Sydney Tar Ponds Essay -- Environmental Disaster

In 1901, an Boston based invertor group opened up a steel mill on the southeast side of Sydney harbor in Sydney, Nova Scotia. This mill was named DISCO, or Dominion Iron and Steel Company Limited, which was ultimately a subsidiary of DOMCO, or the Dominion Coal Company Limited. DOMCO coal was mined in Dominion, near Glace Bay and was used to make coke. Coke is a hard, grey, porous material, man-made from the coal and is used to fuel the blast furnaces for smelting the iron ore. (Coke (fuel), 2012) DOMCO along with DISCO merged with the Nova Scotia Steel and Coal Company or SCOTIA to from the British Empire Steel Corporation or BESCO in 1920. The company soon reorganized and in 1930 under the name Dominion Steel and Coal Corporation or DOSCO. In 1957 it was purchased by Toronto based aircraft manufacturing company, A.V. Roe Canada and in 1962 was once again sold, this time to Hawker Siddeley Canada, where it become a subsidiary. (Sydney Steel Corporation, 29) Hawker Siddeley ran the company smoothly until 1965 when they decided to eliminate all money moving operations. It was also around this time that it was announced that there were only around 15 operational years left for the Sydney coalmines and that after this opening new mines would be too expensive and that DOSCO would be getting out of the coal mining industry. The Sydney mill was very outdated compared to other mills in western and central Canada at this time. After an outcry for Cape Breton County residence, Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson, announced the creation of the Donald Commision led by J.R. Donald. The job of this commission was to launch a inquiry into the Cape Breton coal industry. They recommended that a federal crown corporation be set up to buy and mana... ... Contaminated material will still be filled with cement and then contained in the area they are in, none of the material will be incinerated. Then the entire area will be caped off and landscaped for future use The first phase of this was completed in late 2009 while the second stage began in Spring of 2010. (Tar ponds timeline, 2007) (Sydney Tar Ponds, 2012) Works Cited Coke (fuel). (2012, 04 02). Retrieved 04 08, 2012, from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coke_(fuel) Sydney Steel Corporation. (29, 04 2011). Retrieved 04 2012, 08, from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_Steel_Corporation Sydney Tar Ponds. (2012, 04 07). Retrieved 04 08, 2012, from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_Tar_Ponds Tar ponds timeline. (2007, 01 29). Retrieved 04 08, 2012, from CBC News: http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/tarponds/timeline.html