now, to a Sydney hotel: "Thank you for offering us a place,
but I'll tell you right now, Michel, I'm not moving back."
After months of failing to act on residents' complaints about the ooze in
their
neighbourhood, the situation escalated nearly two weeks ago when the outdoor
ooze showed up in a handful of basements on Frederick Street. The tension
grew
when it appeared in one home on a street two blocks away.
While the Department of the Environment received results Tuesday on the ooze
contents, Mr. Samson told reporters Thursday afternoon that he had not yet
seen
them. This sounds like a modern-day fairy tale, or perhaps the minister is
merely grossly inept when it comes to what should be the hottest file on his
desk.
This can be of little comfort to the residents of Frederick Street, whether
they are among the four families moved out on Thursday evening or among
those
who still live in their homes.
More tests are to be undertaken. The department says it does not know if the
contamination comes from the nearby tar ponds, or from years of burning
coal on
the residential properties. If the latter were the case, one might suspect
half
of Cape Breton would be oozing by now.
Mr. Samson says the ooze poses "no health risk," but acknowledged the
"level of
anxiety" prompted his decision.
The relocations were being undertaken on "compassionate grounds," the
minister
said, and his department would consider other moves on a case-by-case
assessment.
Scientifically quantifying the health risks associated with the tar ponds
has
proven to be a
challenge. There have been conflicting studies and a confusing array of
data.
It seems the government has been putting up an inhumane front, refusing to
provide speedy action, while residents' worries about their long-term health
have continued to escalate.
At this point, the Grits' plan appears to be an indoor cleanup of the
basements, a resealing of foundations, then a return for the four families.
And what's the plan when the ooze reappears next time? And the time after
that?
The Liberals are asking these people to live with too much fear and
uncertainty, to say nothing of what remains an unclear health risk.
At some point, the emotional trauma caused by the environmental conditions
in
this
neighbourhood must be acknowledged.
As is often the case in these situations, there is something of a split in
the
neighbourhood, with some residents voicing more concerns about property
values
while showing a higher degree of tolerance for the reality of the tar ponds.
The government should not exploit this rift as an excuse for failing to take
action. People can make their own choices, but the province has a
responsibility to offer permanent relocation.
The New York State Love Canal community stands as an example, in 1980, of a
situation where government moved residents from a polluted neighbourhood,
even
though the exact health risk could not be determined.
That decision was based on compassion. This one should be, too. Call the
moving
vans, Michel.
Three more families leave arsenic zone
Relocation might last eight months
By Tera Camus / Cape Breton Bureau
Sydney - Three more families were evacuated from the toxic Frederick Street
neighbourhood Friday night.
Laura Lee Langley, spokeswoman for the provincial Environment Department,
confirmed Friday additional residents wanted out after seeing neighbours
leaving
Thursday because of arsenic in their homes.
"Those residents are being looked after as well," she said. "There's a
sensitivity to the
Frederick Street area."
Lori Keough and her two children were among the families to move to a
downtown
hotel Friday.
"Who wants to live in a toxic environment? I don't. I don't want my children
growing
up in it," she said.
Ms. Keough lives in a home between the McKenzie and McDonald families. Those
two families, along with the Ouellettes were evacuated Thursday. A fourth,
the
Ross
family from two streets away, was also relocated.
"I have a new basement. . . . I went down there the other day and you can
see
orange," Ms. Keough said. "And I called the provincial Environment
Department
and
asked why wasn't it tested. I've asked, but it was never tested."
One of the largest deposits of goo was found in Debbie Ouellette's
basement. On
Friday, she finally received a copy of the results, more than four days
after
the
province received them.
"All I know is that there's arsenic in my basement," she said. "I don't know
what the
numbers mean."
There is no acceptable limit established for indoor exposure to arsenic by
the
federal
Canadian Council of the Ministers for the Environment.
However, the International Agency for Research on Cancer has classified
arsenic
as
a human carcinogen.
Short-term exposure (days to weeks) may result in gastrointestinal
irritation,
difficulty
in swallowing, thirst, abnormally low blood pressure, convulsions and
cardiac
failure
leading to death, the agency said.
The estimated lethal dose for an adult weighing 70 kilograms (155 pounds)
is in
the
range of 70 to 280 milligrams. Children, seniors and chronically ill people
could be
affected by lower levels.
Last week, arsenic measuring 49.9 milligrams per kilogram of soil was found
in
a
patch of goo near the back door of one home. The acceptable limit is 12 mg
per
kg.
An official with Housing and Municipal Affairs met with some residents on
Friday to
discuss long-term needs.
Residents were told they could be homeless for up to eight months. But Ms.
Langley
said to her knowledge that's not the plan.
"Housing and Municipal Affairs are part of a team here . . . to see what
(are)
the
needs of the families involved and look at how best they can be met in the
short
term," she said.
Temporary housing may be part of the plan, she said.
Extra security was engaged to watch over the vacant homes on Frederick
Street
starting Thursday night. Security from the coke ovens site as well as
regional
police
will do extra patrols, Ms. Langley said.
Frederick Street spokeswoman Juanita McKenzie said residents felt a lot more
compassion from the government Friday.
"This is a healing process and it's got to start with the government by
doing
the right
thing," she said. "I'm open to any solution to this. That's all I've ever
asked
for is a
clean and healthy place to live with my family. . . . Until the government
can
give that
to me, I'm not returning to my home."
Tory MLA Jim DeWolfe pressured the province to define a clear plan for
residents.
"Both the minister (of environment) and his predecessor have kept insisting
on
more
testing," he said. "The testing has to stop at some point and a plan of
action
put into
place that is in the best interests of Frederick Street residents."
Sydney-Victoria MP Peter Mancini also renewed his call for action from the
federal
and provincial governments Friday.
"These families . . . need a permanent solution so they can get on with
their
lives and
stop living under a cloud of fear and uncertainty," he said.
Sunday, May 16, 1999
Halifax Daily News
Editorial
Finally, compassion
Regardless of the actual danger,
Frederick Street residents deserve the
province's help
By Parker Barss Donham
Who would want to live next to a notorious toxic-waste site,
where Human Health Hazard signs adorn the back fence,
authorities advise against letting children play in the yard, and
a mysterious yellow ooze seeps in through the basement
wall?
No one, that's who.
Whatever else might be true about the dangers facing residents of Frederick
Street in Whitney Pier, there can be no disputing their homes are worthless.
No prudent person would buy them.
After reviewing a chemical analysis of the yellow goo that's infiltrating
Frederick Street basements, the province agreed to relocate worried families
to a hotel. Environment Minister Michel Samson described the move as
temporary, and insisted the province acted not because the sludge posed
any health risk, but to curb the residents' anxiety.
Whatever the result of further testing ordered by the province, this move
will
not be temporary. The frightened families will never return to live on
Frederick Street.
Instead, Samson's "temporary" concession will step up pressure for
government to buy out residents adjacent to the coke ovens, a process that
would require impossible decisions about where to draw the line.
Two investigations
Independent environmental consulting firms have carried out two
investigations of the coke ovens site. The first, by Acres International in
the
mid-'80s, led to the ill-fated plan to generate electricity by incinerating
sludge
from the tar ponds. The second, by Jacques Whitford and Nolan Davis, in
1990, went over much of the same ground.
Both showed the coke-oven site to be massively polluted not only with
deadly arsenic, the toxin most often cited as a concern on Frederick Street,
but also with PAHs, a family of powerful carcinogens categorized by the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as a "priority pollutant."
A century of coke production, along with related industrial processes at the
old Domtar plant and a benzol facility, have created a toxic underground
plume that at its core is unquestionably dangerous to human health.
The question is whether this plume is migrating, how fast, and in what
direction.
The province did not make public the results of chemical analysis in
affected
homes, though it did furnish them to the residents. Department officials
said
the results were comparable in magnitude to tests last year of a similar
yellow sludge found oozing out of a railway bed adjacent to the properties.
Those tests showed arsenic levels above desirable concentrations, but well
below those found in gold-mining areas around the province. PAH levels in
the rail-bed sample were roughly a hundredth of the upper limit deemed
acceptable for a contaminated site that has been remediated.
The ooze apparently owes its yellow colour to high levels of iron, a
condition
common to Cape Breton soils.
The coke-ovens site lies in a shallow valley that slopes westward toward
Muggah Creek and its estuary, the notorious tar ponds.
Frederick Street runs along the northern edge of the coke site. To the
southwest, the province recently allowed construction of a shopping centre
on Prince Street, on a filled section of Muggah Creek.
Piles driven still further away, on the south side of Prince Street during
the
expansion of a Sobey's store this winter, turned up a tarry ooze that
alarmed
shoppers, who reported it to provincial environment inspectors.
Tests showed the tar contained PAHs at nearly six times federal standards,
but the province declined to stop work on the project. Sobey's later revised
its construction plan to include a thicker, more impermeable floor.
An inclined layer of relatively impermeable mudstone underlies the
coke-ovens valley and follows its contours. Both Acres and the Jacques
Whitford and Nolan Davis consortium concluded this layer makes it unlikely
the underground plume will migrate toward populated areas north and south
of the plant. The handful of off-site samples they examined supported this
view.
The Sobey's site, on filled land along the banks of Muggah Creek, could be
a different story. Environment Department engineers take a cold look at this
data and conclude, reasonably, that while the fears of Frederick Street
residents are understandable, hard facts don't back them up.
The residents look at the area's high cancer rates, at the mess the
environment department made of the tar ponds cleanup, at the failure to stop
Sobey's from building on contaminated land, and at their own proximity to a
site the media continually refers to as the worst toxic-waste dump in
Canada, and they are not reassured.
Track the plume
Given its own checkered track record on protecting Sydney's environment,
the province is right to treat the Frederick Street residents
compassionately.
It should also design and implement a continuing program to monitor
contaminants along the coke-ovens periphery to track the migration of the
toxic plume. And make the results public promptly.
Three more families leave arsenic zone
Relocation might last eight months
By Tera Camus / Cape Breton Bureau Halifax Herald, May 15, 1999
Sydney - Three more families were evacuated from the toxic Frederick Street
neighbourhood Friday night.
Laura Lee Langley, spokeswoman for the provincial Environment Department,
confirmed Friday additional residents wanted out after seeing neighbours leaving
Thursday because of arsenic in their homes.
"Those residents are being looked after as well," she said. "There's a sensitivity to the
Frederick Street area."
Lori Keough and her two children were among the families to move to a downtown
hotel Friday.
"Who wants to live in a toxic environment? I don't. I don't want my children growing
up in it," she said.
Ms. Keough lives in a home between the McKenzie and McDonald families. Those
two families, along with the Ouellettes were evacuated Thursday. A fourth, the Ross
family from two streets away, was also relocated.
"I have a new basement. . . . I went down there the other day and you can see
orange," Ms. Keough said. "And I called the provincial Environment Department and
asked why wasn't it tested. I've asked, but it was never tested."
One of the largest deposits of goo was found in Debbie Ouellette's basement. On
Friday, she finally received a copy of the results, more than four days after the
province received them.
"All I know is that there's arsenic in my basement," she said. "I don't know what the
numbers mean."
There is no acceptable limit established for indoor exposure to arsenic by the federal
Canadian Council of the Ministers for the Environment.
However, the International Agency for Research on Cancer has classified arsenic as
a human carcinogen.
Short-term exposure (days to weeks) may result in gastrointestinal irritation, difficulty
in swallowing, thirst, abnormally low blood pressure, convulsions and cardiac failure
leading to death, the agency said.
The estimated lethal dose for an adult weighing 70 kilograms (155 pounds) is in the
range of 70 to 280 milligrams. Children, seniors and chronically ill people could be
affected by lower levels.
Last week, arsenic measuring 49.9 milligrams per kilogram of soil was found in a
patch of goo near the back door of one home. The acceptable limit is 12 mg per kg.
An official with Housing and Municipal Affairs met with some residents on Friday to
discuss long-term needs.
Residents were told they could be homeless for up to eight months. But Ms. Langley
said to her knowledge that's not the plan.
"Housing and Municipal Affairs are part of a team here . . . to see what (are) the
needs of the families involved and look at how best they can be met in the short
term," she said.
Temporary housing may be part of the plan, she said.
Extra security was engaged to watch over the vacant homes on Frederick Street
starting Thursday night. Security from the coke ovens site as well as regional police
will do extra patrols, Ms. Langley said.
Frederick Street spokeswoman Juanita McKenzie said residents felt a lot more
compassion from the government Friday.
"This is a healing process and it's got to start with the government by doing the right
thing," she said. "I'm open to any solution to this. That's all I've ever asked for is a
clean and healthy place to live with my family. . . . Until the government can give that
to me, I'm not returning to my home."
Tory MLA Jim DeWolfe pressured the province to define a clear plan for residents.
"Both the minister (of environment) and his predecessor have kept insisting on more
testing," he said. "The testing has to stop at some point and a plan of action put into
place that is in the best interests of Frederick Street residents."
Sydney-Victoria MP Peter Mancini also renewed his call for action from the federal
and provincial governments Friday.
"These families . . . need a permanent solution so they can get on with their lives and
stop living under a cloud of fear and uncertainty," he said.
Province moves three more families out of
Pier homes
By Laurel Munroe, Cape Breton Post, May 15, 1999
The provincial government has now moved a total of seven
Whitney Pier families from their homes to a downtown
Sydney hotel.
Thursday, four families were relocated after test results
confirmed orange-coloured goo found seeping into their
basements contained traces of arsenic.
Friday, three more families asked to be moved.
Lori Keough, a 13-year resident of Frederick Street, was
upset she wasn’t personally approached by officials from
the provincial Environment Department who visited the
street Thursday.
Keough’s residence is situated between the homes of
Juanita & Rick McKenzie and Ronnie & Debbie
McDonald; both the families, along with the Ouellette
family of Frederick Street and the Ross family of nearby
Laurier Street were moved Thursday.
Keough’s home has never been tested. She has a new
basement and claims to have seen an orange-coloured
substance near the sump pump hole.
