By MICHAEL TUTTON / The Canadian Press

SYDNEY - Terry Mulcahy looks out his bedroom window at Sydney's noxious tar ponds, one of the most polluted places in Canada, and says he's starting to see hope.

Today, the federal and Nova Scotia governments are expected to announce a $400-million plan to clean up the toxic mess - a move Mulcahy feels will help redefine the community's downtrodden image.

"I think it's a step along the road to renewal," the 54-year-old resident said Tuesday during an interview at his home.

Home to some 40,000 people, Sydney is Cape Breton's largest community and has suffered from some of Canada's highest rates of cancer, as well as double-digit unemployment and a frightening rise in prescription drug abuse.

The tar ponds - twin pools of foul-smelling sludge - sit about 250 metres from Mulcahy's house. Shiny and grey in colour, they are plugged by 700,000 tonnes of chemicals created by almost a century of production at the former Sydney Steel mill.

Environmental groups are afraid a plan to remove and dispose of the pond sludge and to clean up the nearby former coke ovens grounds could cause even more pollution unless done properly.

Residents such as Ann Ross, who lives north of the old coke ovens, have joined a class-action lawsuit against the provincial and federal governments over the alleged poor health and death of family members.

She argues the money used for the cleanup would be better spent helping her and others to relocate.

"We still suffer with nosebleeds, rashes, stumbling, tingling, but there's nothing to help us move," Ross said.

But Mulcahy argues the time has come to at least make an attempt to clean the site, or risk watching his community's property values and economy "crumble into dust."

His home is quiet now that his 18-year-old daughter has followed a wave of out-migration from the economically depressed island to Nova Scotia's mainland.

A house down the street that was once a quaint middle-class residence has become home to what he calls a "plague" of people illegally dealing prescription drugs.

"With this cleanup, the community will begin to progress," he said with hope. "We can start looking forward to the day where Sydney, Nova Scotia, is something other than the cancer capital of Canada or the worst toxic site."

A neighbour, Leona Farrell-Wadden, 35, recently had her entire body turn a pinkish red colour due to an unknown infection that caused a rash.

She said she's had concerns the cleanup might cause her even more health problems, but believes the process must begin.

"Possibly it will help, but it will take time," she said.

John Harker, president of the University College of Cape Breton, views the project as the beginning of radical change for the community.

"If that site is not only cleaned up but used in a visionary way, I think the image of Sydney will be transformed overnight."

Harker, who grew up in a British steel town that lost its mill, said he's had discussions with Prime Minister Paul Martin about making the university a centre on industrial cleanups and soil remediation.

"This cleanup is the start. It's the trigger. It's a psychological as well as physical thing which we throughout Canada have to see happen."

However, on the northern side of toxic site, in Sydney's Whitney Pier neighbourhood, some residents are far less optimistic.

Neither government has specified exactly how the toxic material will be disposed of. However, sources in the Nova Scotia government say some of the excavated material, which contains PCBs and other toxins, will be burned in high-temperature kilns. Other parts of the waste will be encased in concrete and buried.

"I'll move," said Debbie Ouellette, a volunteer with the Sierra Club who had to leave her home on Frederick Street, in Whitney Pier, in 1999 after high levels of arsenic were found in her basement.

"We're going back to what was tried years ago, burning and enclosure. It's crazy. There's no way the health of the people will be protected by this."

Sitting at her kitchen table, the community activist worked on plans for the next round of public protest over the cleanup.

Ouellette argues that previous attempts to incinerate the sludge set off another round of illnesses in the community.

Although no conclusive, scientific link has ever been established, the tar ponds have long been blamed for a variety of health problems, including high cancer rates, among the people of Sydney.

Mulcahy, who was a volunteer on a federal-provincial body that examined cleanup options for the tar ponds, said he understands the fears and frustrations.

But, he argues, it's time to move on.

"As a community, we're going to have to learn to move forward and deal with things in a more efficient manner."

*** ADDED THE FOLLOWING COPY ***

continued from / A1

dispose of the pond sludge and to clean up the nearby former coke ovens grounds could cause even more pollution unless done properly.

Residents such as Ann Ross, who lives north of the old coke ovens, have joined a class-action lawsuit against the provincial and federal governments over the alleged poor health and death of family members.

She argues the money used for the cleanup would be better spent helping her and others to relocate.

"We still suffer with nosebleeds, rashes, stumbling, tingling, but there's nothing to help us move," Ross said.

But Mulcahy argues the time has come to at least make an attempt to clean the site, or risk watching his community's property values and economy "crumble into dust."

His home is quiet now that his 18-year-old daughter has followed a wave of out-migration from the economically depressed island to Nova Scotia's mainland.

A house down the street that was once a quaint middle-class residence has become home to what he calls a "plague" of people illegally dealing prescription drugs.

"With this cleanup, the community will begin to progress," he said with hope. "We can start looking forward to the day where Sydney, Nova Scotia, is something other than the cancer capital of Canada or the worst toxic site."

A neighbour, Leona Farrell-Wadden, 35, recently had her entire body turn a pinkish red colour due to an unknown infection that caused a rash.

She said she's had concerns the cleanup might cause her even more health problems, but believes the process must begin.

"Possibly it will help, but it will take time," she said.

John Harker, president of the University College of Cape Breton, views the project as the beginning of radical change for the community.

"If that site is not only cleaned up but used in a visionary way, I think the image of Sydney will be transformed overnight."

Harker, who grew up in a British steel town that lost its mill, said he's had discussions with Prime Minister Paul Martin about making the university a centre on industrial cleanups and soil remediation.

"This cleanup is the start. It's the trigger. It's a psychological as well as physical thing which we throughout Canada have to see happen."

However, on the northern side of toxic site, in Sydney's Whitney Pier neighbourhood, some residents are far less optimistic.

Neither government has specified exactly how the toxic material will be disposed of. However, sources in the Nova Scotia government say some of the excavated material, which contains PCBs and other toxins, will be burned in high-temperature kilns. Other parts of the waste will be encased in concrete and buried.

"I'll move," said Debbie Ouellette, a volunteer with the Sierra Club who had to leave her home on Frederick Street, in Whitney Pier, in 1999 after high levels of arsenic were found in her basement.

"We're going back to what was tried years ago, burning and enclosure. It's crazy. There's no way the health of the people will be protected by this."

Sitting at her kitchen table, the community activist worked on plans for the next round of public protest over the cleanup.

Ouellette argues that previous attempts to incinerate the sludge set off another round of illnesses in the community.

Although no conclusive, scientific link has ever been established, the tar ponds have long been blamed for a variety of health problems, including high cancer rates, among the people of Sydney.

Mulcahy, who was a volunteer on a federal-provincial body that examined cleanup options for the tar ponds, said he understands the fears and frustrations.

But, he argues, it's time to move on.

"As a community, we're going to have to learn to move forward and deal with things in a more efficient manner."