Cleanup Agency Gets New Status

Sydney Tar Ponds Agency Press release
Sydney Tar Ponds Agency
Fri, Sept. 10, 2004

The province has designated the Sydney Tar Ponds Agency as a special operating agency charged with carrying out the $400- million Tar Ponds and Coke Ovens cleanup project announced last May.

An order-in-council giving effect to the new designation was signed today, Sept. 10.

A memorandum of understanding signed by federal and provincial ministers on May 12 gave the province operational responsibility for carrying out the cleanup. The agreement required the province to establish a single-purpose agency to manage the project by Sept. 30.

The province originally established the agency as a division of the Department of Transportation and Public Works in 2001 to focus provincial efforts on the cleanup.

Until then, responsibility had been shared among several departments. The agency will now report directly to its own minister, Ron Russell.

The order-in-council spells out the agency's powers and responsibilities.

Today's order-in-council transfers current employees of the agency to the newly designated body but retains their civil service status.