Air monitoring at sites now responsibility of Environment Canada
By Tanya Collier MacDonald
Cape Breton Post
Tues., Oct. 7, 2003
An air monitoring program
designed to detect harmful
gases during work at the Sydney
tar ponds and coke ovens
sites is now the responsibility
of Environment Canada.
Originally contracted to the
environmental firm AMEC,
constant reading irregularities
of toluene throughout the
summer now blamed on contamination
or tampering has
forced the change, said Walter
van Veen, project management
consultant for work at
the toxic sites.
"We're going to rely entirely
on Environment Canada's
equipment and lab for VOC
(volatile organic compound)
testing," he said.
The Environmental Technology
Centre in Ottawa deals
primarily with the measurement
of air pollutants in
ambient air, air pollutants
emitted from mobile and stationary
sources, the analysis
of a wide variety of organic
and inorganic compounds and
the provision of technical
research and development for
that work. It has previous
experience with Sydney's air
sampling program as well,
said Environment Canada
spokesperson Kelly Cowper.
Air sampling problems
began in July when alarmingly
high levels of toluene were
detected in several of AMEC's
air monitoring units located in
Whitney Pier, Sydney and Sydney
River, said van Veen.
Exhaustive measures by project
overseers Conestoga
Rovers & Associates during
the past months confirm the
chemical is not present in Sydney's
air shed and no pattern is
evident. For example, one high
reading would be downwind
from the coke ovens site and
the next would be upwind, he
continued.
"It was coming from all
quadrants," he said. "It was a
mystery."
To make certain the harmful
material wasn't coming
from the airshed, a portable
gas chromatograph that
resembles a miniature laboratory
was used to sample the air
at the coke ovens and surrounding
industrial sites.
"There was no evidence of
unusual toluene," said van
Veen.
Environment Canada was
contacted to take air samples
alongside AMEC's testing?
Normal results were found in
the Ottawa lab and abnormal
results continued to appear in
AMEC's samples, said van Veen.
"We had labs disagreeing
with each other," he said.
"There was a huge difference.
Something was unusual."
A challenge for investigators
is the measurement used
to detect harmful gases in the
air. van Veen described the
microscopic measurement as
similar to a trip to the moon
measured in feet with the first
foot the detection level.
But, as the mystery continued
to unfold, investigators
began to focus their attention
on a valve used on AMEC
canisters to control the rate of
air flow into the unit. Hits of
toluene were detected in the
gear, said van Veen.
The volatile organic compound
is defined as a colourless,
flammable liquid
obtained from coal tar and
petroleum and used in aviation
fuel and other high octane
fuels, in dye-stuffs, explosives
and as a solvent for gums and
lacquers. It's also known as
methylbenzene. At extremely
high levels, the substance can
cause tumours in humans and
is linked to cardiac dysrhythmia.
About 50 gases, 14 PAHs
and about 50 heavy metals are
included in an ongoing air
monitoring program due to
work at the Sydney tar ponds
and coke ovens sites.
tcmacdonald@cbpost.com
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