New C.B. development boss ready for Devco
Ross McCurdy is ready for the challenge.
But one of the first orders of business for the new chairman of the Cape Breton Development Corporation the Crown corporation that operated coal mines on the island between 1967 and 2001 is explaining Devco’s new role.
"Yes, they are out of the coal mining business," he says with fresh enthusiasm, when asked by The Chronicle Herald what kind of business Devco is doing these days, other than issuing pension cheques.
"But they have a lot of property holdings and they are responsible for the remediation of all those sites," he said in a phone interview from his Halifax home.
"When the corporation divests those properties they are to be divested in a good clean state. In fact, there is going to be a fair amount of monitoring and looking at the consequences of the mining activities well onto the future. So it’s an extremely important phase.
"People don’t realize really how much remediation is going on. It’s a big, big activity," he said.
The 58-year-old, a distant cousin of J.A.D. McCurdy the first man to fly in Canada when he piloted the Silver Dart in Baddeck in 1909 was most recently at the helm of Ocean Nutrition in Dartmouth. Before that, he was CEO at InNOVA Corp., a provincial agency that assists technology startups.
His background is in environmental science, so "it’s . . . natural for me to come back into this," he said.
This is "the last chapter in the Devco book," he said.
"But part of that last chapter is to be leveraging long-term benefits for the community."
In the years before the last coal miner walked out of Prince mine in the fall of 2001, Devco employed as many as 1,400 in coal mines in New Waterford, Sydney Mines and Glace Bay. Now, there are 16 employees and most of the remediation work will be done through outsourcing, with "a lion’s share of that to firms within the Cape Breton boundary."
Ross McCurdy is ready for the challenge.
But one of the first orders of business for the new chairman of the Cape Breton Development Corporation the Crown corporation that operated coal mines on the island between 1967 and 2001 is explaining Devco’s new role.
"Yes, they are out of the coal mining business," he says with fresh enthusiasm, when asked by The Chronicle Herald what kind of business Devco is doing these days, other than issuing pension cheques.
"But they have a lot of property holdings and they are responsible for the remediation of all those sites," he said in a phone interview from his Halifax home.
"When the corporation divests those properties they are to be divested in a good clean state. In fact, there is going to be a fair amount of monitoring and looking at the consequences of the mining activities well onto the future. So it’s an extremely important phase.
"People don’t realize really how much remediation is going on. It’s a big, big activity," he said.
The 58-year-old, a distant cousin of J.A.D. McCurdy the first man to fly in Canada when he piloted the Silver Dart in Baddeck in 1909 was most recently at the helm of Ocean Nutrition in Dartmouth. Before that, he was CEO at InNOVA Corp., a provincial agency that assists technology startups.
His background is in environmental science, so "it’s . . . natural for me to come back into this," he said.
This is "the last chapter in the Devco book," he said.
"But part of that last chapter is to be leveraging long-term benefits for the community."
In the years before the last coal miner walked out of Prince mine in the fall of 2001, Devco employed as many as 1,400 in coal mines in New Waterford, Sydney Mines and Glace Bay. Now, there are 16 employees and most of the remediation work will be done through outsourcing, with "a lion’s share of that to firms within the Cape Breton boundary."
The $100-million, five-year remediation effort will involve a combination of both underground and above-ground work
"The old coal workings, the rock produces acid we have to make sure that it is all sealed. As long as we keep that rock away from the oxygen it causes no harm. Once it comes in contact with oxygen, the sulphur in the rock switches to sulphuric acid and that material contributes to a lot of environmental damage," he said.
Clay or some other impervious membrane is layered over the rock and topped with several feet of soil, isolating the rock, to bring the site "back to its untouched state," he said.
The land can then be used for development or greenbelts.
He’s been in the job just over a week, so some of the finer details are not right at hand, he explains, when asked just how many hectares of land will need remediation.
"I’ve got a five-year term and most of the remediation will have taken place within that five-year period," he said.
That’s not to say the human side of the corporation will be forgotten, he said.
There is still the "ongoing care and maintenance of the benefits of the former coal miners" as well as a public recording of the "Devco story over the last 40 to 50 years."
"An awful lot of Cape Bretoners contributed to the coal mining business in one way, shape or form. Boy, I’d hate for that just to be forgotten.
"We have files on 10,000 miners and I’d like them to have fond memories of what they did during their career. We often look at the negative, but there is also a very positive part which I hope we can bring out in time," he said.
"The old coal workings, the rock produces acid we have to make sure that it is all sealed. As long as we keep that rock away from the oxygen it causes no harm. Once it comes in contact with oxygen, the sulphur in the rock switches to sulphuric acid and that material contributes to a lot of environmental damage," he said.
Clay or some other impervious membrane is layered over the rock and topped with several feet of soil, isolating the rock, to bring the site "back to its untouched state," he said.
The land can then be used for development or greenbelts.
He’s been in the job just over a week, so some of the finer details are not right at hand, he explains, when asked just how many hectares of land will need remediation.
"I’ve got a five-year term and most of the remediation will have taken place within that five-year period," he said.
That’s not to say the human side of the corporation will be forgotten, he said.
There is still the "ongoing care and maintenance of the benefits of the former coal miners" as well as a public recording of the "Devco story over the last 40 to 50 years."
"An awful lot of Cape Bretoners contributed to the coal mining business in one way, shape or form. Boy, I’d hate for that just to be forgotten.
"We have files on 10,000 miners and I’d like them to have fond memories of what they did during their career. We often look at the negative, but there is also a very positive part which I hope we can bring out in time," he said.
Visit this website for more info on the Coal industry in Nova Scotia:
http://www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm/virtual/meninmines