Canada and Nova Scotia to Clean Up Sydney Tar Ponds

SYDNEY, Nova Scotia, Canada, May 13, 2004 (ENS) - The Sydney Tar Ponds, a blight for years on the Nova Scotia environment, are on the final road to cleanup. The federal and provincial governments Wednesday announced an agreement to fund the enormous remediation project in the amount of C$400 million.

Environment Minister David Anderson, Public Works Minister Stephen Owen, and Nova Scotia Premier John Hamm signed a memorandum of agreement committing the province to provide $120 million and the government of Canada to contribute up to $280 million.

The proposed cleanup will take 10 years to complete and will create an estimated 2,700 person years of employment, officials said.

The polluted area surrounds former steel and coke making plants alongside the harbor in Sydney. The Tar Ponds form only one part of a site that includes a tidal estuary consisting of two ponds, the grounds of the former Coke Ovens, an old dump uphill from the Coke Ovens, and a stream that connected, and spread contaminants among, the other parts of the site.

The Sydney Tar Ponds on the city's waterfront are the result of nearly a century of steelmaking. (Photo courtesy Sydney Tar Ponds Agency)

PCB contaminated sediments in the Tar Ponds and the contents of the tar cell on the Coke Ovens will be removed and destroyed using what the governments promise will be a "safe, proven" technology such as high temperature incineration. The final decision on which technology or mix of technologies will be used has yet to be made.

The remaining material will be treated with bioremediation or solidification and stabilization, and then encapsulated with an engineered containment system.

The sites will be restored and landscaped in a manner consistent with their natural surroundings and future use, the ministers said. Upon completion of the cleanup, the province will assume ownership of the properties.

The remediation project will be led and implemented by the Province of Nova Scotia through a specially created agency, the Sydney Tar Ponds Agency.

“This day has been a long time coming, and we’re delighted to be getting on with the job,” Hamm said. “With the solution to this problem underway, the people of Sydney can focus their famous creative energies and talents on building a sustainable future for this wonderful island.”

“The time has come for action on the Sydney Tar Ponds,” said Owen. “This project will pay dividends to the citizens of Sydney while contributing to the social, economic and environmental sustainability of their community.”

Whatever mix of technologies is chosen for the cleanup, some of the work will be done with a shovel. (Photo courtesy Sydney Tar Ponds Agency)

The Sierra Club of Canada congratulated the governments on their move to undertake the cleanup. "We are particularly pleased," said executive director Elizabeth May, "that the federal government has listened to the over 3,000 local residents who asked for an environmental assessment and panel review of any proposed technology."

The Sydney Steel Plant operated for almost a century. The coke ovens that supplied it with fuel closed in 1988. Two years later the steel plant converted to an electric arc manufacturing process, allowing the closure of its open-hearth furnaces. Production steadily dwindled until the plant was closed in 2000.

Planners say the removal of the Domtar tank will conclude this summer. Design work will continue on the removal of the cooling pond, the construction of a cofferdam at Battery Point closing off the Tar Ponds from Sydney Harbor, the relocation of the Victoria Road water main, and the rerouting of Coke Ovens brook through Mullins Bank.

Governments will work with contractors to develop a detailed project description that will be subject to a joint environmental assessment. The assessment will identify measures needed to ensure the cleanup of the Sydney Tar Ponds is carried out in a way that protects the environment and human health.

Making steel when the Sydney plant was operating (Photo courtesy Ray Martheleur and the Sydney Tar Ponds Agency)

Over the last seven years, governments have been working closely with the community to assess the sites and understand them in sufficient detail for governments to plan and implement an effective cleanup plan. Groundwork - such as the removal of derelict buildings, the capping of the old municipal landfill, and the installation of the interceptor sewer - has been completed to prepare the site for remediation.

"The news today is solid progress toward what we all care about - a solution to the health and environmental nightmare known as the tar ponds," said Bruno Marcocchio, Atlantic conservation director for the Sierra Club of Canada. "The long job ahead is to ensure that the environment and human health are protected during the clean up and that the most appropriate environmental technology is employed.

The Sierra Club also hopes the government plans to remediate the residential neighborhoods adjacent the site which have also been contaminated," Marcocchio said. "They have not been considered for remediation at this time.”