PUBLICATIONCape Breton Post
DATE Wed 30 Jun 1999
EDITION FINAL
SECTION/CATEGORY Cape Breton
PAGE NUMBER7
BYLINEChris Connors
STORY LENGTH 424
HEADLINE:
Tar ponds issue not just a Pier problem, meeting told
The message from a community meeting discussing tar pond/coke
oven-related issues was clear - people across Cape Breton must
band together and force an immediate solution to the problem.
About 50 people gathered in the Steelworkers Hall Monday night to
express health concerns over the former coke ovens site and tar
ponds that border a Whitney Pier residential area and parts of
Sydney. And the meeting attracted people from outside the area.
That was the response organizer Don Deleski was looking for.
``This is not a Whitney Pier issue or an Ashby issue,'' said
Deleski, a Whitney Pier resident. ``This is an island issue.''
Deleski said the provincial government knew since 1985 that
emissions from their steel making operations were killing workers
and residents.
``They turned us into guinea pigs. We're not guinea pigs and we're
not mice. And no animal should have to live in this community -
I'm talking about Sydney and surrounding areas.
``This community is dying and the people of this community are
dying,'' Deleski said, adding that people needed to be moved out
before any other action is taken. ``I don't care if they clean up
(the tar ponds and coke oven sites) tomorrow, as long as we're 20
to 50 miles away from here.''
Director of the Sierra Club (an international environmental group)
Elizabeth May, said she'd like to associate herself ``very
strongly with everything Mr. Deleski said.''
Dan Fraser, the newly-elected chairperson of the Joint Action
Group (JAG), attended the meeting ``as a concerned citizen.''
Fraser briefly outlined JAG's three-phase plan to clean up the
sites before promising residents would ``be aware of risks and
concerns.''
Hugh Walzak and his wife Carmel came from New Waterford to pledge
their support.
``We're concerned about pollution everywhere - if it's in Sydney
or Glace Bay, we live here in Cape Breton. You want to move people
out of Whitney Pier,'' said Walzak. ``If people don't stick
together nothing will get done.''
As the meeting drew to an end calls for another meeting were made.
Ann Ross, the Whitney Pier resident whose situation prompted
protesters to pitch tents in front of Premier Russell MacLellan's
Sydney home, asked people to help rally support.
``If everybody took one individual person who was concerned, and
that person took another person the next week, we'd have a march
of concern.''
Several people remained after the meeting to discuss a possible
march through downtown Sydney and other sites.
``If we have to take this community back, street by street, we're
gonna' do it,'' said Deleski.
ILLUSTRATION: Photo: Cindy Steele of Gatacre Street in Whitney Pier,
and Larry Nixon and Ada Hearn both of of Pine Tree
Estates on Lingan Road discuss their options prior to
entering a meeting of concerned citizens on the tar
ponds at Steelworkers Hall.
