Ground

Fast & Curious: Short Takes on Random Things

Fast & Curious: Short Takes on Random Things

July 14, 2017 at 12:00 pm

Municipal Affairs Says… I couldn’t help noticing the Cape Breton Post picked up my story about port marketer Albert Barbusci and his reports to CBRM council. The Post‘s take is very much “nothing to see here folks” — the article makes the point, not once but twice (first in a statement,Read More

CBNS railway, Sydney. (Photo via Scotia Rail Development Society http://scotiarail.ca/)

Province Studying High Railway Fees

May 10, 2017 at 12:15 pm

The Sydney Subdivision of the Cape Breton and Central Nova Scotia Railway (CBNS) must be the most studied stretch of unused track in the country. The Subdivision was the subject of three different reports (with a total price tag of $152,600) in 2015. It’s to be the subject of a $460,000 studyRead More

Photos of damage to CBNS rail line courtesy of CB Railway Victims Association

As Studies Pile Up, CB Rail Line Deteriorates

May 10, 2017 at 12:10 pm

While on the subject of the Sydney Subdivision of the Cape Breton and Central Nova Scotia (CBNS) Railway, which I seem to be again this week, I’d like to take a moment to consider the state of said line. As the Spectator reported in the April 26th edition, the Port ofRead More

US Judge Allows Trucking of Radioactive Chalk River Waste to South Carolina

US Judge Allows Trucking of Radioactive Chalk River Waste to South Carolina

February 22, 2017 at 1:55 pm

In my October column, “Roads to Hell: Nuclear Waste on the Move,” I reported on legal efforts to block shipments of highly-radioactive liquid waste from the Chalk River Nuclear Laboratories in Ontario to the Savannah River National Laboratory in South Carolina, a journey of over 2,000 kilometerss passing the GreatRead More

Trains Don’t Run, But the Bills Still Come

Trains Don’t Run, But the Bills Still Come

November 9, 2016 at 8:53 am

The only thing more expensive than running a railway, apparently, is not running a railway. That’s the justification offered by Genesee & Wyoming (G&W) — owners of the Cape Breton & Central Nova Scotia Railway (CBNS) and its all-but-defunct Sydney Subdivision — for the high fees they charge landowners needingRead More

Budget Hack: Ground the Council, Improve Transit

Budget Hack: Ground the Council, Improve Transit

June 1, 2016 at 1:29 pm

Budget Hack is a recurring series in which the author takes money from one part of the Cape Breton Regional Municipality Budget and puts it where she feels it can do more good. All attendant flak should be directed at the author, not the people whose causes she supports. InRead More