Tar Ponds Weblog

*  See latest pictures – Tar Ponds flood during SS – December 2010

*  See latest videos at  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6dvtpps3aQ   (2010)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CeyR4Sbeko&feature=related   (2011)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDMGOi3uSlE&feature=related   (2011)

The North and South Tar Ponds, located in downtown Sydney, N.S., is a tidal estuary which flows into Sydney Harbour.  This estuary contains approximately 700,000 tonnes of sludge contaminated with PCBs, PAHs, semi-volatiles, metals (lead, mercury, arsenic, cadmium, etc.) petroleum hydrocarbons, BTEX, HNCs and dioxins/furans.

This contamination was responsible for the indefinite closure of the lobster fishery in the South Arm of Sydney Harbour in 1982 when fisheries scientists found PAHs from the Tar Ponds in Sydney Harbour lobsters.

Despite a recommendation in a report commissioned by government in 1994 to immediately install a weir at the mouth of the North Pond to eliminate tidal flushing which would then reduce the flow of contaminated sediments to the harbour, government did nothing.  Twelve years later,  in 2006, a barrier was constructed across the mouth of the North Pond “to protect Sydney Harbour from further pollution as the big cleanup proceeds.”  A 50-metre opening was left in the barrier to accommodate a water channel which will run through the Tar Ponds by 2014.

Will this mixing of cement powder with tar ponds sludge turn into a low permeable concrete mass as described by the Sydney Tar Ponds Agency?

Nowhere close to concrete.  The unconfined compressive strength (UCS) of sidewalk concrete is about 3500 pounds per square inch (psi).  The minimum UCS requirement for the toxic waste in the tar ponds following SS is a mere 25 psi, reduced from 50 psi, and some areas have already failed to meet that minimum requirement following SS.    We’ve also seen instances where the UCS gets weaker over time instead of stronger.  Unfortunately, due to the Nova Scotia Environment Department’s lax criteria, the UCS need only be tested once and never again, so if there is a weakening trend and/or degradation of this SS toxic waste, we’ll never know, especially once it’s buried under a cap comprised of one million tonnes of trucked-in materials.

Some test results have also shown an increase in contaminant leaching instead of a decrease following SS of this hazardous waste, and some contaminants not leaching prior to SS began leaching following SS.  To accommodate this increase in contaminant leaching, the N.S. Environment Department allows the leachate following SS treatment to be 500 times greater than the leachate before SS treatment, providing it doesn’t exceed site criteria.  So while the purpose of SS is to reduce contaminant leaching, it’s actually having the opposite effect on some contaminants in this high-organic sludge.  To make matters worse, the NSE department only requires there be one leachate test for every one thousand  tonnes of SS treated sludge. To put that number in perspective, that works out to be one leachate test for every 66 dump trucks (15 tons each) full of toxic waste. Far from being protective.

Following an extensive government-led consultation process with the community, from 1996 to 2003, to determine acceptable solutions for the remediation of the Tar Ponds and Coke Ovens sites, the community called for removal and destruction technologies to clean up the sites once and for all.  This solution was completely ignored by governments and they are now proceeding to waste hundreds of millions of dollars in a ‘cleanup’ that cleans up nothing.

View the video below to see how this COVERUP is carried out.

Rotten stench in Sydney, Nova Scotia

Concerned residents and the media are not permitted to attend the Sydney Tar Ponds Agency’s monthly CLC meeting, even though STPA boasts openness and transparency.  Only a small number of hand-picked representatives of certain organizations are permitted to attend.  Not even those residents living adjacent to the Tar Ponds and Coke Ovens sites can attend these meetings.  What are they hiding behind closed doors?

Believe it or not, STPA still has not announced the new members of the CLC despite the fact that applications were called for on March 30, 2009. Dan McMullin has requested a list of the new members no less than 4 times (both verbally and by email) and has yet to get an adequate answer to his simple question.  Maybe STPA is having trouble finding a replacement for the Joint Action Group who withdrew from the CLC a number of months back.  Meantime Sierra Club has applied no less than 4 times!

Wayne McKay, former NDP candidate for CB South, (pictured  at far right of picture) convened a 7 p.m. meeting Tuesday, Aug. 11 at the McConnell Memorial Library in Sydney to discuss air quality and other concerns of Sydney’s North End residents. The group of 25 was apparently stood-up by crown agency official Gary Campbell – the very man who arranged for the meeting in the first place.

So far, STPA has answered some questions, but not adequately. Residents have begun submitting supplementary questions and are hoping for a quick turnaround on the first 4 questions.

Rick Mercer’s infamous “tongue-in-cheek” skit on visiting the Sydney Tar Ponds with his son Johnny.

Vodpod videos no longer available. from www.youtube.com posted with vodpod

Part 2 of G. Fred Lee’s analysis of the effectiveness of S/S technologies at the Sydney Tar Ponds

Vodpod videos no longer available. from www.youtube.com posted with vodpod

Dr. G. Fred Lee is a US expert on Landfills, solidification and stabilization – technologies currently in use at the Sydney Tar Ponds

Vodpod videos no longer available. from www.youtube.com posted with vodpod

We’re going to keep you up to date on what’s going on on the Sydney Tar Ponds site with pictures, emails, comments, etc. Feel free to Join in , ask questions or just read our updates.