FINAL POSTING ON LAST THURSDAY'S CPAC MEETING?

Wow! Until one starts remembering, reading one's notes and posting; one can come away from a powerful meeting thinking it couldn't have been as good as one's gut tells them it was. Well it was good for the citizens and the public interest. Not so good however for the Ministry of the Environment and a whole lot worse for Chemtura. These two bodies hide behind public consultation to justify their do little or nothing action. They also pretend that everything is peachy keen with understanding, respect and fair play by Chemtura & the M.O.E. at these meetings. Nothing is further from the truth and CPAC, SWAT and the public made that very clear last Thursday evening.

Back in the 1995-96 M.O.E. report concerns were raised about extremely high readings in ponds downstream in the floodplain of the Canagagigue Creek. We were told however that despite these very high readings thet they were of limited risk as they were not directly connected to the creek. I find this interesting as obviously they are connected (via flooding) as that's how they became contaminated in the first place. This also speaks to the potential for the downstream swimming pond located in the floodplain to become contaminated. Dr. Dan Holt, CPAC Chair did suggest that a caution or warning to the owners of that pond from the M.O.E. would be appropriate.

I asked Mike Spencer of the M.O.E. for details of his examination last summer of this swimming pond and his answers were not confidence building. He examined it visually from outside the pond and saw a geotextile membrane with algae. No samples were taken from inside the pond either on the sides or bottom. He seemed to feel that the berm was 12-18 inches high around the outside of the pond. Mr. Spencer could neither confirm nor deny if there were sediments of any kind in the pond.

Regarding further downstream testing Susan Bryant commented "more testing is a recurring nightmare". Her concerns related of course to a lack of action following testing.

Jeff Merriman made yet another outrageous claim in regards to on-site DNAPLS when he stated that all of Wilf Ruland's concerns as expressed in his May 15, 2008 letter had been taken care of. Bullshit! I requested that Jeff carefully examine Wilf's requests for cleanup in his points #5, 6, 7, 10 and 11 and respond at the next CPAC meeting on June 26/14.

Regarding Chemtura/CRA's wish to triple off-site pumping and discharge to the creek; Steve Martindale (M.O.E.) unequivocally stated that their individual chemical discharge criteria would have to be reduced in order to protect the receiving body of water ie. the Canagagigue.

Lastly Dr. Dan Holt advised all present that CPAC were always pleased to see citizen activists honoured for their efforts and indeed Elmira was blessed with numerous citizens who have spent decades working on behalf of the public interest.