PUBLICATIONCape Breton Post
DATE Wed 23 Jun 1999
EDITION FINAL
SECTION/CATEGORY Cape Breton
PAGE NUMBER3
BYLINETanya Collier
STORY LENGTH 389
HEADLINE:
Consortium has tar ponds plan: International group says it
is doing similar remediation around the world
An international consortium plans to compete for the opportunity
to clean up Canada's worst industrial toxic waste site.
Senior executives of the international consortium headed by
Illinova Resource Recovery Inc. (IRR) were in Sydney Tuesday
suggesting they know how to clean up the 700,000 tonnes of tar
sludge because they are doing similar work in other parts of the
world.
Richard Turnbell, marketing director of IRR, told local media the
consortium is remediating a one million tonne tar lagoon at
Schwarze Pumpe, Germany. The effort includes making alternate fuel
from the tar sludge at a fuel processing plant and using the
material to sustain a nearby power plant. The initiative began in
1995 and about half of the sludge has been removed.
``It's almost the sister to what you have in Sydney,'' noted
Gunter Scholz, spokesperson for the German company - IVA
(Ingenieurburo fur Versorgungs - und Anlagentechnik GmbH) - which
is part of the consortium.
The same remediation process can be used at the Muggah Creek
Watershed, he continued. The alternate fuel - made from tar sludge
and local coal - could be used at facilities such as the Point
Aconi power plant. Or, the solid fuel could be transported to an
American power plant capable of burning the material.
Turnbell said the effort would likely cost upwards of $200 a tonne
and could take between five to 10 years to complete.
Members of the consortium were also involved in remediating
crumbling coke ovens, rusty smokestacks, millions of tires, acres
of rubble and mounds of slag and debris at the historic site of
the former Kaiser Steel Mill in California. The site was
remediated and now houses the California Speedway.
And, the consortium has the blessing of the Sydney Business
Improvement District Commission (BIDC).
John Morrison, chairperson of BIDC, said the Joint Action Group
(JAG) mandated to oversee the clean up of the Muggah Creek
Watershed is ``diddling'' around the remediation issue.
The BIDC is pushing for JAG to publish an inception date and a
completion date for the remediation effort, he added.
John Lalanne, vice-chair of BIDC, said ``I would like to see the
process started.''
It's important for Sydney to be viewed as a tourist attraction but
the toxic site is hampering the area's efforts. Enticing new
business to the island is also difficult, he noted.
PUBLICATIONCape Breton Post
DATE Wed 23 Jun 1999
EDITION FINAL
SECTION/CATEGORY Cape Breton
PAGE NUMBER3
BYLINESteve MacInnis
STORY LENGTH 403
HEADLINE:
Tent village comes down but not protest campaign
The tents and protest signs are gone from Premier Russell
MacLellan's Sydney neighbourhood but not the commitment to
continue waging a protest campaign.
``It wasn't my intention to stay there forever. I will continue
fighting. They haven't heard the last of me,'' said Ann Ross,
whose eviction from a Sydney hotel after a 37-day stay sparked the
creation of a tent village on a green area across the street from
MacLellan's home.
Ross and her daughter, Lindsay, 13, were among 10 families moved
to the hotel after traces of arsenic were found in some basements
in homes near the former coke ovens plant. Only four families
remain but they are expected to find alternative accommodations by
the end of the week.
Ross was the only one moved to the hotel who isn't included in the
voluntary buyout package offered 24 families by the provincial and
federal governments.
The provincial Environment Department explains the metals found in
Ross' basement, including arsenic, are likely associated with
natural soil conditions and not related to any activity on the
coke ovens site - the main culprit being suggested as the source
of contamination on Frederick Street.
The homes are being purchased because of planned extensive testing
this summer near Frederick Street and Curry's Lane. The two
streets border the former coke ovens site which is highly
contaminated and part of an area now targeted for Canada's largest
remediation project.
Ross and the other protesters set up their tent community Saturday
and dismantled it Monday evening.
Ross now plans to join the Joint Action Group (JAG) which is
mandated to develop a remediation plan for the contaminated area.
Ada Hearn, another of the protesters, said the reason to leave
stemmed from a lack of portable toilet facilities on the site.
The land is owned by the province and was the former site of
Sydney City Hospital.
A spokesperson for the Department of Transportation and Public
Works said the department didn't want to assume any liability
because of such a structure on site.
Hearn echoed Ross' comment about continuing to fight.
``The fight is not over. We will continue to make our presence
known,'' she said.
She said she and the others were impressed with the level of
support shown during the protest and appreciated all the
kindnesses shown by the premier's neighbours.
The protesters have scheduled a public meeting for 7 p.m. Monday
at the Steelworkers Hall, Sydney.
PUBLICATIONThe Halifax Chronicle-Herald
DATE Wednesday June 23, 1999
PAGE A3
BYLINE Tera Camus
HEADLINE:
Sydney woman gives up goo-related tent protest
Sydney - She may have lost the battle but the war isn't over.
Ann Ross of Laurier Street took down her tents and retreated to her
arsenic-spoiled home Monday night following a weekend camp-out near
Premier Russell MacLellan's home.
"It wasn't set forth to stay there the whole summer ... but to
let people know what was happening to me and to tell people we have
a major health concern," she said.
Provincial officials wouldn't allow Ms. Ross to set up a portable
toilet in the upscale neighborhood, helping bring an end to the
three-day protest.
Ms. Ross and her daughter were in a Sydney hotel for 37 days but had
to leave Saturday when the government stopped paying the bill. They
were sent to the hotel by the province, along with residents of
Frederick Street and Curry's Lane, after arsenic was found in some
of their basements.
But unlike other families offered a buyout by the province, she was
excluded because she lives two streets away. So she decided to set
up camp outside the premier's home in hopes of getting the same deal.
She plans to take other action in the future.
"We got to fight it but it's going to take everybody, not one or two
people or not five," she said Tuesday. "There was not enough public
support. ... I needed more than that. I don't plan to sleep on the
ground for nobody. ... I just wanted to show people I have a serious
problem in my home and it's a deadly toxin and I need help."
A public meeting will be held June 28 at the Steelworkers Hall for
people who live close to Sydney's toxic waste sites.
PUBLICATIONThe Daily News (Halifax)
DATE Tue 22 Jun 1999
EDITION DAILY
SECTION/CATEGORY EDITORIAL
PAGE NUMBER16
STORY LENGTH 413
_
Third World view of Sydney muck
FRESH condemnation for a century-old problem came for Sydney's
toxic tar ponds Sunday from a source more familiar with
environmental disasters in the Third World.
Raising the embarrassment level for the provincial and federal
governments, which have failed to solve or dissolve the murky
legacy of the Sysco mill's waste, the criticism came from Canadian
University Services Overseas, an aid organization.
Holding its annual general meeting in Cape Breton, far from the
poorer nations where many of its delegates work to improve
primitive conditions, CUSO directors expressed concern about the
living conditions in Sydney's Frederick Street area and Whitney
Pier.
A representative from Tanzania, Anna Gabba, said she was
``surprised this is happening in a developed country.''
That's how many Sydney residents see it, less politely, but the
evidence is more in the nose when visitors tour homes in Whitney
Pier. Ann Ross, one of the protesters outside Premier MacLellan's
home in Sydney, has high arsenic levels in her basement on Laurier
Street. (Arsenic is commonly present in Nova Scotia soil but not
at levels in the worst examples in Sydney.)
The event is not good timing for the Grits' campaign, but the
source of the contamination is older than any politician.
The residue of the steel production and coke ovens has gone from
being grudgingly accepted as a cost of industry and what used to
be secure jobs to being seen as a disgraceful and hazardous
blight.
It is in microcosm a warning to agrarian poor nations that
industrialization can be a mixed blessing -- especially if output
is not matched with adequate waste-disposal and pollution control.
In that respect, the Sydney neighbourhoods closest to the
early-century benefits of coal and steel are in a Third World. The
province's next government must redouble efforts to get rid of
this eyesore or be prepared for more aggressive protests.
Timely revenge?
TRADITIONAL political wisdom says summer elections are not popular
with voters, though we suggest they haven't been tried enough to
set a pattern. But like it or not, we are being asked and implored
to vote one of three ways in the blazing heat or pouring rain of
Tuesday, July 27.
Some candidates fear being hurt by low voter turnout; others
cringe at ``voter revenge'' for having an election in vacation
season. The closest recent similar election was Sept. 6, 1988,
with a respectable 75.8 per cent turnout.
As for summer revenge, maybe they've underestimated Nova Scotians'
dutiful tolerance for a one-hour task.
21 Jun 99
NOVA SCOTIA
A SMALL NUMBER OF PEOPLE HAVE SET UP A PROTEST CAMP
01:45 MINUTES
WORLD REPORT IN FRONT OF THE PREMIER'S HOME IN
(07:00) CAPE BRETON.
THEY ARE DEMANDING
NATIONALTHAT THE PROVINCE BUY THEIR HOMES
LOCATED NEXT TO CANADA'S WORSE
TOXIC WASTE SITE, THE SYDNEY STEEL
PLANT.
ENVIRONMENT OFFICIALS FOUND
ARSENIC IN ONE WOMAN'S BASEMENT AND
SHE HAS BEEN LIVING IN A HOTEL.
NOW
THEY ARE TELLING HER TO RETURN
HOME, SAYING HER HOUSE IS SAFE.
MACLELLAN SAYS HE WILL NOT
INTERVENE.
"ANNE ROSS", HAS
ARSENIC IN HER BASEMENT; "RUSSELL
MACLELLAN", "ELIZABETH MAY", HEADS
SIERRA CLUB OF CANADA.
