Expert Team Will Provide Speedy Answers to Panel Questions

The CEO of the Sydney Tar Ponds Agency said today, March 17, environmental experts will provide prompt answers to the additional questions posed yesterday by the joint review panel.

The engineers, toxicologists, and risk assessors who helped the agency prepare the 3,000-page environmental impact statement have assembled and begun work on the answers.

Frank Potter, acting CEO of the Tar Ponds Agency said the cleanup plan has been studied in detail to make sure that it can be carried out safely and effectively. "It is a big job," he said. "And we understand the panel's desire for further information."

"We will provide the requested information fully and promptly," said Mr. Potter. "We have confidence in the cleanup plan, and in our experts' ability to carry it out. We are as anxious as everyone in Sydney to get on with the cleanup and to meet the June 30 date for the completion of the panel's report."

The agency has met all the deadlines set out for it by the panel. Most recently, it responded to several hundred public comments and questions on the environmental impact statement in just two weeks.