Tar Ponds Weblog

Concerned residents and the media are not permitted to attend the Sydney Tar Ponds Agency’s monthly Community Liaison Committee meeting, even though STPA boasts openness and transparency.  Only a small number of hand-picked representatives of certain organizations are permitted to attend these in-camera meetings.  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 while they spend $400 million to cover-up over one million tonnes of contaminated sediments from the Tar Ponds and Coke Ovens sites?

Posted September 12, 2009

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!

By: Dan on November 12, 2009
at 12:13 pm

Finally received word a few weeks ago that once again The Sierra Club was not chosen for the CLC. To my knowledge, no notice has appeared in the local newspaper listing the new members of the CLC from an Agency claiming to be open and transparent.
I’ve filed under NS Freedom Of Information (FOIPOP) to see all the releveant correspondence on the CLC in the last year.
Should prove interesting.
We’ll let you know right here when we get the goods.

By: Faith Hall on June 1, 2010
at 10:23 am

I think maybe things are changing at STPA…they appear to be accepting guest members of the public now. If you check the latest CLC minutes at their website below: http://www.tarpondscleanup.ca/~stpa/upload/1275075009CLC%20Minutes%20March%2024-10.pdf
you’ll see that they’ve welcomed Dan Fraser of Sierra Club of Canada as a guest of member Marjorie Butts. Fraser actually makes a comment at the end of the minutes. From what you say above, that’s not supposed to happen. So maybe those CLC “closed doors” are beginning to open a crack or two .

Reply- June 1, 2010
at 10:55 am

I’ve checked the link Faith and you’re absolutely right – the March CLC minutes do show that a member of the public was allowed to attend and make comments. Go figure why they would invite someone from the Sierra Club of Canada! Sierra Club has applied for membership in the CLC every year for the last 5 years and they’ve been turned down every year. This year they were the only group to apply for the CLC environment seat within the posted time-frame and they were still turned down…I hear an environmental group located at the other end of the island (2 hours drive from Sydney) applied LATE and got the CLC position instead of the Sierra Club. So it sure looks like the STPA make up the rules as they go along. I’d suggest you call them and ask them to explain their bizarre behaviour. Meanwhile I’ve stored the Mar. 24 CLC minutes on our site for future reference. See Link below:

http://www.tarpondscleanup.info/uploads/clc_minutes/March_24-10.pdf