VARNICOLOR CHEMICAL & BORG TEXTILES DID IT

The evidence is strong in both cases. On a balance of probabilities Varnicolor contributed NDMA (N-Nitrosodimethylamine)to the municipal drinking water aquifers and Borg contributed chlorobenzene. Now do keep in mind that this is based upon evidence produced by client driven consultants for Uniroyal/Lanxess Canada Co. I am quite certain that if the current owners of the former Borg Textiles were to hire their own consultants they would pin the blame squarely on Lanxess or perhaps even on Varnicolor.

The big problem with blaming Varnicolor for what has been described as an excess of 1300 kilograms of chlorobenzene in the Elmira Aquifers by Neil Thompson of the University of Waterloo; is that chlorobenzene testing in Varnicolor's shallow aquifers back in the 1990s came up empty. Now there has been lots of additional testing since then but the Ontario MOE in their infinite capacity to be deceptive have done their very best not to share that data with the public. I believe, without any confirmation from Elmira Pump, that the MOE have even threatened Elmira Pump not to share this data with me. Elmira Pump are the current owners of the old Varnicolor site. I also believe that most likely Borg Textiles handled chlorobenzene. What has always bothered me is that Varnicolor as a paint and solvent recycler should have handled chlorobezene as well. If the MOE fudged the lab reports, one way or the other, then we are likely talking corruption on the jail time scale.

Then we have the NDMA issue. Varnicolor did come up with generally low levels of NDMA in their shallow groundwater in the 1990s. There were however a couple of very interesting, deep soil samples that were much higher in concentration. Again I am aware that the MOE have done everything possible to avoid looking for NDMA on the Varnicolor site. What you don't test for you will never find. That has been their out. I believe that their might have been all of one deep sample taken in the last fifteen to twenty years which is just ridiculous. Unless of course you don't want to muddy the waters of having Uniroyal/Lanxess take responsibility for the complete Elmira Aquifers cleanup. This certainly would explain the October 7, 1991 sweetheart deal that the MOE gave Uniroyal Chemical, including the Indemnity for all known contamination.

The last huge evidence also includes the Uniroyal/Lanxess Annual Monitoring Reports over the years. They have plume maps as well as contaminant trends graphs showing high concentrations of NDMA and chlorobenzene where they simply should not be if Uniroyal were the sole source to the Elmira Aquifers.