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Federal Government Awards Participant Funding for the Panel Review of the Sydney Tar Ponds and Coke Ovens Sites Remediation Project
OTTAWA, November 17, 2005 – The Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency has awarded $169,947 to thirteen applicants in support of their participation in the environmental assessment, by a joint review panel, of the proposed Sydney Tar Ponds and Coke Ovens Sites Remediation Project.
Phase II funding will assist individuals and groups to provide comments on the proponent's Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and to prepare for and participate in the joint review panel hearings. The proponent, the Sydney Tar Ponds Agency, is expected to submit the EIS by December 30. The joint review panel will then make public the EIS for a 48-day comment period.
The recipients of Phase II funding are: Dr. Ron MacCormick; Cape Breton "Save our Health Care" Committee; Cape Breton University; the Cement Association of Canada; the Environmental Careers Organization; Sydney Academy; Sydney & Area Chamber of Commerce; Metro Cape Breton Junior Chamber; the Cape Breton Business Partnership; Eskasoni Fish & Wildlife Commission; New Waterford and Area Fish & Game Association;, Sierra Club of Canada; Ann Marie Ross, Joseph M. Petitpas, Kathleen Iris Crawford and Neila Catherine MacQueen. The funding is made available through the Participant Funding Program administered by the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency.
A funding review committee, independent from the joint panel review environmental assessment process, was appointed to examine all participant funding applications. The committee members were Mr. Hugh Hall; Ms. Donna McCready; and Mr. William Coulter, Director, Atlantic Regional Office of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency. All of the Committee's recommendations were unanimous and are contained in the Report of the Funding Review Committee which is available on the Agency's Web site.
The project is subject to an environmental assessment both under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act and the Nova Scotia Environment Act. In September, the Minister of the Environment and his Nova Scotia counterpart appointed Lesley Griffiths, William H.R. Charles and Louis LaPierre to the joint review panel.
The proposed remediation project consists of several components: controlling surface water (at the tar ponds and coke ovens) and groundwater (at the coke ovens); removing and destroying selected contaminants from both sites; treating in-place selected contaminants at both sites; containing remaining contaminants at both sites; site surface restoration and landscaping at both sites; and developing long-term monitoring and maintenance plans for both sites.
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The Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency administers the federal environmental assessment process, which identifies the environmental effects of proposed projects and measures to address those effects, in support of sustainable development.
For more information on this project and others in your area, please consult the Canadian Environmental Assessment Registry, reference number 05-05-8989.
For more information on the Participant Funding Program, please contact:
Peter Bedrossian
Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency
160 Elgin Street, 22nd Floor
Ottawa ON K1A 0H3
peter.bedrossian@ceaa-acee.gc.ca
Tel.: (613) 957-0254
Fax: (613) 957-0941
To register as an interested party and to be kept informed of the review activities, please provide a full mailing address, an e-mail address and/or a fax number, to:
Sydney Tar Ponds and Coke Ovens Review
P.O. Box 431
Sydney NS B1P 6H2
comments@stpco-review.ca
For information on the joint review process:
Sydney Tar Ponds and Coke Ovens Sites Remediation Project
Joint Review Panel Office
582 George Street
Sydney NS
Tel.: (902) 564-2759
Media may contact:
Gordon Harris
Senior Communications Advisor
Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency
Tel.: (613) 957-0825
gordon.harris@ceaa-acee.gc.ca
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