PUBLICATIONCape Breton Post
DATE Mon 21 Jun 1999
EDITION FINAL
SECTION/CATEGORYCape Breton
PAGE NUMBER3
BYLINESharon Montgomery
STORY LENGTH 480
HEADLINE:
Samson clarifies position
The Nova Scotia Minister of Environment says misinformation in the
public concerning the Frederick Street situation is resulting in
undo anxiety for the residents.
Michel Samson said based on information he has been provided from
the department of health, there are no health and safety concerns
for residents of Frederick Street and surrounding areas.
``I am not a scientist, and rely on expert opinion. Unless this
stuff is consumed, it will not cause health or safety concerns.''
Samson said since becoming minister this has been his hardest
file. He said he was warned a while back that actions such as
relocating people would open floodgates.
``I said I was going to take action as it would go against
everything I believed as a politician, minister of environment and
a member of the Nova Scotia Barristers Society, if I didn't.''
Samson said they decided to relocate the residents of Frederick
Street not over health dangers, but rather so they could get in
around these homes to begin phase two of the project, to determine
where the substances are coming from, what is causing it and why
it is being found in some of the homes.
The decision to relocate some residents temporarily - such as Anne
Ross - was to give time for department officials to sit down with
them, explain the issues and address their concerns, he said.
He said the substance found in Ross's house does not
scientifically compare with that of the coke ovens site and it is
unlikely it was coming from there.
``I made the decision for temporary relocation on the grounds of
compassion, after anxieties heightened from misinformation over
the level of danger to themselves and their families.''
Ross was given advice including repairs which could be made to her
home, he said.
``Taxpayers could no longer be responsible for paying her hotel.''
Samson said people are basing concerns on guidelines under the
Canadian Council of the Minister of Environment, which are fine
for areas where there is not coal but inappropriate for this
situation.
He said results they have received are consistent to there being
coal contents in the ground. If testing of areas including in
Pictou, Colchester or Cumberland counties were carried out, these
levels would be found, he said.
``If we went in the valley in the farming community arsenic would
be much higher than the homes tested.''
Samson said he believes certain groups are getting involved in
this situation for their own agenda, and in the process are
heightening the fears of local residents.
``They know better and are using this situation for their own
benefit which is unfortunate.''
He said it is too bad residents are protesting by camping by the
premier's home, treating him as the bad guy.
``The premier has given the full support of the government behind
all this. He is not an enemy to these people.''
GLOBE AND MAIL - Document 5 of 22
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991720005MONJUN.21,1999
PAGE:A5
BYLINE:
CLASS: National News
SOURCE: CP
DATELINE: Sydney AUSTRALIA
WORDS: 130
::::::::::
HEAD:NATIONAL REPORT
HEAD:NOVA SCOTIA
HEAD:
Group protests toxic homes
SYDNEY A handful of Sydney residents set up tents in a vacant lot
across from Premier Russell MacLellan's Cape Breton house to demand
the province buy their homes and relocate them from what they say is a
toxic neighbourhood. Ann Ross of Laurier Street, near the infamous
Sydney tar ponds, arrived immediately after checking out of a Sydney
hotel, where the province had put up residents who found an
arsenic-laced goo seeping in and around their homes.
The province offered more than a month ago to put up some of the
residents, including those on Frederick Street and Curry's Lane, in a
Sydney hotel while it studied the substance. Weeks later, they offered
to buy 24 homes on Frederick Street and Curry's Lane for compassionate
reasons. CP
PUBLICATIONThe Halifax Chronicle-Herald
DATE Sunday June 20, 1999
PAGE A4
BYLINETera Camus
HEADLINE:
Protesters pitch tents by premier's home
Sydney - When the premier arrived home Saturday night, for the
first time since the election call, about a dozen protesters were
there to greet him - camped out across from his house.
Laurier Street resident Ann Ross and her daughter, along with a half-
dozen of their neighbours, set up tents as promised - in the vacant
lot across from Russell MacLellan's home on Hospital Street.
Ms. Ross said she was going to take this action because she had
nowhere else to go after her 37-day stay at the Delta Sydney hotel,
compliments of the provincial government.
"I need a home for my daughter. The provincial Department of
Environment says it's safe to go back, but I'm not taking my child
in there, I'm sorry," the provincial Community Services worker said.
"If those (workers) want to exchange (homes) and live in arsenic,
that's up to them. I'm not living there."
Mr. MacLellan, who talked to Ms. Ross, said he won't move her into a
hotel or include her in the buyout until it's been proved she's in
danger. "Until I have that justification, I can't do it."
Later he said he wasn't surprised by the protest.
"People's concerns are real, and I don't try to judge them. I have
to have that health information - and believe me, I'm not doubting
anyone or pointing fingers, but I have to substantiate (a move)
because I have no basis for making determinations for other people.
We have to treat all of the people the same."
He said he'll look into her case on Monday, as the province
continues with plans for more testing in Whitney Pier.
"We're going to get the bottom of the questions and we're going to
get to the bottom, literally and figuratively, of the toxic waste in
the tar ponds and coke ovens," he said. "We're going to deal with it.
We're not just going to leave it there . . . or find an excuse to
ignore it."
Like residents of Frederick Street and Curry's Lane, Ms. Ross was
evacuated from her home last month and sent to the hotel after
arsenic seeped into her basement. But unlike them, she wasn't
offered a buyout.
"Anyone who would show some concern for me and support is all I'm
asking. . . . Come and view my basement, look at the arsenic . . .
and see if you want to go and live there," she said.
Sierra Club president Elizabeth May denounced the province's action.
"The costs of moving people are nothing to the cost of a cleanup and
are nothing to the health costs and loss of life of having people
living right next to cancer-causing chemicals.
"I think it's an awful shame they evicted Ann from the hotel. I
wonder if the provincial government had any notion of sense of
evicting her on the first Saturday of a provincial election campaign.
But they chose the date, they booted her out and have given her no
options."
Eric Brophy, a member of the Joint Action Group, said the province
could do a lot better for Ms. Ross and other residents of Laurier
and Tupper streets.
"It's deplorable that our government seems to have run out of
compassion all of a sudden," he said.
