Muggah Creek Watershed
PUBLICATIONCape Breton Post
DATE Thu 10 Jun 1999
EDITION FINAL
SECTION/CATEGORY Cape Breton
PAGE NUMBER 7
BYLINETanya collier
STORY LENGTH 382
HEADLINE:
Frederick Street events to be depicted in book
The plight of Frederick Street residents will be depicted in a
book to be published in 2000.
** Elizabeth May, executive director of the Sierra Club of Canada,
and Maude Barlow, a Canadian Nationalist author, lecturer and
activist, are co-authoring the publication. The working title of
the book is Frederick Street, Life and Death of Canada's Love
Canal.
The book will be published by HarperCollins Publishers.
``We see it as a tactic in expanding levels of understanding,
especially across Canada, and we hope people in the community feel
it accurately depicts their experiences,'' said May.
There are many issues about the including
the Sydney tar ponds and coke oven site, that islanders have
become used to but another audience may find shocking, she
continued.
She listed the mothballed twin fluidized bed incinerators located
on the Sydney steel plant property and Cape Breton's labour
history as some of the startling ordeals that have occurred on the
island concerning the site.
Upwards of 25 individuals, including retired steelworkers,
residents in Whitney Pier and Mi'kmaq, were interviewed for the
publication.
``It has a historical perspective,'' she added.
There is also a human side of the story that will move people.
May said the authors are concentrating on making it known to the
reader that the does not extend to island
tourist attractions such as the Cabot Trail.
Although the situation along Frederick Street and area has changed
greatly the past few months because of a government decision to
offer 24 residents from Frederick Street and Curry's Lane the
option to sell their home, May said she believes the book will be
helpful.
``We'd rather the book contribute to the solution rather than
after the fact.''
May said the authors received an advance from the publisher to pay
for researchers and any money May receives aside from that will go
toward the Sierra Club's efforts concerning the Muggah Creek
Watershed.
Barlow could not be reached for comment.
Frederick Street borders the north side of the former coke ovens
site, part of the , which includes the
notorious Sydney tar ponds, containing 700,000 tonnes of toxic
sludge left behind from nearly a century of steel making.
The area is fenced in with signs posted, warning of a human health
hazard.
PUBLICATIONThe Halifax Chronicle-Herald
DATE Thursday June 10, 1999
PAGE A4
BYLINETera Camus
HEADLINE:
Plants considered for tar ponds cleanup
Phytoremediation 'on cutting edge'
Sydney - Trees to clean up toxins?
It's an idea being bandied about by the Joint Action Group following
a presentation by federal Environment Department scientist Terry
McIntyre Tuesday night.
"It's on the cutting edge," JAG member Eric Brophy said. "It's
one of the new things they're looking at for remediating toxic sites
. . . by using plant life."
The scientific term is phytoremediation - the use of plants to
stabilize, remediate or assist in cleaning up air, soil, water or
groundwater.
According to Mr. McIntyre, certain plants - cat tails, elephant ears
- and trees like alders, hybrid poplar, black locust, sweetgum,
loblolly pine and juniper suck up certain pollutants into their root
systems. They also help contaminated sites indirectly by changing
the microbiotic structure of soil and water.
Mr. McIntyre said the advantages of using trees on sites are their
long lifespans, large, deep root systems, small cost, minimal
maintenance and ability to block contaminated groundwater.
In his preliminary analysis of the coke ovens and tar ponds, Mr.
McIntyre found 158 thriving species of plants. There were also 13
tree species, 17 shrubs and 128 herbs found around the sites.
"Species richness and plant activity suggest a role for plants in
future remediation or restoration at the site," he said during his
presentation.
Some of the plants tested revealed elevated levels of toxins,
despite being healthy. Dog mustard plants revealed 3.7 milligrams
per kilogram of arsenic while evening primrose had 35.9 milligrams
per kilogram of copper and 40 milligrams per kilogram of nickel.
The metals and organic compounds plants can digest include lead,
zinc, nickel and copper, as well as radionuclides,chlorinated
substances and petroleum hydrocarbons. The biggest drawback of
phytoremediation is that it can't handle the vast amount of other
toxins like the 45,000 tonnes of polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs.
The tar ponds in downtown Sydney also have more than 700,000 tonnes
of black goo containing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.
"It would be cheaper than other processes, and it would only be
something that could clean up certain things," JAG's Mr. Brophy said.
"It could be used along with something else. . . . There's no one
process that can do it.
"There's going to be so many different types of technologies."
JAG recognized since its inception that plants could be used to help
remediate the site.
The federal government now plans to do more research on the idea,
further assess the botanical diversity of the site and look for the
presence of rare or endangered plants.
