Sydney Tar Ponds
Encyclopedia
Hazardous waste
A hazardous waste is waste that poses substantial or potential threats to public health or the environment. According to the U.S. environmental laws hazardous wastes fall into two major categories: characteristic wastes and listed wastes.Characteristic hazardous wastes are materials that are known...
site on Cape Breton Island
Cape Breton Island
Cape Breton Island is an island on the Atlantic coast of North America. It likely corresponds to the word Breton, the French demonym for Brittany....
, Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
.
Located on the eastern shore of Sydney Harbour in the former city of Sydney
Sydney, Nova Scotia
Sydney is a Canadian urban community in the province of Nova Scotia. It is situated on the east coast of Cape Breton Island and is administratively part of the Cape Breton Regional Municipality....
(now amalgamated into the Cape Breton Regional Municipality), the Tar Ponds form a tidal estuary
Estuary
An estuary is a partly enclosed coastal body of water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea....
at the mouth of Muggah Creek, a freshwater stream that empties into the harbour. Over the last century, runoff from coke
Coke (fuel)
Coke is the solid carbonaceous material derived from destructive distillation of low-ash, low-sulfur bituminous coal. Cokes from coal are grey, hard, and porous. While coke can be formed naturally, the commonly used form is man-made.- History :...
ovens associated with Sydney Steel Corporation
Sydney Steel Corporation
Sydney Steel Corporation was a Crown corporation in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia.-Steel comes to Sydney:An integrated steel mill was established on the southeast side of Sydney Harbour in the Whitney Pier neighbourhood of Sydney, Nova Scotia in 1901 by American investors...
's (SYSCO) now-decommissioned steel mill
Steel mill
A steel mill or steelworks is an industrial plant for the manufacture of steel.Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon. It is produced in a two-stage process. First, iron ore is reduced or smelted with coke and limestone in a blast furnace, producing molten iron which is either cast into pig iron or...
filled the estuary with a variety of coal
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
-based contaminants and sludge. Efforts to clean up the waterway have been dogged by false starts, delays, and political controversy. After extensive public consultation and technical study, a $400 million CAD
Canadian dollar
The Canadian dollar is the currency of Canada. As of 2007, the Canadian dollar is the 7th most traded currency in the world. It is abbreviated with the dollar sign $, or C$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies...
cleanup plan, jointly funded by the Government of Canada
Government of Canada
The Government of Canada, formally Her Majesty's Government, is the system whereby the federation of Canada is administered by a common authority; in Canadian English, the term can mean either the collective set of institutions or specifically the Queen-in-Council...
and Nova Scotia, was announced in January 2007.
Geography
A small stream, the Coke Ovens Brook Connector, connects the coke ovens with the Tar Ponds. It served as the main pathway for contaminants migrating from the coke ovens to the Tar Ponds. To the east of the coke ovens, and uphill from them, an abandoned municipal dump served as an additional source of contaminated groundwater, or leachate
Leachate
Leachate is any liquid that, in passing through matter, extracts solutes, suspended solids or any other component of the material through which it has passed....
.
The polluted sites lie in the middle of the former city of Sydney (estimated population 25,000), now part of the Cape Breton Regional Municipality (CBRM) (2001 population 105,968).
Almost all contaminates result from coke production, one of the most common industrial processes of the 19th and 20th centuries.
While almost all of the contaminants derive from coal, the Tar Ponds include two pockets containing an estimated total of 3.8 metric tonnes of polychlorinated biphenyl
Polychlorinated biphenyl
Polychlorinated biphenyls are a class of organic compounds with 2 to 10 chlorine atoms attached to biphenyl, which is a molecule composed of two benzene rings. The chemical formula for PCBs is C12H10-xClx...
s (PCBs). PCB's are known to cause cancer, and are attributed to the higher per capita incidence of cancer and cancer related death in Sydney area residents.
History
In 1901, investors from Boston formed the Dominion Iron and Steel Company Limited and opened a major steelSteel
Steel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...
works on Sydney Harbour. Sydney had everything needed for steelmaking, including locally mined coal
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
, nearby iron ore from Bell Island
Bell Island
Bell Island is a Canadian island located off Newfoundland's Avalon Peninsula in Conception Bay.Measuring 9 km in length and 3 km in width, Bell Island has an area of 34 km²...
and limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
from Aguathuna (both in Newfoundland), a good harbour for shipping, and plenty of cooling water. By 1912, the mill was turning out nearly half of Canada’s steel
Steel
Steel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...
production.
The steel mill, and the nearby coal mines that fuelled it, operated for nearly a century under a variety of owners including Dominion Steel Company (1912), British Empire Steel Corporation (1921), and Dominion Steel and Coal Corporation
Dominion Steel and Coal Corporation
The Dominion Steel and Coal Corporation was a Canadian coal mining and steel manufacturing company.Incorporated in 1928 and operational in 1930, DOSCO was predated by the British Empire Steel Corporation which was a merger of the Dominion Coal Company, the Dominion Iron and Steel Company and the...
(DOSCO) after 1930. An economically failing DOSCO was purchased by A.V. Roe Canada
Avro Canada
Commonly known as Avro Canada, this company started in 1945 as an aircraft plant and became within thirteen years the third-largest company in Canada, one of the largest 100 companies in the world, and directly employing over 50,000...
in 1957, which was in turn dissolved, and its assets, including DOSCO, purchased by Hawker Siddeley Canada
Hawker Siddeley Canada
Hawker Siddeley Canada was the Canadian unit of the Hawker Siddeley Group of the United Kingdom and manufactured railcars, subway cars, streetcars, aircraft engines and ships from the 1960s to 1980s.-History:...
in 1962. By the mid-1960s, Hawker Siddeley began to close money-losing subsidiaries and identified DOSCO's coal mines and steel mill as candidates for closure. By 1967, DOSCO announced plans to close the mill and began phasing out the coal mines. In response to the threatened loss of thousands of jobs in a region with poor economic prospects, the government of Nova Scotia expropriated the steel mill, renaming it Sydney Steel Corporation
Sydney Steel Corporation
Sydney Steel Corporation was a Crown corporation in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia.-Steel comes to Sydney:An integrated steel mill was established on the southeast side of Sydney Harbour in the Whitney Pier neighbourhood of Sydney, Nova Scotia in 1901 by American investors...
(SYSCO). The government of Canada expropriated DOSCO's coal mines at the same time, as well as the coke ovens that produced the pollution flowing into the Tar Ponds, naming this operation Cape Breton Development Corporation
Cape Breton Development Corporation
The Cape Breton Development Corporation, or DEVCO, was a Canadian federal government Crown corporation. It ceased operation on December 31, 2009, after being amalgamated with Enterprise Cape Breton Corporation ....
(DEVCO). SYSCO purchased the coke ovens from DEVCO in 1973.
Dominion Tar and Chemical Company Ltd
Domtar
Domtar Corporation is the largest integrated producer of uncoated freesheet paper in North America and the second largest in the world based on production capacity, and is also a manufacturer of papergrade pulp....
(Domtar) operated a coal tar refining plant and a coal tar storage facility in Sydney from 1903-1962. This facility was situated directly adjacent to and north of the coke oven operations. It diverted coal tar from the coke ovens, refined it, moved it through pipes, and stored it in tanks for shipping elsewhere. Domtar ceased operations in Sydney in 1962 abandoning its storage tanks, waste disposal lagoons, pipes, buildings and equipment. Domtar conducted little or no clean up of the site. A large tank, referred to as the "Domtar tank", remained in place adjacent to the coke ovens site into the 2000s, measuring 28 m (91.9 ft) in diameter and 6 m (19.7 ft) high. It contained materials abandoned by Domtar and other materials added in the years since the facility's abandonment.
By the mid-1970s, the environmental movement was gaining headway in North America, and concern about pollution from the steel mill and coke ovens was rising. In 1982, scientists from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans discovered polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), a family of chemicals produced by incomplete combustion of organic material, in lobster
Lobster
Clawed lobsters comprise a family of large marine crustaceans. Highly prized as seafood, lobsters are economically important, and are often one of the most profitable commodities in coastal areas they populate.Though several groups of crustaceans are known as lobsters, the clawed lobsters are most...
caught in Sydney Harbour near Muggah Creek. They ordered the South Arm of the harbour closed to lobster fishing, and fingered the Tar Ponds as the likely source of contamination.
The discovery increased pressure to close the decrepit coke ovens, which finally ceased production in 1988. Underneath the coke ovens site were approximately one hundred and sixty one kilometres of underground pipes. These pipes were used to move chemicals throughout the coke ovens and steel plant site. Despite the fact that these pipes contained a mixture of dangerous, toxic and potentially explosive substances, many were never purged of their contents when the coke ovens operations ceased. SYSCO converted to an electric arc manufacturing process in 1990, and stopped production altogether in 2000. The mill is now dismantled.
In 1986, Canada and Nova Scotia signed a $34-million agreement to dredge the Tar Ponds and pump the sediments through a mile-long pipeline to a temporary incinerator and power plant. After many delays, the incinerator was completed, and passed required air emissions tests, in 1994. However, the pipeline system proved unable to handle the thick, lumpy Tar Ponds sludge, and the project was abandoned in 1995.
In 1996, the Nova Scotia government proposed a plan to bury the Tar Ponds under slag
Slag
Slag is a partially vitreous by-product of smelting ore to separate the metal fraction from the unwanted fraction. It can usually be considered to be a mixture of metal oxides and silicon dioxide. However, slags can contain metal sulfides and metal atoms in the elemental form...
procured from the steel mill. By this time, the project had attracted local critics, who condemned the plan.
In 1999, the federal, provincial, and municipal governments jointly funded a community organization, the Joint Action Group (JAG), with a mandate to seek community consensus on cleanup options. The three governments also embarked on detailed environmental site assessments, and a variety of preliminary cleanup projects. Although JAG held more than 950 public meetings, no clear consensus on cleanup technologies emerged. Governments, meanwhile, generated more than 620 technical and scientific reports on the problem, and possible solutions.
Cleanup
On May 12, 2004, the Governments of Canada and Nova Scotia announced a 10-year, $400 million CAD plan to clean up the Sydney Tar Ponds and Coke Ovens. The plan (1) called for PCB-contaminated sediments to be destroyed in an approved PCB incinerator to be set up temporarily at a decommissioned industrial facility five kilometers east of the coke ovens. Remaining materials would be treated in place and then contained within an engineered containment system.
Solidification / Stabilization (S/S) with Cement
Remediation of contaminated sites with cement, also called solidification/stabilization with cement is a common method for the safe environmental remediation of contaminated land with cement...
, a process by which contaminated sediments are mixed with Portland cement powder or similar hardening agents. At the coke ovens, contaminated soils will be treated with a form of bioremediation
Bioremediation
Bioremediation is the use of microorganism metabolism to remove pollutants. Technologies can be generally classified as in situ or ex situ. In situ bioremediation involves treating the contaminated material at the site, while ex situ involves the removal of the contaminated material to be treated...
known as land farming, in which hydrocarbon-eating bacteria and nutrients are tilled into the upper surface of the soils. The sites will then be contained within a layered cap and impermeable sidewalls, and then landscaped for as yet undetermined future use.
A special operating agency of the Nova Scotia government, the Sydney Tar Ponds Agency, will manage the cleanup on behalf of the two governments, in partnership with the Department of Public Works and Government Services which is the lead federal agency. Fifteen community groups in such fields as environment
Natural environment
The natural environment encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally on Earth or some region thereof. It is an environment that encompasses the interaction of all living species....
, health
Health
Health is the level of functional or metabolic efficiency of a living being. In humans, it is the general condition of a person's mind, body and spirit, usually meaning to be free from illness, injury or pain...
, business
Business
A business is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit...
, labour, religion
Religion
Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...
, recreation
Recreation
Recreation is an activity of leisure, leisure being discretionary time. The "need to do something for recreation" is an essential element of human biology and psychology. Recreational activities are often done for enjoyment, amusement, or pleasure and are considered to be "fun"...
, municipal government, and higher education
Higher education
Higher, post-secondary, tertiary, or third level education refers to the stage of learning that occurs at universities, academies, colleges, seminaries, and institutes of technology...
, contribute delegates to a Community Liaison Committee that serves as a sounding board for project managers during the cleanup.
Controversy
Establishing a cleanup plan for the Tar Ponds and coke ovens site has taken more than 22 years. Hundreds of volunteers contributed more than 100,000 hours to the Joint Action Group's search for acceptable cleanup options. JAG and its government partners have attracted vocal critics, most prominently Sierra Club Canada. Delays in getting the project started have left many residents frustrated.Opinions divide on the best cleanup method. Some residents favour digging up and destroying all of the contaminants. Others prefer not to disturb the contaminated material at all. Sierra Club Canada opposes plans to incinerate the PCB materials in favour of novel destruction technologies such as hydrogen reduction and soil washing. Project managers say the community has asked that only proven technologies be used.
In 2005 and 2006, the Sydney Tar Ponds Agency has undertaken four preliminary cleanup projects, including the re-routing of the Coke Ovens Brook Connector to a less contaminated area, and the construction of a rock barrier at the boundary between the Tar Ponds and Sydney Harbour. The preliminary projects are intended to prevent further environmental damage while the larger cleanup is assessed.
In July 2006, the environmental engineering firm EarthTech, Ltd., completed a preliminary engineering design for the big cleanup. A contract for the final engineering design and construction oversight is expected to be awarded by September 2006.
Environmental Impact Assessment
Through the winter of 2005, controversy raged as to the type of environmental impact assessment the Government of CanadaGovernment of Canada
The Government of Canada, formally Her Majesty's Government, is the system whereby the federation of Canada is administered by a common authority; in Canadian English, the term can mean either the collective set of institutions or specifically the Queen-in-Council...
should require for the Tar Ponds cleanup. The choice boiled down to the two most rigorous forms of assessment allowed under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act
Canadian Environmental Assessment Act
The Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, S.C. 1992, c. 37 is an Act of Parliament that was passed by the Government of Canada in 1992...
(2): a comprehensive study, conducted by remediation experts within Public Works and Government Services Canada, and a panel review, conducted by a group of experts from outside government, who would hold formal public hearings.
The Government of Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
, the Cape Breton Regional Municipality, and a broad coalition of local business, labor, and health organizations favored a comprehensive study, which has half as many steps as a panel review. They argued that after 950 public meetings and 620 technical reports, the issue had been studied and debated enough, and it was time to get on with the cleanup.
The Sierra Club of Canada favored a panel review as the only way to ensure necessary scrutiny of plans to incinerate PCB contaminated material, and to guarantee consideration of alternative technologies.
On May 2, 2005, federal Environment Minister Stéphane Dion
Stéphane Dion
Stéphane Maurice Dion, PC, MP is a Canadian politician who has been the Member of Parliament for the riding of Saint-Laurent–Cartierville in Montreal since 1996. He was the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and the Leader of the Opposition in the Canadian House of Commons from 2006 to 2008...
and Public Works Minister Scott Brison
Scott Brison
Scott A. Brison, PC, MP is a Canadian politician from Nova Scotia, Canada. Brison has been the Member of Parliament for the riding of Kings-Hants since the 1997 federal election. Brison was originally elected as a Progressive Conservative but crossed the floor to join the Liberal Party in 2003...
sided with the Sierra Club, ordering a panel review. In the face of predictions that the decision would delay the cleanup and add to its cost, Dion directed the panel to complete its work by June 30, 2006, and not to make recommendations that would drive cleanup costs beyond the $400 million Ottawa and Nova Scotia had already committed.
The province reluctantly agreed to participate, and the joint panel review held three weeks of sparsely attended hearings in April and May 2006. The panel planned to report by July 13, 2006.
Solution
After decades of study, the federal and Nova Scotia governments concluded that the best way to deal with the Sydney Tar Ponds is to stabilize, solidify, and contain the contaminated material. In January 2007, officials from Ottawa and the province announced a $400-million plan to solidify the toxic sludge using the Solidification / Stabilization (S/S) with CementSolidification / Stabilization (S/S) with Cement
Remediation of contaminated sites with cement, also called solidification/stabilization with cement is a common method for the safe environmental remediation of contaminated land with cement...
method. This technology was preferred over a controversial proposal to incinerate some of the 700,000 tonnes of sludge. Nordlys Environmental LP and ECC were awarded a $52-million contract in October 2009 to begin S/S operations.
Environmentalists and local residents continued to worry officials would incinerate some of the material, though Federal and provincial officials claimed the S/S method they had chosen would stabilize the 100-hectare site without producing any adverse health or environmental effects.
The first phase of the project was completed in mid-December 2009 and work will continue with Phase 2 in the spring of 2010. Eventually the area will be covered with an impermeable barrier, soil, and finally grass. Parts of the restored site may eventually be used for recreational purposes.