Oil Found in Cooling Pond

The Sydney Tar Ponds Agency and other provincial agencies are investigating the discovery of oil found floating in the former Sysco cooling pond -- an artificially created pond adjacent to the Sydney tar ponds.

A qualified contractor has recovered most of the oil from the surface and is in the final stages of mopping up the site. The precise quantity, type and source of the oil have not been determined, but it is similar in consistency to that used in automobile engines. Environmental Services Laboratory (ESL), a laboratory in Cape Breton Regional Municipality, is testing a sample.

No oil escaped from the pond. However, 10 cormorants -- large marine birds -- that came into contact with the oil became soaked in it and were unable to fly. Four died and the condition of the remaining six was such that they had to be put down by conservation officers from the Department of Natural Resources.

The cooling pond has been idle for years. Its function was to cool and recycle water used in industrial equipment at the steel plant.

Inspectors from the Nova Scotia Department of Environment and Labour and staff from Environment Canada have visited the site.