THE REST OF THURSDAY EVENING'S TAG MEETING

Well first off TAG member David Hofbauer was back and I believe that is a good thing. As earlier written here, his absence due to a perceived conflict-of-interest was NOT handled properly or transparently by either TAG or Woolwich Council. David's behaviour however was exemplary. ............................................................................................................................ As mentioned yesterday there was some discussion regarding my four DNAPL letters sent to TAG however other documents/e-mails sent them were not mentioned including Nov. 1, 9 & 27, 2021. These discussed soil samples (Pacific Rim) sent to Ramin Ansari of Lanxess, TAG's overall refusal to discuss any of my written Delegations presented and lastly how the guilty parties refusing to voluntarily accept the Pacific Rim lab results does not absolve them from guilt or from their obligations of environmental Due Diligence. Clearly these e-mails about TAG's failure to discuss my written Delegations sent to them fully in compliance with Woolwich Council's shameful, undemocratic rules and procedures have struck a nerve hence their DNAPL discussion. Once is not a pattern however and much more needs to be done. .......................................................................................................................... There was a brief discussion involving temporary losses of hydraulic containment in the Upper Aquifer (UA) sending contaminated Uniroyal/Lanxess groundwater into the Canagagigue Creek. These are of course ongoing over decades as creek levels fluctuate substantially with storms, droughts and normal rainfall. Of course none of this was ever discussed back in the mid 90s when citizens expressed their doubts about hydraulic containment alone being the answer. Linda Dickson explained a number of changes with the new, amended ECA (Environmental Compliance Agreement). These once were called C. of A's (certificates of approval) but an inadequate document by any name still is ineffective. ......................................................................................................................................... We were advised that Stantec will attend the next TAG meeting to discuss the Draft Risk Assessment. That's nice but isn't it just dandy how Lanxess, GHD and the MECP can avoid facing TAG or the public literally for months if not years now if they so choose. Lay that at the feet of an inadequate mayor and a compliant Woolwich Council. Wilson Lau clarifed a number of issues surrounding the Risk Assessment including "uncertainty" issues as well as quantitative versus qualitative approaches in Risk Assessments. The first (quantitative) relies on hard data, sampling results and published literature values. The second relies more on looking at the big picture as in land uses, local population exposures, general toxicity of chemicals discharged etc. A number of TAG members including Sebastian and Wilson favour quantitative approaches although sometimes the data isn't always available. Wilson has previously stated that quantitative approaches are the gold standard and Sebastian suggested that qualitative approaches to Risk Assessment could be either subjective or ambiguous. Linda also suggested that TAG members should be skeptical regarding qualitative analyses. ............................................................................................................................... Not unusual were two discussions that have been discussed in depth literally years and decades ago by previous committees (UPAC/CPAC). These included whether the Elmira Aquifers could be depleted via groundwater pumping used for hydraulic containment and also whether the groundwater from individual pumping wells was treated individually by the various treatment systems. With a citizen sitting muted watching who could easily answer questions that TAG had no idea or history of, time and efforts are wasted. That however was part of the goal back in 2015 when Sandy and friends (Chemtura/MOE) dumped CPAC. Kill the historical knowledge and eliminate much embarassment from the past.