PICTOU - Two grey ladies of the Cold War will meet their ends in Pictou.
Town council last night voted 4-1 to approve a bylaw amendment that would allow Aecon Fabco to dismantle the Canadian Navy destroyers HMCS Gatineau and the HMCS Terra Nova at the local shipyard. It's a turn of events for a shipyard that has produced 226 ships over the years. Now they'll be taking some apart.
Councillor Raymond Gregory was the lone dissenter and he made no bones about his stand on the ships' dismantling.
"I am terrified to death of this whole operation, terrified," he told representatives of Aecon Fabco at a special public meeting in the afternoon.
Council held a public meeting in the afternoon with the brass from Aecon Fabco including vice-president and GM Ken McCormick and project manager Joe Struthers. Also on hand was David Haley of SNC Lavalin which has been retained by Aecon Fabco in an environmental oversight capacity.
Stuart MacKenzie, who lives near the shipyard, made an emotional plea against amending the bylaw.
"You are ruining a neighbourhood; these aren't going to be a good thing to be bringing to town. I don't want to see it in my neighbourhood and I don't imagine you'd want to see it in yours."
In a submission to council read into the record at the evening meeting, Penny MacKenzie, another resident near the shipyard, said the area would become "the industrial nightmare part of town."
Of the four written submissions received, three were opposed. The one in favour was from the Pictou County Chamber of Commerce. That letter called the dismantling project a "good use of this premises."
The letter, from executive director Faus Johnson, called Aecon Fabco "responsible corporate citizens. They should be welcomed and embraced."
Pictou businessman Murray Porter said he was willing to take a gamble on the deal. "I certainly feel confident this company has done its homework…at the end of the day hopefully something good will come out of it."
The same issues were raised in the afternoon session and one at 6 p.m., prior to the special council meeting to give the amendment second reading.
People expressed concerns over toxic substances such as asbestos, smoke and other contaminants released from the destroyers during the process. They were also concerned about noise, streams of trucks travelling through the town carrying steel, the impact on tourism and any eyesore that might develop in conjunction with the work.
"Our plan describes who responds to concerns of people," Struthers said. "Each and every concern will be addressed."
Struthers said only the HMCS Gatineau contains asbestos which was used in the building process in a Quebec shipyard. The HMCS Terra Nova was built in B.C.
McCormick stressed that this will be a safe enterprise in every manner possible. He said Aecon Fabco puts its employees first and foremost. "Our strength is people, everything else is facilities."
McCormick said the ships haven't been just lying alongside the jetty in Dartmouth with nobody checking and allowing them to deteriorate. "People have been working on these ships for three years. I've been on the ships myself."
Haley said he will have environmental technicians closely monitoring the projects with regular and frequent reports and assessments done. He said two environmental assessments have been done on the ships and the dismantling comes down to adhering to all regulations and rules from the municipal level up to the federal level.
A workforce of eight people from this area have been in Dartmouth doing prep work on the ships, Struthers said.
The ships are leaving Halifax Harbour today and McCormick said it should take two or three days for them to be towed here. The ships will then be stripped of insulation by a subcontractor and by the end of March the actual dismantling will begin from the top down. It will likely last until September, McCormick said.
Aecon Fabco gets council OK for ship dismantling
- Published on November 17th, 2009
- Published on Febuary 20th, 2010
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Ray Burns
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Comments
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- Bev
- - February 22nd, 2010 at 13:32:05
Kudos to the Town Council for making the right decision for once. This town needs work right now and here we have a company willing to provide it. Kudos as well to the businesses of this Town for standing up in support of this project. Mr. MacKenzie and Mr. Gregory must forget that at one point they fed their families from Ferguson Industries--the same spot that certainly didn't ruin the neighborhood then. Pictou is more than a pretty historic town, it is home to many people who want to stay here and want their children to stay here and hopefully this is just one step in the right direction.
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- HAPSTER
- - February 22nd, 2010 at 13:32:03
your to funny art,...i forgot more about steel and marine paints than you will ever know sinclair ,if thats the fact its a environmental concern (for which is not ) why don't you guys attack the mill across the harbour for real concerns ,such as kraft processing ,which is band in most places in the world ? also art you know it all , comparing sydney steel to pictou yard is no comparison. one more point on the demo project it would be liquid oxygen and propane mixture ,, not oxxy accetelyne.... LETS MOVE FORWARD PICTOU !!!!! this old school mentality has held us back long enough !
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- Travis
- - February 22nd, 2010 at 13:32:02
It's nice to see Council finally starting to run this town as a business and not being influenced by just a few individuals. They have to keep in mind the best interest of all Pictounians .
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- Arthur
- - February 22nd, 2010 at 13:32:00
All oxygen used in large industrial metal related industry is liquid. oxy is short for oxygen Hapster and regardless of the fuel it all has to melt metal at high temperatures, 2500 degrees f. When you oxidize a number of different chemicals, which paints and finishes are you come up with many different complex fumes. A lot of the old ships had lead oxide as a primer which is highly toxic when exposed to high temperatures. Did the DND give a list of toxic materials used in the manufacture of these ships?
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- HAPSTER
- - February 22nd, 2010 at 13:31:58
Who says we where going to burn old lead paint ? oh ya you !! lol, listen art you ever here of sand blast ? blasting areas which would be blasted down to straight 10,45 iron ? and then torch ? and all and all you compare today's OH&S STANDARDS OF THOSE USED TO SYDNEY STEEL IN THE PAST ? OH YA YOU LIVE IN THE PAST ? I FORGOT...and one other thing are you from PICTOU ? and whats it to you ? lol
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- James
- - February 22nd, 2010 at 13:31:57
Re: it's not your health's earlier comment of have you given any thought to the residents of Pictou who live in close proximity of the Ship Yard?
I think you might have answered your own question. What does one expect when they live near the working waterfront of a port town? -
- Dis
- - February 22nd, 2010 at 13:31:57
Raymond Gregory is very well versed onthe effects of this situation on human health. After reading some of the comments by ignoramuses in this piece it is no wonder this world is in the shape it is.Town council should be ashamed of itself.They did no research on the subject.Aecon Fabco has their own environmental inspector----talk about the fox guarding the henhouse.The almighty dollar prevails.With the exception of Councillor Gregory the town is being run by yes men .
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- Kip
- - February 22nd, 2010 at 13:31:51
The pulp mill is just fine where it is ... same as NS Power and now the rejuvenated shipyard. In fact Pictou shold try to attract more industry and encourage other big polluters to relocate there. Let's try to keep all of these things in one place instead of spreading them all over the province.
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- Al
- - February 22nd, 2010 at 13:31:49
Good news for Pictou in my view --hopefully this will lead to the revitalization of the steel business here -- we have a large population skilled in the necessary trades.
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- it's not your health
- - February 22nd, 2010 at 13:31:47
For those of you who are saying that the town did the right thing in accepting this, have you given any thought to the residents of Pictou who live in close proximity of the Ship Yard? I do agree that the residents of Pictou need the employment opportunity, but is the cost of employing a few dozen worth the long term helath effects that the asbestos will cause? Is it your helath that is at risk? Are you living in close enough proximity of the Ship Yard that you can hear conversations being held by the workers on their walk back to their vehicles at the end of the day? Are you close enough to smell the welding fumes? If you were that close you may have a different view on this. You may be more concerned with how this will affect your health then how many people will be employed by Aecon for the dismantle. Until you are willing to move yourself and your family to our neighbourhood which will be polluted with the debris, both airbourne and otherwise, please do not tell me the council made the right decision for the residents of Pictou.
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- HAPSTER
- - February 22nd, 2010 at 13:31:47
Councillor Raymond Gregory was the lone dissenter and he made no bones about his stand on the ships' dismantling.
I am terrified to death of this whole operation, terrified, he told representatives of Aecon Fabco at a special public meeting in the afternoon.
I THINK THE ONLY ONE'S THAT SHOULD BE TERRIFIED IS THE PEOPLE OF PICTOU OF YOUR REPRESENTATION FOR US ? -
- tax base for
- - February 22nd, 2010 at 13:31:47
It's pretty funny theses individuals who are pleading no to work in the town where both former employees of the yard ,the one town rep labman raised his family through the yard and now town rep in my ward and a semi retired has more nerve than a bad tooth to make the statements opposing aceon fabco work and bringing tax base into the local town ,it makes no sense whats so ever ,like how do you expect a small town to survive ? if you had any guts at all lab you would step down from your current representation of my ward and the town of pictou !!!!!!! there are alot of people like myself that live in town ,skilled and want to work local,be close to our family's and help make our town thrive by keeping tax dollars in the area and see our town prosper . ship hector, tourism does not feed my family like the majority of us in this town !!!!
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- Rob
- - February 22nd, 2010 at 13:31:43
I probably worked with the guy who knows so much about paint.I guess he did'nt learn too much about it did he.Does he not know that sandblasting removal goes straight into the harbor when it is cleaned off. We were forced into erecting a sewage treatment plant and now look at this fiasco.We have incompetent people acting on our behalf.I live in ground zero in regards to this subject.So don't tell me your stories.
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- george
- - February 22nd, 2010 at 13:31:43
Mr. Bowen did you say sand blast, now there is on enviromentaly friendly process if Iever did hear of one. I doubt it would be sand blasting it might be blasting using steel shot, even so it is hard if not impossible to contain the particulate from the blasting process unless they are going to have the ships in a totaly sealed enviroment.
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- Arthur
- - February 22nd, 2010 at 13:31:38
Speaking in Raymonds defence Mr. gregory having been a former shipyard worker would have more information of what type of paint and marine finishes may be present on thes two ships. The newer finishes are much less toxic than those of the two old ships.
When oxy accetelyne is used to burn ship plates the idea of toxicty becomes much more of a complex issue. Heat changes chemical properties and has to be completely and closely monitored.
Sydney Steel produced a large number of jobs with good pay and for decades but look at the mess there which has not been remediated to this day. the equipment to assure complete air saftey in this enterprise would probably cost more to purchase and run than what the contract was let for. I stand to be correct so if anyone has knowledge to the contrary please enlighten me. -
- 1st time comment guy
- - February 22nd, 2010 at 13:31:38
I am not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but what was mentioned at the public hearing was fairly specific in that any steel cutting (done by heat/flame) will be done along specific predetermined lines which will be cleaned of all coatings of paint etc. (essentially bare steel). In terms of materials listings etc. the presentation provided by the third party environmental engineer definitely addressed the process and procedures both in identifying all materials (paint, hydrocarbons, asbestos etc.) as well as the procedures to mitigate and eliminate associated environmental impacts.
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- Sean
- - February 22nd, 2010 at 13:31:37
It's Not Your Health - You live in Pictou, across from Neenah Paper which is a top 10 polluter in Nova Scotia in terms of air releases, and this is the cause you decide to take up?
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- tax base
- - February 22nd, 2010 at 13:31:37
it's not your health (labman) i live a lot closer to the yard than you buddy !!! step down please and move to the country if town life is to much for ya ! run for rural politics .
your a disgrace to town council !
good job nobody run against you last time ,because there is no way by any means are you qualified to hold such a position ! -
- Bruce
- - February 22nd, 2010 at 13:31:37
This is a great decision by the leadership in Pictou, in approving this. Aecon are a world class organization and it brings great benefits for the community to have them continue to work in the area.
The residents should fear not of it becoming an industrial nightmare or an eye sore, the opportunity this brings far out weighs those objections. -
- Dawn Y.
- - February 22nd, 2010 at 13:31:36
I agree with Travis--it's time the Town started to run this town as a business and not being influenced by just a few individuals. Maybe he and his little organization should remember that. Kudos for the Town council for looking to the future.
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- JR
- - February 22nd, 2010 at 13:31:36
Sorry to have to say this Art ..but I think you are overly concerned about things that you don,t have a lot of knowledge about.
There are very strict protocol to follow when it comes to hazardous materials being disposed of in any industrial situation.
Green perfecton is a long way off and unfortunately many ppl. are unemployed and this work in Pictou is vital to the betterment of the difficulties they are subjected to at present.
Please be sure of what you are saying b,cause it takes very little to scare ppl. who are not professionals in the area of polution.
Some ppl. start ringing alarm bells when someone else burns wood for heat during the winter.Give it a break..Mr.Sinclair.I,m sure everything will be alright.We need money as much as we need a clean environment.All things will change in time.. -
- Dr. Wayne
- - February 22nd, 2010 at 13:31:33
For those of us who sailed for close to twenty years on the old steamers we had no concerns about asbestos or any related medical disorders. The ships were extremely well maintained during there almost forty years of service to this country and most of the asbestos lagging was removed during their conversions in the early 70's.
