CASE SUMMARY: EPA FUNDED SITES AND COMMUNITIES IN THE CHEMTURA BANKRUPTCY SETTLEMENTS

I was e-mailed the above titled report. The first sentence is as follows "The 2010 bankruptcy settlements between the U.S. and Chemtura provide for the payment of funds in connection with 18 sites and facilities throughout the country. The payments for these sites will address a wide variety of environmental contamination.".

Indeed these 18 sites are all over the country. Many appear to be landfills in which Chemtura over the years dumped toxic wastes including liquid toxic wastes. Just like in Elmira, Ontario. The corporation however got away with a fire sale. There are some payments to the U.S. government in the low millions of dollars and there are many more literally of two and three thousand dollars only.

The point for me is that their site here in Elmira is no aberration; it is no anomaly. Their claims of historic and accepted waste handling practices of the time are ingenuous. They've been polluting other human beings air and water and soil across the continent for 3/4 of a century. They have always known exactly what they were doing. Yes it is possible that some of the regulators and authorities along the way have played ball with them, to their everlasting shame.

When will our provincial regulator develop some spine and when will our local politicians also follow suit? You would think the local politicians who live here would be the ones to step up but it is a rarity.