Sydney Tar Ponds Environmental Class Action Is Over

The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC)  has spoken: past and present neighbours of the notorious Sydney, Nova Scotia Tar Ponds area cannot bring an environmental class action against the federal and provincial governments for loss in property value and for intensive medical supervision. The neighbours wanted to hold the federal and provincial governments liable for air, water and soil pollution caused by the historic Sydney steel mill and coke works, and the waste they dumped in the Tar Ponds.

For crass political reasons, the two governments had taken over and subsidized the money-losing, privately owned mill, its coke works and Tar Ponds half a century ago. Government money (much of it federal) has since been used to bury and cap the worst of the contaminants on site.