Sydney Tar Pond Case Study

The Sydney Tar Ponds were a hazardous waste site on the Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, Canada. During the early 1900s, steel production began at this location and carried on for over 80 years. Throughout this duration of time, at least 700 000 tonnes of toxic by-products were produced due to smelting and steel production processes. Some of the by-products produced were total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPHs), benzene, toluene, ethyl-benzene, xylene (BTEX), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and heavy metals. The toxic by-products were dumped into a tidal estuary that empties into the Sydney Harbour which ultimately lead to the toxins being released into the Atlantic Ocean. Also, during this time Coke manufacturing was very popular …show more content…
People were very interested in protecting the environment along with protecting themselves. There were protests and hunger strikes where people would gather and voice their desire for the cleaning of the Sydney Tar Ponds. When the government allocated funds towards cleaning this area, people were very pleased. They were happy the government was finally hearing their cries and taking action. There was a small minority of people who did not think it was a good idea to clean the area, but the government went through with the clean up after thinking of the overall benefits the restoration of the tar ponds could have. The community receiving the help they needed to restore this area allowed them to get involved and volunteer to help make their community a better place. Public figures like Sydney’s Member of Parliament during this period stated that the community was skeptical that the land would be cleaned, so receiving the money to restore the Sydney Tar Ponds was beneficial. (Bueckert, …show more content…
Through the hard work of the Cape Breton community, and the funding from the government the land was able to be cleared using the solidification/stabilization technique and restored so that it could be made into a usable park. In the beginning, the population had concerns that the area was dangerous in terms of its ability to inflict health problems like cancer on those who resided nearby. At first the government was doubtful and said that these claims were false (Koenig et al., 2009). They said the tar pond should not be viewed as a possible carcinogen and that there are many other factors that could explain why the cancer rate in this population was so high. It seemed like they had no interest in this issue until they signed the Kyoto Protocol. It would appear that the government was ignorant to this problem in the beginning. It was possible that the revenue created from the steel factories that once inhabited the area was a reason why the government did not want to clean the land earlier. They possibly saw that the factories produced a lucrative form of business and outweighed the needs of the population. They were ignoring the needs of those they are supposed to protect (Koenig et al., 2009). In our present day, it seems as though the government listens to its citizens when they have issues and try to resolve them. It is possible that they saw the error in their