‘How can you ignore our voices?’
Coalition group stages Sydney rally over concerns with Donkin Mine
SYDNEY — Catherine Fergusson stepped inside the Sydney office of the provincial Department of the Environment of Climate Change on the off-chance a representative would take time out to listen to her concerns about Donkin Mine.
Outside, several supporters and members of the Cow Bay Environment Coalition chanted and rallied with signs speaking out about what they view as environmental, human health and safety concerns at the Kameron Coalowned facility in Donkin.
“I asked if someone from (the department) would come out and meet with community members who were here with me,” said Ferguson, chair of the coalition group, “to which they were directed to say no, and they gave me a piece of paper advising me to contact their communications person.”
It was worth the try, Fergusson added.
MORE THAN A DOZEN RALLY
On Thursday morning, more than a dozen people gathered along Upper Prince Street near the Environment and Climate Change building to voice their protests over a number of issues with the mine since its reopening last September. Among the main concerns:
• Worker safety in what has been deemed a non-unionized environment
• Unsafe trucking of coal on rural roads day and night
• The mine said to be the largest greenhouse gas emitter in the province;
• Adverse noise from the ventilation fans that are keeping people awake
• Destruction of local watersheds and wetlands
‘CLIMATE CRISIS’
“There are also major concerns about the whole environmental approval process,” Ferguson said. “Three community groups requested community consultation, and all those requests were denied, despite the serious issues related to this mine.
“It’s 2023, and we’re having a climate crisis. And here we are dealing with really dirty coal … with sledge from the piles of coal draining into our wetlands, the watershed and into our ocean.”
On Feb. 17, Fergusson, Cow Bay Environmental Coalition co-member LeRoy Peach and other concerned citizens staged a similar rally in Reserve Mines, where Fergusson said that, among the vehicle-honking passersby, one truck set up to haul coal reportedly ignored the red light at the Route 4-Main Street intersection.
During the late-morning rally on Upper Prince Street, several passing vehicles honked in support of the group and what they represented.
‘ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION’
Among those rallying included Mary Best, Atlantic regional organizer for the Council of Canadians, who recalled growing up in the 1980s when several coal mines and the Sydney steel plant were on an economic downturn.
“I watched the environmental pollution and economic precarity that was caused by the fluctuation of those industries,” said Best, adding her grandfather served as a president for District 26 of the United Mine Workers of America for “almost forever.”
“We’re at a flashpoint now,” Best continued. “We need to make real moves toward a just transition so that people have jobs they can rely on in industries that support human health and the economy, so that we don’t have more outmigration when this mine closes or the next industry fails.”
Thursday’s rally, like the Feb. 17 one in Reserve Mines, also wanted to raise awareness of the trucking of coal from Donkin Mine along rural and residential roads, especially during pre-sunrise hours, and the environmental harms caused by trucks openly carrying coal, damaging the roadways, and spreading dirty coal dust and the smell of diesel into nearby grounds.
COAL FOUND ON ROAD “STAGGERING’
“They started up around 3 or 4 in the morning,” said Calvin Thomas, who lives along Long Beach Road three kilometres from the mine on the Port Morien side. “Some of these trucks zoom through, go along the centre of the roadway, speed through red lights and stop signs.
“Plus, the amount of coal I find on the road is amazing and staggering. I see pieces of coal flying off these trucks. I’ve got a five-gallon bucket of coal I’ve collected. I keep taking pictures of pieces I’ve found along the road, in people’s driveways. That’s just dangerous, especially if these pieces ever hit somebody’s vehicle.”
The Cape Breton Post once again reached out to Kameron Coal for comment on the rallies and concerns but no one returned any calls by press time.
“How can you ignore our voices and turn a blind eye to our concerns?” said Fergusson, adding that more rallies may be forthcoming in the weeks ahead.
“I don’t know if (Kameron Coal) is listening, but I have to hold out some hope in this.”