The Sydney Tar Ponds are a hazardous waste site on Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, Canada.
Located on the eastern shore of Sydney Harbour in the former city of Sydney (now amalgamated into the Cape Breton Regional Municipality), the Tar Ponds form a tidal estuary at the mouth of Muggah Creek, a freshwater stream that empties into the harbour. Over the last century, runoff from coke ovens associated with Sydney Steel Corporation's (SYSCO) now-decommissioned steel mill filled the estuary with a variety of coal-based contaminants and sludge. Efforts to clean up the waterway have been dogged by false starts, delays, and political controversy. After extensive public consultation and technical study, a $400 million CAD cleanup plan, jointly funded by the Government of Canada and Nova Scotia, was announced in January 2007.
Read more about Sydney Tar Ponds: Geography, History, Cleanup, Controversy, Environmental Impact Assessment, Solution
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The gunner and his mate,
Loved Mall, Meg, and Marian and Margery,
But none of us cared for Kate;
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Would cry to a sailor, ‘Go hang!’
She loved not the savour of tar nor of pitch,
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Then to sea, boys, and let her go hang.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“What if all ponds were shallow? Would it not react on the minds of men? I am thankful that this pond was made deep and pure for a symbol. While men believe in the infinite some ponds will be thought to be bottomless.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)