Brison coming to gauge community's preference for tar ponds assessment
By Tanya Collier MacDonald
Cape Breton Post
Mon., Sept. 20, 2004
Federal minister Scott Brison
will come to Sydney in the next
few weeks to get a sense of this
community's preference on how
clean-up plans for the Sydney
tar ponds and coke ovens sites
should be assessed.
MP Mark Eyking, Sydney-Victoria,
said Brison, the new
public works and government
services minister, has agreed to
meet with community leaders
as requested in a letter sent to
him Thursday.
Within weeks, the project
definition needed for the
cleanup of the toxic sites will be
forwarded to the Canadian
Environmental Assessment
Agency for its consideration.
It's expected that the agency
will make a recommendation
shortly after on how the environment
minister should assess
the project - a necessary step
before work begins.
In the meantime, community groups
and environmentalists are lining up to get their
voices heard. In a press release
issued Thursday, the newly
struck Community Partnership
for the Remediation of Muggah
Creek Watershed asked for a
meeting with Brison as well as
federal Environment Minister
Stephane Dion.
"We want a comprehensive
study done so we can get on
with the cleanup," said Bruce
Meloney, the partnership's co-chairperson.
"Both the ministers are new to the departments
and we want to make sure
they're up to date."
The Sierra Club of Canada
has often said that it wants
nothing short of a full panel
review.
The difference between the
two methods is that the comprehensive study assessment is
led and controlled by government whereas a full panel
review is led and controlled by
an independent group of
experts appointed by the federal
environment minister.
Meloney said the amount of
community consultation completed by the Joint Action
Group for the past five years circumvents the
need for a full panel review.
"We understand that there
are special interest groups lobbying
intensely for a full panel
assessment," said Meloney.
"Leadership of this community
is opposed to a full panel and
convinced of the appropriateness
of a comprehensive review.
Our concern is that the
views of non-resident activists
are being mistakenly adopted in
Ottawa as the sentiment of the
majority of the community. We
want the ministers to understand
that nothing could be farther from fact."
Bruno Marcocchio,
spokesperson for the Sierra
Club, said a comprehensive
study lacks the opportunity for
public input.
"A full panel review is the
only way," he said.
The club refutes suggestions
that a full panel would take
between two to four years to
complete. Members said it could
take as little as six months if the
panel is properly crafted and
deadlines are imposed.
The provincial and federal
government signed a memorandum
of agreement in May
that outlined their support for
the cleanup. Ottawa committed
no more than $280 million and
the provincial government
agreed to no more than $120 million
over the next 10 years.
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