CRUNCH TIME IS COMING FOR LANXESS & THE MECP

 

MECP does not stand for Ministry of Expanded Corporate Pollution but it really should . The MECP probably prefer The Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks. Boy talk about downgrading a Ministry by expanding their mandate while not expanding their budget enough to even be able to drag recalcitrant polluters in front of the courts to enforce the legislation that does exist.

2028 is the mandated date for the cleanup of the Elmira drinking water aquifers. Instead the company are talking about alternatives.  These alternatives include getting well E10 at Scotch Line (south of Elmira) to contribute water to the distribution system. Other implausible ideas include water barriers of clean water pumped into the aquifers between the company at the north end of town and the south wellfield (E7, E9) at the south end of town now surrounded by both commercial and industrial development. Only Elmira/Woolwich are dumb enough to pollute the south wellfield in 1989, shut it down then develop all around it and later decide to start it up again in 2028. 

Lanxess want somehow to get Elmira back onto Elmira drinking water. The Region of Waterloo have also reversed their position and now want Elmira off the pipeline that brings water from Waterloo and the IUS or Integrated Urban System.  The minor problem of course is that NDMA and chlorobenzene are still above drinking water standards in many parts of the drinking water aquifers. Also these chemicals have bonded to soils in the clay or silt aquitards between the aquifers and they are now back diffusing from the soils into the aquifers. 

The elephant in the room however may be the unmentioned and intentionally ignored other Uniroyal chemicals in our aquifers and aquitards and this includes DDT and dioxins despite the longstanding lies that they do not dissolve in groundwater. The other elephant in the room is Uniroyal's long insistence in talking about DNAPLS versus actually cleaning them up both on and OFF the Uniroyal property. These DNAPLS (chlorobenzenes, chlorophenols, TCE etc.) help mobilize DDT, dioxins and other low solubility chemicals and have transported them off-site just as erosion of soils has done so into the Canagagigue Creek for at least five miles downstream.

A company with a site history of maiming, killing and crippling both Vietnamese and Americans and that has proven grossly inadequate in their cleanup can not be trusted to remain in charge of the eventual health of the Elmira Aquifers. Knowing what I know about the non-cleanup to date I have no intention of drinking Elmira water again.

NEVER ENOUGH DIRTY TRICKS FOR CORPORATE POLLUTERS & TRICKSTERS

 

I came across a term this morning in a Record article about Israel and Gaza. Instead of co-opted a Palestinian group referred to another armed group as a tool of the Israeli military. Tools unfortunately do not always do the intended job and in incompetent hands can actually backfire. Various "tools" that Lanxess currently use would include Luis, Allan Deal, Hadley, Susan, Tiffany, Sandy and Nathan. There are many others . Lanxess's influence, both positive and negative, extends far and wide. They can for example get an ambitious citizen appointed to the National Advisory Panel of the Chemical Industry Association of Canada (CIAC). In the opposite direction they can put pressure on media outlets, perhaps newspapers in particular,  "suggesting" that they would prefer to read and hear less about a certain individual; much less to be exact.  

They can also advise municipal councils that appointing certain individuals to a volunteer environmental committee could backfire in that they the corporate body responsible for the environmental catastrophe won't attend if certain specific individuals are appointed that do not meet with their approval. Hence the naive among us might believe that certain respected citizens are appointed due to their merits when in fact it is the exact opposite. They are appointed precisely because they are malleable enough to bend when told to do so or else.

Immediate responses to critical media pieces are guaranteed. Look at today's Record. The Waterloo Region District School Board (WRDSB) have already responded to last Friday's condemnation by Luisa D'Amato with a puff piece response today. I fully expect that Lanxess will soon have something in both the Woolwich Observer and the K-W Record extolling the virtues of corporations on the leading edge of enhancing human adaptive techniques to chemically enhanced air, water and food.  Or some such other rot and nonsense.

Using municipal influence via legal (or not ?) corporate bribes for recreational improvements etc. to guarantee appointments to authority positions such as Chair of environmental committees.  Most knowledgeable people understand that any and all municipal committees will never be independent fully much less partially. They toe the company line or else they are gone! Having a Chair biased in favour of a serious polluter is always helpful to that polluter. An honest environmental committee such as CPAC from November 2010 to August 2015 terrified Uniroyal/Chemtura as they asked difficult questions and also provided very difficult comments and statements of fact contrary to long held Uniroyal/Chemtura ideology and propaganda.

So all in all friendly legislation, minimal fines, zero jail time etc. just isn't good enough for these swine. They want it all including positive public relations and if they have to lie, cheat, manipulate and deceive well that's O.K. it's all for a good cause. Similar to the justice system it's all about "just us".  

"TOO MANY BOARDS AND TRUSTEES ARE DISTRACTED BY MATTERS THAT HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT, AND THIS MUST CHANGE"

 

Well that title above pretty much says it all. These words are those of our current Ontario Education Minister Paul Calandra. I sure hope that mayor Sandy Shantz is enjoying all the criticism of her former employer and political launching pad, the Waterloo Region District School Board (WRDSB). Hopefully if they get taken over by the province it might open some minds as to what kind of politician she really is. 

I am no sycophant of Doug Ford and his Conservative government here in Ontario. Their environmental policies are abhorrent to me. Their anti labour policies are also abhorrent to me. Now when it comes to the rotten state of our education I can only smile as they bash various Boards and Trustees. I too like so many other parents have suffered at the hands of that disgusting Board. I currently have a Letter To The Editor submitted to the K-W Record last Friday on this subject which although acknowledged as received by Jim Poling, Editor of the Record, has not yet seen the light of the day. Nor have any others over the last decade. I'm confident however that the rumour that Uniroyal Chemical/Chemtura/Lanxess exerting influence to muzzle me are just that, rumours. 

If not then perhaps I will just have to publish it here and ask the Record what's up. By the way that quote in the title is in today's K-W Record on the front page. Personally with the ongoing (three years now) distraction of Carolyn Burjowski and Mike Ramsay both initiated by the WRDSB; I am highly optimistic that the province are sending the WRDSB a not so subtle message. In case the Board aren't capable of understanding it then I will clarify the message for them in capitol letters as follows:

WRDSB STOP FOCUSING ON DEI (Diversity, Equity, Indigenous?) ISSUES AND GET BACK TO THE CORE ISSUES OF READING, WRITING AND ARITHMETIC !

The Board have nor behaved this way due to any surplus of morals or ethics but far more likely to distract from their ongoing core educational failures.  

JUST ONE MORE IN A LONG LIST OF PHONY OVERSIGHT/ REVIEW OR APPEAL BODIES

 

I am currently referring to the alleged Integrity Commissioners.  Other examples could be our courts and judicial system although many of these review bodies allegedly are to speed up the process as well as to get a third party, independent and unbiased opinion on different parties behaviours. Many are simply a joke. The former Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) was an example . It has been replaced by the Ontario Land tribunal (OLT) which is pretty much just as biased and bad as the OMB. Currently I am involved with the National NewsMedia Council which oversees complaints of bias and or inaccuracies in the print media. There is also the former Environmental Appeal Board (EAB) which was replaced by the Environmental Review Tribunal (ERT). Funny how many of these review bodies end up changing their names as if that will shake of f clinging odours of deceit.

I read the 42 page report written by the Integrity Commissioner. concerning trustee Mike Ramsay.  I believe that the majority of the facts were not in dispute which was certainly interesting.  What I found most bizarre and weird was the Integrity Commissioners plain stating that they would not, after an examination and writing of the facts, make any recommendations. What the hell? So lets get this straight. A trustee who is part of the majority group of trustees for the Waterloo Region District School Board (WRDSB) filed a complaint to the Integrity Commissioner about another trustee's strong criticism of the decision of the majority of  trustees to stop a Delegation by a  long term teacher (Carolyn Burjowski) . Who do you think is paying the Integrity Commissioner? The WRDSB of course and they favour the majority decision of the trustees that stopping and disciplining a teacher who followed the WRDSB's own Delegation rules was just fine because she dared to politely and factually criticize a part of the WRDSB's  school library procedures.

The WRDSB just like some municipal councils etc. believe it's O.K. to use taxpayers money (earmarked for education)  to bolster and buttress  their favourite pet projects or favourite bizarre side interests via financing unnecessary legal actions against parents, teachers and stakeholders with legitimate educational concerns.  Some of these bodies have zero tolerance for even polite, respectful disagreement and will spend our money in court to the last nickel . They will also use and abuse tame review bodies to attempt to bolster, in the eyes of the public, their weak positions.  Shameful!

POSITIVES FROM THE K-W RECORD'S NOV. 15/25 ARTICLE TITLED "THE LONG CLEANUP OF ELMIRA'S WATER CONTAMINATION CRISIS"

 

 First and foremost the groundwater "cleanup" has NOT been achieved after 36 years.  That is worthy of a heartfelt thank you to all the dirty pigs and their followup deviousness and dishonesty. Therefore kudos to all the players involved including Uniroyal Chemical staff, CRA/GHD staff, Ont. Min. of Environment staff, and Woolwich and regional councillors who followed orders and did not step out of line. Particular thanks for their behaviour over the ensuing years to Ken Seiling, Hardy Wong, Barb Trebilcock, Jason Rice, Jeff Merriman, Dwighte Este, Steve Quigley, Allan Deal, Luis Almeida, Sandy Shantz, Bill Strauss, Mark Bauman, Susan Bryant, Sylvia Berg, Pat McLean, Nathan Cadeau, Tiffany Svensson and all the rest of them. Real kudos and admiration to Esther Thur, Susan Rupert, Richard Clausi, Ted Oldfield, Dr. Henry Regier, Vivienne Delaney, Dr. Dan, Sebastian, Ron C., Graham C., Sadi, Pat Potter, Dr. Richard Jackson,  etc. Apologies to both the good and the not so good left off of both lists. 

Secondly the "cleanup" of the Canagagigue Creek has not even been started. Sure lots of studies and reports, often fudged and often repeated. However no shovels or equipment in the ground removing grossly contaminated sediments and creekbank soils. Contaminated with PAHs, dioxins, DDT, DDE, DDD, mercury and PCBs and so much more. 

Thirdly just to be clear all three of these first three paragraphs are "positives" in that the Record article has clearly spelled out these failures . The third one is that Uniroyal Chemical's on-site and in ground chemical dumping has not been even close to cleaned up. Yes some of the buried pits and ponds have been cleaned out however most of that cleanout did not touch the soils and ground beneath. There wasn't even minimal clay barriers installed until twent-five years of dumping had already occurred. Those clay barriers then leaked (on the west side) at approximately 3,400 litres per day downwards into aquifers and aquitards below as per CH2 MHILL consultants to the Region.

THE WHYS & WHEREFORES PLUS THE STATUS OF MY COMPLAINT TO THE K-W RECORD & THE NATIONAL NEWSMEDIA COUNCIL

 

Well everybody are mostly being quite polite albeit pretty slow. To date I've seen one tiny correction that really wasn't even my direct complaint in the first place. That had to do with .009 millionths of a gram per litre of water. Also I've dropped two of my complaints including the one advising the reporter and the Record that 36 years of discussion around concentrations of contaminants have used the following units of measure namely parts per trillion (ppt), parts per billion (ppb), parts per million (ppm) as well as ng/l, ug/l and mg/l versus millionths of a gram per litre of water. The second complaint I've dropped is the one indicating that there are eleven on-site pumping wells. This complaint was based upon three on-site deep Municipal Aquifer pumping wells (PW3, PW4, PW5) in addition to eleven shallow (UA) pumping wells. Now in hindsight I recall that the polluter/company have been constantly changing the number of on-site pumping wells as in reducing the numbers such that both the shallow (UA) and the deeper (MU) wells may actually be down to eleven now in total.

Why is my formal complaint to both the Waterloo Region Record and the National NewsMedia Council important? Over the last 36 years the responsible polluting corporation instead of properly cleaning up Elmira, their own property and the Canagagigue Creek; the various owners of the site (Uniroyal/Crompton/Chemtura/Lanxess) have focused on changing the narrative. They have focused on solidifying support both within and without the community. They have lobbied three levels of governance and politicians into believing that the damage done by Uniroyal Chemical and still continuing really isn't that bad.  They have minimized and covered up the health and environmental damages that they have caused partially by buying allegedly scientific reports that suit their narrative not the truth. One local referred to this as "Adjusting the science according to your needs".

Our media have also fallen into this trap. Basically when the polluter is surrounded by fellow travellors and political friends at all levels it becomes difficult for the media not to slide into the narrative woven by the polluter. One of the most contemptible narratives is that one citizen (American no less) has singlehandedly fought a courageous battle against Uniroyal and successors. Nothing could be further from the truth. She has been "controlled opposition" almost from the beginning. She and her two sidekicks (Sylvia & Pat) have played the game along with Uniroyal and friends. She yells loudly about the Creek and then trades away major environmental concessions to the companies in order to advance her sole concern being the Creek.  These concessions are as relatively minor as lowered monitoring requirements and as major as falsely conceding the removal of DNAPLS (dense non aqueous phase liquids) from discussion and contention. The irony is that after 36 years nothing downstream all the way to the Grand River has been cleaned or remediated. If it ever happens and she has recently expressed doubt about that, it will be at most a token "hot spot" or two. 

I do praise the Record for the time, effort and space that they allocated for their November 15/25 article titled "The long cleanup of Elmira's water contamination crisis". That said after my 36 years of study, research, hard work and real opposition from all the players involved including backstabbing from Susan, do I not have the right to ask the media at least to get the story accurate?  

VARIOUS ERRORS, LIKELY ERRORS AND OR EVEN MINOR MISUNDERSTANDINGS IN RECENT LETTERS TO THE EDITOR REGARDING ELMIRA'S WATER CRISIS

 

A writer living in Listowel  stated that her husband hauled toxic sludge from Uniroyal Chemical's waste ponds in Elmira to the United States for disposal at the start of the cleanup. I am aware of most if not all of the alleged cleanups done but have no knowledge of toxic wastes being taken to the U.S.  I can not categorically claim that she is incorrect but am very curious about the location where they went.

A couple of letter writers jumped on the Susan Bryant bandwagon and praised her efforts.  It makes a good story but is not accurate. Susan Bryant and Sylvia Berg  made a private deal outside the purvue of the other APTE coordinators with Uniroyal Chemical. In exchange for APTE dropping their opposition to Conestoga Rovers pathetic DNAPL investigation around 1992-93 followed by the Ministry of Environment's letter of December 10, 1993 letter accepting this report, the two ladies received promises of future efforts to clean the Canagagigue Creek as well as promised lifetime invitations to all public meetings regarding cleanup plans etc.  In other words permanent seats at the table.  For this and the expected public accolades they sold out both their souls and their citizen colleagues. To date there is no cleanup whatsoever in the downstream Canagagigue Creek.

Dr. Richard Jackson wrote an excellent Letter To The Editor describing the need for and purpose of the warning signs along the Creek. He stated "However these contaminated sediments were subsequently flushed downstream and dispersed into the Grand River watershed." This statement very well may be accurate however without further statements it could be misconstrued as suggesting that the contaminated sediments are all gone. Sediments are constantly being deposited as well as being eroded in creeks especially during spring floods and other high flow times. The history of data from the Canagagigue Creek shows concentrations and locations to a certain extent changing over time. This is normal and most observers understand that the toxic chemicals such as DDT and dioxins (and others) continue to erode from both the former Uniroyal site as well as from downgradient and downstream areas impacted by Uniroyal's decades of operation and pollution migration. 

KUDOS TO LUISA D'AMATO AND TO CITIZENS SENDING LETTERS TO THE EDITOR REGARDING THE FAILED ELMIRA WATER CLEANUP

 

Firstly despite the title above these are two different but serious issues. Today's K-W Record has an excellent Opinion piece by Luisa describing the abhorrent behaviour of the Waterloo Region District School Board in improperly punishing an elected trustee for vigorously doing his job.  They banned trustee Mike Ramsay from attending either public or private trustee meetings for three months because he publicly criticized the Board's stupidity in the Caroline Burjowski matter

The second matter is in regards to a four page long, overall very good article by Record reporter, Terry Pender.  Mr. Pender interviewed Lanxess Canada staff and many of their friends and fellow travellors.  I do not blame him for not knowing that everybody he interviewed were all on the same team as he did not have a program so indicating. Partly because of that but as well do to the simple fact that most of the participants are newbies such as Hadley Stamm and Nathan Cadeau and a few older ones may well have simply forgotten basic facts from twenty and thirty years ago plus. 

The Letters To The Editor included a woman from Listowel whose husband died as a result of taking toxic sludge from the former Uniroyal Chemical to off-site disposal. Another woman wrote that there was an "...utter lack of responsibility from industry and all levels of government.". She also appropriately puts Lanxess Canada mouthpiece Hadley Stamm in her place. A former Record reporter also sent in a Letter in which he mentioned Varnicolor Chemical, another serious polluter in Elmira. Only this year have we been advised what I have known for many years that Varnicolor added at least a half dozen chlorinated solvents to the Elmira drinking water aquifers. Finally Dr. Richard Jackson, the first Chair of the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) explained clearly why the warning signs along the Canagagigue Creek were placed there by Woolwich Township against the wishes of our corrupt Ontario Ministry of Environment. Yes Woolwich's mayor was playing politics but also she was correct in doing so. The Creek is badly contaminated and so are the fish despite five minute wonder, councillor Nathan Cadeau's claim otherwise. Another gentleman from Cambridge also contributed a Letter and as well congratulated both Terry Pender and the Record for their efforts.

MAY WE RENAME THE WRDSB KKK STANDING FOR KANGAROO KOURT OF KANADA?

 

Such a pack of total rectums.  O.K. I have just now read the 42 page report by the Integrity Commissioner (ADR Chambers-B. Bresner) . After 3 1/2 years the Waterloo Region District School Board have finally released it . It concerns trustee Mike Ramsay's behaviour and it is on-line at the WRDSB website albeit only thanks to a determined citizen who went through the Freedom of Information Act in order to get it released. It would be an exposure of my past contempt for the WRDSB's behaviour to suggest that they maliciously, intentionally and strategically refused to release it for so long purely for selfish, self-serving purposes. Therefore also looking at the WRDSB's penchant for spending taxpayers money taking citizens and parents to court when their misbehaviour is challenged I won't suggest such a thing. By the way today's Woolwich Observer newspaper has a large story on this three year plus belated report from the Integrity Commissioner.

Now without a doubt there are competing priorities between the WRDSB's Code of Conduct and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms as well as with the Education Act and perhaps even with the Canadian Constitution. The Integrity Commissioner also advised the Board of Trustees that individual Integrity Commissioners from different districts and educational areas were quite likely to interpret those priorities between various pieces of legislation differently although it would seem to me that the law of the land should far precede stupid Codes of Conduct written by trustees of varying degrees of  intelligence much less ethics. This comment about "stupid" Codes of Conduct was simply to avoid me referring to "stupid" trustees which would have been rude and possibly invoked the legal wrath of some unnamed hypothetical School Board whose last name starts with B (as in ...Board). 

Further weirdness about this entire process is that the Integrity Commissioner merely restates the facts and does not render a Recommendation. Wow! Hence he's relayed the facts which for example I find to be some serious criticisms and or allegations by trustee Mike Ramsay that should have been investigated versus the investigation of Mr. Ramsay's right as a trustee to state them in the first place. Also it is my experience that Codes of Conduct are routinely weaponized for the mere purpose of intimidating and shutting down proper and appropriate disagreement and dissent. 

So if the Integrity Commissioner doesn't make Recommendations then who does? Simple that goes back to the alleged majority of potentially idiot trustees who may have screwed up big time in the first place and simply want a token "third party" to review their stupidity but leave them in control to pretend that the Integrity Commissioner backs their alleged stupidity. Especially leaves them in control by not making any Recommendations.

My final Recommendations: Throw out Codes of Conduct  Throw out Integrity Commissioners   Throw out most of the WRDSB trustees at the next election if not sooner   Tell our fat assed courts to GD do their jobs and render a decision regarding Caroline Burjowski and her mistreatment by the Board and their Chair      Oops I should have added the word alleged in there. It's way too easy for alleged professional liars and their fellow travellors to get the courts involved when honest citizens speak truth to power. These alleged professional liars behave that way because they have lots of taxpayers money at their disposal which allegedly they can spend as they see fit.

  

ARE THE CHICKENS COMING HOME TO ROOST FOR BAD GOVERNANCE THROUGHOUT WATERLOO REGION ?

 

Well at first blush it sure seems so. Todays Waterloo Region Record advises us that the provincial Conservative government under Doug Ford is about to lower the boom locally. The front page story is written by Luisa D'Amato and is titled "There's much chatter about Ford changing local government model". Luisa suggests that some of this has already started with local school boards on notice that trustees positions may be drastically changed or eliminated.  Thank God for that as the public board (WRDSB) have been making asses of themselves for years now including attacking their own trustees (Mike Ramsay & others) as well as attacking their own teachers (Caroline Burjowski) for following the Board's own rules by speaking to them as a formal Delegate.  The province have also announced that local and regional Conservation Authorities are in the cross hairs as they may all be removed in favour of one overarching Conservation Authority. While I have less ammunition as to the current state being pathetic I at least do know that their membership is primarily made up of municipal councillors who don't know sh*t from shinola. Also their (Grand River Conservation Authority) local nickname has long been the Grand River Construction Authority. The GRCA among other stupidities actually approved Severin Argenton's (of Varnicolor Chemical infamy) application  to build a solvent tank farm on Lot 91 in Elmira on the Canagagigue Creek floodplain. 

Now Ford and the Conservatives are strongly suggesting that the combination of three cities (Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge) and their separate municipal governments are wasteful, overlapping and redundant. At least they are wasteful when you have a Regional government above all three doing its' thing. Well again Regional government certainly have not endeared themselves over the last three years with their gross failures in both accountability and transparency regarding the 700 acres land collection going on in Wilmot Township. Personally I've been appalled at regional government for their abandonment of honesty and transparency regarding the Elmira Water Crisis over the last three and a half decades. Basically they've let Dogpatch (Woolwich Twn.) run the show which they have done by delegating all authority and responsibility to the polluter (Uniroyal & successors) and the the province (Min. of Environment).

Hmm interesting how both this provincial government (Conservative) and all the rest (i.e. Liberal ) have done little or nothing environmentally or human health appropriate for local Elmira citizens.  Maybe the current provincial government criticizing lower tier governments and agencies is simply a classic case of the kettle calling the pot black.

HERE WE GO AGAIN BACK TO THE NATIONAL MEDIA ADVISORY COUNCIL

 

Hoping I've got the correct full name above. If not then the K-W Record can come after me for the mistake if for example it is just National Media Council for example. So I guess I want my cake and to eat it too. I'm very glad that the Record wrote that prodigious article on November 15/25 but am disappointed in the number of unnecessary factual inaccuracies involved as I've listed here over the last couple of weeks. I'm happy because the Record have informed the public that this environmental crisis still has not been resolved after 36 years! That lack of resolution is pathetic and every tier of our political governance should be ashamed from municipal, regional, provincial and federal. 

The reason for all the errors is fairly simple. The reporter Terry Pender doesn't know the good guys from the excrement. Is that a little harsh perhaps? No not at all. The excrement literally have destroyed health and lives over the decades by hiding behind the lack of a health study plus the shared culpability of  Uniroyal Chemical, their successors, the Ontario Ministry of Environment,  Woolwich Council and Regional Council. I'm giving the Feds a pass on culpability regarding Uniroyal's actions through the 50s, 60s,  70s,  80s and 90s. I think that since then they should have stepped in whether they think so or not.

The National Media group found in my favour regarding the last complaint I sent them about a Uniroyal Chemical story dealing with Agent Orange. This one has far more errors and inaccuracies and while several errors are relatively minor they nevertheless are unnecessary. Hopefully the Record will realize that there is not unanimity here in Elmira regarding Uniroyal/Lanxess Canada behaviour and decision making and will interview the dissenters as well.       

POLITICIANS ARE LINING UP TO PROTECT CITIZENS FROM DIOXIN CONTAMINATED MILK, BEEF & MAPLE SYRUP

 

Hmm is that title what they call clickbait? Let me clarify. Politicians are lining up at the doorways and exits to get out of town. They are lining up behind bigger and badder politicians for protection. They are lining up at lawyers' offices to see if they can declare lawfare upon myself for speaking out against their ongoing environmental and political coverups in Elmira, Ontario. Hence yes I am guilty just now of producing a clickbait headline above. Sorry and before FatBerry from Guelph continues his kindergarten trolling comments let me advise him that just like the last time I have a list of his ongoing written bullsh*t going back months.  If the police and your wife were unimpressed with you last time how do you think they will be this time? 

Back on topic and past housekeeping matters I can advise how many municipal councillors, regional councillors, TRAC members, MECP staff, Lanxess staff & consultants, Mike Harris M.P.P. and media have responded to date. That would be exactly zero. There have been local citizens however phoning and e-mailing which is helpful.

Apparently the likelihood of DDT, Dioxins and more still poisoning our food supply is of little interest to the guilty parties. Call it a conspiracy of silence if you wish. Yes by the way each of those groups listed above have been e-mailed with a copy of that days Elmira Advocate posting. Clearly they are all obedient little boys and girls refusing to engage with me because they've been ordered not to.  In my lifetime I have witnessed the slow death of democracy.  Today's Record even describes the results of so called "Strong Mayor" legislation put out by Premier Doug Ford. One person on municipal council (mayor) can over rule four, five or six councillors depending on the size of council.

Smart councillors locally are already planning their exit strategies. Poor governance can go a long way until it hits a crisis beyond their best liars ability to manage.

WHAT ABOUT LOCALLY PRODUCED MAPLE SYRUP?

 

Frankly it was a chemist who recently described the Elmira Maple Syrup Festival as the elephant in the room. His description suggested that the tree sap is magnified in concentration by about fourty times during the sap to syrup process and hence possibly so would any toxic contaminants present.  I only vaguely recall discussions around the Maple Syrup Festival decades ago . My recollection is that the concerns were that tourists and visitors might stay away based more upon fear and confusion than any real health concerns.

That being said was there ever any serious study or determination that concluded that locally produced Maple Syrup for sale at the Festival was safe and free of Uniroyal toxic chemicals? Well I know that if there was I sure never saw it and I've never turned down reading any kind of technical reports regarding Uniroyal and Elmira issues. I can also state confidently that various local authorities seemed far more concerned with subjective items such as real estate prices than with objective or scientific matters pertaining to health. Former Mayor Bob Waters certainly did his best to dispel fear and instill confidence in Woolwich and Elmira even at the height of the NDMA fear.

Similarly the Region of Waterloo and Ken Seiling seemed intent upon avoiding panic or public expressions of anger towards Uniroyal or the Ontario Ministry of Environment. Various excuses were floated very early on some of which turned out to be ridiculous such as the grease in the pumps for the drinking wells was the source of the NDMA. Wally Ruck of Uniroyal Chemical will remain famous for his statement that NDMA was not in Uniroyal's vocabulary thus falsely it turned out suggesting that just like the Ont. M.O.E., they had never heard of it before.

There was a lot of lying and bulls*it going around . Uniroyal Chemical did publicly and repeatedly state that they weren't the only source of contaminants to the Elmira drinking water aquifers. They then turned around later and accepted full responsibility for all the drinking water contamination. This likely was a major part of their sweetheart deal with the Min. of Environment who sure as hell didn't want to admit their negligence and failures to properly monitor Elmira manufacturers, chemical or otherwise. Eventually Nutrite (Yara) accepted blame for adding ammonia to the drinking aquifers and Varnicolor Chemical was just named this year, 36 years after the fact as a contributor of six chlorinated solvents to the drinking aquifers.  

So is it possible that trees were and are tapped for sap in groundwater contaminated areas around Elmira.? Possible for sure  but who's ever going to admit to it?

IS THE REGION OF WATERLOO DOING HONEST TESTING TODAY OF MILK COLLECTED FROM COWS DOWNSTREAM OF LANESS?

 

IS THE INDIGENOUS MEANING OF THE NAME SUSAN "SHE WHO WOULD KEEP SECRETS"?

Well we have evidence of mishandling of sampling and testing of milk collected from farms along the downstream Canagagigue Creek in the 1990s. We also through government reports have evidence of contaminated milk (odour & taste) from the same source in the 1960s. This milk was rejected by the former Silverwood Dairies in Elmira. What I don't know is if that dairy had any kind of testing or lab equipment to determine the nature of the chemicals in the milk. They could easily have been chlorophenols, chlorobenzene, NDMA, DDT, dioxins etc..

Based upon this history of either malfeasance or misfeasance presumably by our regional Health Department it gives me a better understanding of why no health study was ever done in Elmira. Can you imagine the outcry if indeed citizens of Elmira were poisoned by the water they drank, the milk they consumed as well as the air they breathed? All the coddling and support Uniroyal Chemical received from  Woolwich Councils and Regional Councils over the decades could be misconstrued as a government coverup. Or not misconstrued.

Then of course there is also the matter of beef cattle. I am not knowledgeable in matters of our food chain from farm to supermarket but if milk from cows can be contaminated by dioxins etc. then so can the flesh of cattle. We know that both DDT and dioxins bioaccumulate as they go up the food chain. This is why those chemicals being found in fish tissues in 2014 is so serious. Those fish are consumed by predators and the contaminants move up the food chain. Grazing by cattle on contaminated floodplains is a different mechanism but the results are the same. The chemicals are in the soils and when cattle rip a chunk of grass to eat soil particles attached to the roots are also consumed. hence contamination in milk cows as well as in beef cattle. 

As shocking as this shall we say incompetence has been, is it possible that it is still continuing?  Well we know that Lanxess and friends have not removed so much as a shovelful of contaminated sediments to date other than to  sample sediments improperly (shovel versus appropriate core sampler). We also know from numerous testing also sometimes using inappropriately high lab Method Detection Limits (MDL)  that the whole five miles plus of Creek is contaminated above health criteria. Therefore I think I can confidently suggest that there is an excellent chance that indeed to this day contaminated milk and beef are still on the market.

  IF THE REGION HAVE BEEN DOING HONEST TESTING THEN MAKE YEARS OF THAT TESTING PUBLIC.  IF THEY REFUSE THEN WHICH HEROES ARE GOING TO STEP UP? WILL IT BE WOOLWICH  COUNCILLORS OR REGIONAL COUNCILLORS? MAYBE EVEN OUR MEDIA?

                     OR WILL IT BE THE USUAL  i.e. NOBODY

        

 

REGION OF WATERLOO HEALTH DEPARTMENT KNOWINGLY ALLOWED DIOXIN CONTAMINATION INTO OUR PUBLIC MILK SUPPLY ?

 

Sub-title : FATBERRY FROM GUELPH IS NOT THE SAME AS BLACKBERRY

Upon what evidence you ask do I write the title above regarding dioxin contaminated milk ? The evidence is partially in last Saturday's (Nov. 15/25) Waterloo Region Record in the article/expose by Terry Pender titled  "The long cleanup of Elmira's water contamination crisis". In that article we are advised by the reporter through Susan Bryant that "...the milk containers from dairy farms along the creek were tested for dioxin, but the study was poorly designed, and the sampling was not done properly. The group was told that if high levels were found in the milk, the farmers would lose their milk quota. Do you want that to happen she remembers being asked."

Ms. Bryant's response to the reporter about the question  was "You didn't feel you could reveal all of the information publicly at that point because you felt it was going to be terrible for that community,".  For me this is a watershed moment of a citizen in a position to uncover a public scandal regarding our milk supply allegedly choosing instead to protect 22 farm families income.  I will say that after 36 years of reading technical reports on groundwater, surface water, some minimal soil sampling, fish studies, sediments , floodplain soils, air issues etc. that poorly designed studies and sampling being done improperly were the standard behaviours of the four corporations (Uniroyal/Crompton/Chemtura/Lanxess) and their consultants. That was standard operating procedure and was always done to lessen and minimize concentrations and detections of toxic chemicals presumably to also lessen potential, future cleanup costs.

Just a reminder that thirty years prior to this meeting with the Old Order Mennonites, Silverwood Dairies then at the north end of town (Arthur St.), refused to accept milk from some of these downstream farms due to chemical taste and odour problems .  Was testing done then? What were the results? Was the testing fudged as it apparently was in the 1990s? How in God's name do our elected governments whether municipal, regional or provincial justify introducing dioxins, DDT, NDMA and the whole suite of Uniroyal toxins into our food supply AND TELL NO ONE EXCEPT OF COURSE SUSAN?  

THE CRY OF THE WOUNDED POLLUTER & HIS BUDDIES - WOOLWICH TAKES OFFENSE

 

Well I'm getting feedback all ready.  The Record's reporter has very politely and professionally to date suggested that his errors aren't errors. He is so far beyond incorrect it's almost hilarious. That said I do believe that his multitude of errors are primarily based upon his sources. If you only talk to blind people you will find that their descriptions of suspects for example might be a little narrow and limited.

Woolwich Township are refusing to include any of my written work as Delegations to TRAC despite them being clearly indicated as such. Verbal Delegations are refused and my written ones as well. I'm told (in writing) that I am disrespectful in my writing. I can hardly believe it. Perhaps if I made a few amendments such as "Quigley, Almeida, Deal, Ansari, Este, Merriman, Stamm, Ash, Strauss, Seiling, Cadeau, Shantz, Bauman and so many others are wonderful human beings whose humanitarian efforts assisted world overpopulation being held in check." Is that a little too subtle for them? Not sincere enough? Too sarcastic?     

The Record's article suggests that well E10 on Scotch Line, just around the bend and south of Elmira, with help from Lanxess might be able to resume providing drinking water. That well has NEVER provided drinking water to residents. At least that is what we've been told. When you are dealing with professional liars who knows.

The information provided by Susan Bryant in regards to milk quotas and contaminated milk from cows grazing on contaminated floodplains is shocking. Recently I was advised by a researcher (PhD) from Hamilton that the former Silverwoods Dairy at the north end of Elmira turned down milk from a number of farms along the downstream Canagagigue Creek . The milk had chemical smells and taste and they would not use it. That was in the 1960s. Then apparently in the 1990s Ms. Bryant was advised by the Region's Health Department that sampling and testing of milk from those farms was done improperly and poorly because nobody wanted the Mennonite farmers to lose their milk quotas. That was bad enough but I had been told by Susan Bryant back in the 90s that yes dioxins were certainly found in the milk but that they were "ubiquitous" in store bought milk hence not a big deal. 

We are told in the article that "The pockets of contamination run downstream from the plant for hundreds of metres." This is also a falsehood or inaccuracy. Two of the bigger studies around 2020 plus the earlier ones in 1988 (OWRC) and 1996 (MOE) show that the contamination from DDT and dioxins extends the full five miles or 7.5 - 8 kilometres downstream all the way to the confluence with the Grand River. Most likely they could be detected in the Grand River as well if any testing had been done there at the time.

Again kudos to the Record and Terry Pender for publishing Workplace Safety Insurance Board statistics for the Elmira plant. Certainly chemical plants can be dangerous places to work. I should know as my father worked for Uniroyal for 25 years, approximately thirteen of them in Elmira. He then transferred to the Breithaupt St. plant in Kitchener and retired in 1980. I also worked for a whopping three months at the Uniroyal tire factory on Strange St. in Kitchener. My God but that place was a health disaster in its' own right and later studies proved that. I do wish that the WSIB statistics provided for Uniroyal/Lanxess in Elmira had actually named Agent Orange and DDT as causes of the compensation for some of the various health issues. 

  

HUMAN HEALTH STUDIES WERE REFUSED BY WATERLOO REGION, WOOLWICH TOWNSHIP & THE PROVINCE OF ONTARIO

 

It is truly disgraceful. Between NDMA, DDT, Dioxin, Benzene, Trichloroethylene, Parathion, Lindane and so many other toxic chemicals, that health studies were never done. This was described by two commenters with at least a modicum of regret versus the utter joy and relief Uniroyal Chemical likely felt when they realized how successful their lobbying as well as public relations was going. However reporter Terry Pender puts it to them pretty darn well when he describes the number of  governments, militaries and compensation boards who compensated workers, soldiers and civilians who became sick after exposure to Agent Orange. Apparently here in Dogpatch...oops Elmira I mean, human life and health are much less valuable. 

Other errors in the Record article include the fact that Susan Bryant was not appointed to TRAC in 1991. TRAC has only been around since about 2023 and in my opinion stands for Terribly Respectful of All Crap or in the alternative Totally Rotten and Corrupt. I do feel that the second term is too harsh and the focus should be on how deferential they are to authority and how they won't say shi* when their mouths are full of it.

Then we get to the concentrations . Groundwater has been measured for the last 36 years here as parts per million (ppm) or parts per billion (ppb) or parts per trillion (ppt). Alternatively they can be measured in the same order as milligrams per litre or micrograms per litre or nanograms per litre. I suspect whatever measuring numbers the reporter has published are nonsensical but at the very least they should match with the measuring methodology that we've all learned here over the last one third of a century plus. The health standard for NDMA is 9 parts per trillion or 9 nanograms per liter. It can also be referred to as .009 parts per billion or .009 micrograms per liter.

There are not eleven extraction wells on the site overall but actually thirteen when you appropriately include the two in the Municipal aquifer on site. The eleven wells most likely are strictly low pumping volume wells for the Upper Aquifer (shallow i.e. water table). Lou Almeida's bulls*it about whatever is underneath the plant stays underneath the plant is either wishful thinking or bullsh*t as previously suggested.

Allegedly the Region of Waterloo have changed their position on the need for Elmira's water from just a few years ago when Eric Hodgins (RMOW hydrogeologist) advised RAC/TAG that the Region no longer were looking at Elmira water for drinking purposes. 

NDMA did not develop "...in the aquifers from a mix of chemicals that leaked out of the plant."  It developed in various liquid waste ponds yes from a mix of chemicals and from there was both airborne and it also percolated downwards into the aquifers. In 1979 Uniroyal Chemical were fully aware that they had high readings of NDMA in the air around their plant, a full decade before the Ministry of Environment allegedly decided to test for it in the south wellfield (E7, E9).  

The ammonia that came from Nutrite (later Yara) wasn't publicly acknowledged for almost a decade after the start of the 1989 Elmira Water Crisis. Nutrite was literally next door (west side) to Uniroyal. The agreed deal between Uniroyal and the Ontario Ministry of Environment was that Uniroyal were the single, only source of contamination in the Elmira Aquifers. This helped the Ont. M.O.E. look better than admitting what is now acknowledged namely that there were at least two other sources namely Nutrite and VARNICOLOR CHEMICAL. Earlier this year at a TRAC meeting it was admitted that Varnicolor Chemical contributed five different chlorinated solvents to the Municipal Aquifers.  That site is still currently under remediation and took THIRTY-SIX YEARS for the admission to surface.

Yet another falsehood with the claim that no contaminants were found in leeches held in cages in the Canagagigue Creek. Leeches more readily absorb chlorophenols and that is exactly what they absorbed from the Creek water for decades until well after the 1997 Upper Aquifer Containment System was implemented. It did significantly reduce chlorophenol discharges via groundwater into the Creek and only after many years were leeches considered no longer needed for testing in the Creek. By the way Hadley Stamm echoes the cry of the wounded corporate polluter when she sanctimoniously suggests that big excavators "...would be hugely destructive for the creek". Then either use small excavators or a different methodology.

Hadley Stamm also states that "Those signs are not warranted, and Woolwich put them up." First of all neither Hadley nor Nathan Cadeau (councillor) were anywhere near Elmira and the Water Crisis when that occurred. Secondly Nathan's claim that DDT and dioxins were lower in the fish than provincial criteria (Tissue Residue Guidelines) is a complete falsehood. They exceed for DDT, dioxins, mercury and PCBs.  I've read that study and if Hadley and Nathan have then they are liars. Otherwise they have second hand advice which conveniently tells them what they want to hear.

More coming tomorrow. Reporter Terry Pender has focused his interviews on those who enjoy the corporate gravy train and want to be on the "winning" side versus being accurate and forthright. Despite this I applaud his efforts and the Record for stepping up. I also seriously suspect that at age 76 Susan Bryant is now having memory problems. This is not a moral or ethical criticism. Life can be a bitch for us older folks and we all have physical and or mental issues as we age.  

  

SO MANY FACTUAL ERRORS, SO MANY LIES & SO MUCH BULLSHIT - THANK YOU ANYWAYS K-W RECORD

 

I know that title above may seem peculiar but here is how it is. Which is worse, benign indifference and complete public ignorance of the serious issues or despite being misinformed the public at least know that the Elmira Water Crisis is far from resolved?

The misinformation swings from minor to major and is overwhelming in its' breadth and scope. For example the on-site pumping to prevent off-site migration began in the Municipal Aquifers on the Uniroyal Chemical site in 1992 not 1993.  The actual off-site pumping of the Municipal Aquifers didn't begin until the summer of 1998 thus we are technically still shy of the so called thirty years of groundwater pumping (i.e. 2028) that we were promised literally for decades was a certainty. For the last several years both the company Lanxess Canada and the Ontario Ministry of Environment have conceded that they simply can not do that which they and their predecessors loudly and repeatedly promised Elmira/Woolwich citizens would occur.

It was not 111 truckloads of toxic waste that were sent off site to Corunna, Ontario (near Sarnia). Multiply that by as much as ten times, possibly less, as the "trucks" were not standard dump trucks for example but specialized trucks for carrying toxic waste in special, lined containers. Susan Bryant is a thief who has stolen honour from others efforts without recognizing them properly. The vast majority of Esthur Thur's wonderful work organizing and preparing historical documentation and Archives was done when she was a member of the Elmira Environmental Hazards Team  (Richard, Henry & I) not of APTE. Furthermore Susan Bryant was NOT a founding member of APTE as that was the recently departed Susan Rupert,  Esthur Thur (deceased) and Sandra Bray.    

Susan Bryant claims that she does not believe that Lanxess will voluntarily clean up the Creek. She further claims that at that point she will talking to the Canadian Environmental Law Association. Really? This is the very first time I've heard her say that she doesn't think that the company will do any Creek cleanup. I have long suspected that they would throw Susan a bone by sort of cleaning up a "hot spot" or two in order to solidify her green reputation . They owe her that at least considering her efforts to assist them in the potentially very expensive DNAPL (dense non aqueous phase liquids) cleanup that they did not have to do. Regarding CELA  they have had thirty-six years to help out here and have not done so. I expect that yes she will "talk" to CELA and nothing will happen. If for some strange, belated reason CELA are interested then as long as I draw breath I will provide them with facts and documentation.

Nathan Cadeau claims that he decided to run for Council after watching the Documentary "Toxic Time Bomb" that Sebastian, both Susans and I were in. I don't believe that for one second. While I believe that Nathan is a skunk and a polluter's friend he did make one excellent comment in this Record article. He is quoted correctly as saying "The elephant in the room is nothing is going to be done about the pollution embedded in the Lanxess property,". Furthermore "The Lanxess property is going to remain toxic, probably forever." Who made that decision NOT to ever clean up the site? It sure as hell wasn't honest citizens on UPAC or CPAC and it is disgusting .

I'm just getting started with the falsehoods and misinformation in the Record's article. More is coming. 

THE BRASS & NERVE OF THESE PACKS OF EVIL

 

So lets tune out the noise for a minute. I don't care how many kilograms of chlorobenzene these filth have removed from the Elmira Aquifers to date. I sure as hell never gave them permission to piss in my drinking water in the first place. Did You? I don't care how many fewer hectares of Elmira's aquifers are contaminated above drinking water standards. I didn't ever tell those scum that they could contaminate any of my and fellow citizens public aquifers. I don't care that they have reduced concentrations of NDMA by two orders of magnitude. It is still toxic and will be for many more decades. I never told them that they could discharge their wastes into groundwater on their site that would quickly migrate into my drinking water aquifers as well as the public Creek. Who the hell cares that they discharge less toxic garbage into the air after I and my neighbours are diagnosed with various cancers?

I don't care that Lanxess Canada are the fourth corporation to own the Elmira site since 1942. I don't care that the federal government asked them to produce explosive stabilizers to aid the Second World War effort. I don't care that fricking idiots thought that DDT sprayed everywhere around the world was a great idea to kill mosquitoes and reduce malaria. The fact that NDMA and dioxins were an unintended result of  producing other profitable products for Uniroyal and corporate successors is irrelevant to me. These so called experts produce profitable toxins and then weasel out of their responsibilities when inadequate research and testing ends up in disaster. I don't care how many green washing Risk Assessments Lanxess produces, the site that they bought with full knowledge of it's toxicity is their moral and legal responsibility to clean up. That their bought and paid for staff and consultants claim that there is no unacceptable risk to downstream humans and wildlife, after deaths of cattle, polluted milk from these cows has been put on the market, fish are loaded with DDT and dioxins and more, women have had multiple stillbirths and the Creek still has numerous areas of high concentrations of Uniroyal toxins in their sediments and creekbank soils means that they are liars. Tell me do you think that three generations of Old Order Mennonites living in these conditions have been "toughened up" by them? Does cancer for example work that way? Can you build up your immune systems after three generations of toxic exposures  or in the alternative are you now more susceptible than before to these toxins? Is it O.K for Hadley Stamm, Luis Almeida and many others to make these claims of "no unacceptable risks" when neither they nor the science have a goddamn clue?  

Lanxess Canada plus any future corporate owners: Shut your goddamn mouths and quit making excuses and cutting corners to save your shareholders money.  Either commit to a successful groundwater and soil cleanup in a timely fashion and remove the bulk of DDT, dioxins and PCBs from the Canagagigue Creek quickly or else get the hell out of Elmira. Sell the site and I don't care if you lose money on the sale but whomever buys the site needs to be read the riot act and not by our lily livered, gutless wonder politicians who along with a co-opted citizen have long ago sold the farm. New management needs to run a real cleanup and it can not be corporate or political. Both have lied to citizens for decades and through sheer negligence and greed have allowed this mess to fester. Shame on them both! 

IT WAS PUBLISHED! - WHAT A PIECE OF WORK BOTH GOOD & BAD

 "The long cleanup of Elmira's water contamination crisis" was published today. Four full newspaper pages from top to bottom. One incredible snake highlighted and several other baby snakes or snakes in training if you will also speaking out. Terry Pender (reporter) and the K-W Record are to be commended for the fullest, most comprehensive description of the crisis, the history and the "cleanup" in the last twenty-five years.

 At the same time both need to be condemned for the unbelievable number of factual errors combined with only interviewing polluters, their friends, their sycophants and their hangers on. Next week I will get into the specifics and the details. They will include dates, number of truckloads of toxic waste removed, phony naming of one snake as a co-founder of APTE, the phony stealing of honour for APTE regarding the Elmira Archives which were primarily collected by Esther Thur when she was a member of the Environmental Hazards Team not of APTE. 

There are also concerns that this article is an attempt to soften Elmira citizens into accepting third rate contaminated water in their taps under the guise of some bulls*it high tech pretend solution. A lot like the pretend high tech drivel and nonsense they are likely to come up with in regards to their thirty year failed groundwater cleanup.

"THE LONG CLEANUP IN ELMIRA" IS TO BE PUBLISHED TOMORROW IN THE WATERLOO REGION RECORD

 

BAD news first: It is filled with lies, deceptions, horse manure and just plain ignorance.

GOOD news second:  Despite that it also has some extremely important and accurate data and information in it.

Record reporter Terry Pender has clearly dug deep and worked hard on this story. The main problem is that he has interviewed a host of people some with good knowledge and others like the Bobbsey twins Nathan Cadeau (Woolwich councillor) and Hadley Stamm (Lanxess) with about five minutes first hand knowledge of the situation. One never knows especially with Nathan if his drivel is intentionally inaccurate and dishonest or if he simply talks way too much for someone with so little first hand knowledge of the past thirty-six years. Hadley I have less sympathy for as she is simply a polluter's mouthpiece, bought and paid for. 

Then there are all the other biased and self-serving mouthpieces such as Lou Almeida, Sandy Shantz, Susan Bryant etc. Really the only important and accurate information is that presented by Terry Pender's own research. He clears the bull and horse manure from the air when he advises readers of the government payouts to Canadian citizens and others who have been exposed to and harmed by the dioxin s in the herbicide Agent Orange. There are also suggestions from the Region of Waterloo to the souls (Old Order Mennonites) living downstream along the Canagagigue Creek. These suggestions are to assist in preventing further exposure to the dioxins and DDT still in and along the Creek and they are worthwhile albeit they certainly are a case of slamming the gate long after the horses have bolted.

The Record first announced this story/expose yesterday and allegedly it has been on-line since. Yes after incredible effort I have a copy but others have also told me how difficult the on-line route has been. Today's Record advises that the whole story will be in tomorrow's newspaper and that the on-line version includes photos and a video or two. I do know that it has a wonderful photograph of my and my wife's car back in 2000 parked in front of the former Community Centre (Arena) on  Snyder Ave. On the roof is a very large sign that says "Can Uniroyal Mask Chemical Odours with Horse Manure?" Yes that was a pun/joke although the dirty polluter were in full public relations mode trying to obfuscate and minimize their way out of responsibility for the stench.  

TRULY A REMARKABLE AND ONGOING SCAM OF THE PUBLIC

 

Smoke and mirrors combined with credentialed "experts" and buttressed with provincial, regional and municipal politicians all nodding in unison. What will it take to re-contaminate the Elmira Aquifers to the concentrations they were at thirty some years ago? How soon does the power have to be off to allow groundwater gradients to return to their original flowpaths? How much more reduced pumping on-site will it take for even diehard Lanxess enthusiasts to admit to off-site leakage? Has the long ago increased off-site pumping in conjunction with reduced on-site pumping tipped the balance such that off-site leakage has been ongoing for some time now?

Then of course there is even a worse scenario. What if the company simply walks away without notice or fanfare? Is the MECP competent enough to step in and take over immediately? Do they have personnel trained for a 24/7 water treatment operation? Would they even attempt it? Has the MECP the budget much less the expertise necessary to  run the shallow aquifer system (UACS), the on-site Municipal Aquifer system and the off-site numerous pumping wells in the Municpal Upper and Lower Aquifers?

The answer to most of these questions is negative or highly unlikely. What the MECP have mastered is puffery and bulls*it not actually accomplishing anything. They and the politicians at all levels will most likely deny, deny and deny some more. They will reassure the public that everything is under control. They will "manage" the crisis, they most certainly will not solve it or fix it. They will hide behind the fact that Elmira's drinking water now comes from highly treated Kitchener-Waterloo and Cambridge wells and the Grand River hence is allegedly safe.  They will simply lie to us and state that the treatment systems at Lanxess are up and running hard while they increase security to ensure that no unauthorized (i.e. honest) persons can go in and check. 

ALLEGEDLY THE ELMIRA BY-PASS IS DUE BY 2041

 

I don't believe a thing that professional liars tell me. That includes mayors, some councillors, regional authorities and most certainly provincial ones especially the Ministry of Expanded Corporate Pollution (MECP) also known as the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks. Just so you know this last comment isn't about wee Dougie Ford's pro business, screw the environment  at every opportunity, Conservative agenda. Liberal governments before him have been doing the very same thing in permitting the sham "cleanup" here in Elmira for decades. 

Hence this By-Pass could be started within two years or still not begun in twenty years. Politicians have zero shame and lying for them has become an art form. I mean really Dougie Doo is going in the exact opposite direction as to what citizens en masse have clearly enunciated for decades. They want less not more water pollution  They want air that doesn't come with health warnings for half the summer. They want fewer pesticides and other chemicals in their foodstuffs. They want and expect proper, professional government oversight of chemicals  (PFAS, PFOS),  including new ones invented by industry. They expect that the adage "Polluter Pays" actually happens. Here in Elmira the citizens both pay through taxes and through mostly past egregious health assaults.

There is something called the "Precautionary Principle" regarding introducing new emissions and discharges and for approving new commercial and industrial developments. It is virtually ignored by every politician because our courts ignore it. Our courts insist upon scientific evidence to the nth degree before they will say no to monied clients using them as final arbiters for "progress".  The proposed land assembly in Wilmot doesn't even admit what the final development will be on the 700 acres partially assembled to date by the Region of Waterloo. Regional and provincial authorities hide behind NDAs (Non-Disclosure Agreements) in order to stifle transparency and opposition. Our courts let them.

We have abandoned the future and our children and grandchildren will appropriately blame us. Yes the powerful and wealthy have shamelessly expanded their influence by lying and manipulation and cheerfully breaking laws when it serves them. They know that their bought and paid for friends in politics will insulate them from either serious legal punishment when they are caught or even more likely shield them from legal action before it even gets started. Afterall it's the professional liars and politicians who make the laws in the first place. They don't make them to ensnare their friends, colleagues, lobbyists, and supporters. They make them to ensnare us. Thank God they can't pervert every single employee or staff member in the judicial system. Yet.

 

FLOODPLAINS & WETLANDS ARE MOSTLY ON THE EAST SIDE OF ELMIRA

 

What is also of interest is that the proposed new east side road will run right up Ron Stroh's current driveway in from Church St. (Hwy #86). How incredibly and remarkably prophetic for him to have built his new home further east of that driveway such that his extended driveway now will run right to the proposed Elmira By-Pass. Also the commercial development will run tight to the Lanxess east side property line that had a whopping 5.9 inches deep excavation done in 2019. I wondered at the time why they weren't going both deeper and more than ten to fifteen metres eastwards or so into the Stroh farm when obviously it was contaminated from Uniroyal Chemical. Finally of course let us not forget Sandy Shantz's and Mark Bauman's dirty, lying behaviour to justify scrapping the best CPAC (Chemtura Public Advisory Committee) there had ever been in 2015. They were setting the table for this sham of an exercise to also justify an east side By-Pass. A strong CPAC as in strong in the public interest was the very last thing Shantz and Bauman wanted as it would most likely raise holy hell over this whole east side By-Pass plan. Keep in mind it was not public displeasure or criticism that motivated Shantz and Bauman. It was Chemtura Canada and the Ontario Ministry of Environment (M.O.E.). Neither one of them give a hoot about the public interest in Elmira. 

WRDSB TAKES AN APPROPRIATE KICKING

 

The Waterloo Region Record published an Letter to the Editor on November 1, 2025 titled "To survive, school boards must be more transparent" written by Rich Clausi of Elmira. Richard is a retired teacher and Math Department Head.  He is also active within his local teachers retirement association and is involved local environmental issues.

Mr. Clausi's Letter is a plea for greater transparency from trustees and senior Board staff regarding monies they spend on non classroom activities. Non classroom activities unfortunately include legal costs associated with dissenting teachers, trustees, former employees . He also inquires about costs involved with school trips, retreats and conferences as well as other items.  

All in all it's about transparency and accountability which have been sadly lacking at the Waterloo Region District School Board for far too long. 

SO IS THIS ACTUALLY THE REGION'S PREFERRED ROUTE?

 

Ahh the joys of being in charge of the program. You can change it on the fly and keep nosy, inquisitive citizens either at bay or off stride.  A colleague sent me a lovely coloured map  electronically yesterday.  Frankly I hadn't seen that one before and I will say that while it's still a stinker in that it conveniently for Lanxess Canada and the MECP covers up contaminated soils (courtesy of Uniroyal Chemical) on the Stroh and Martin farms, it actually avoids what I felt was a very awkward jog over to and through the Church St. bridge over the Canagagigue Creek.  In other words this route avoids the extreme north end of Union St. that would then need to be extended through the old Home Hardware property.

Likely by the time they are ready to commit to this By-Pass the Region will have anywhere from six to a dozen different routes and names to go with them. We the citizens will be asked to choose between 1a, b, or c,  2a, b, or c,  or 3a, b, or c etc. Do you think whatever the final tally (if there is one) that it will actually reflect what each and every citizen believes they are voting for?

The west side route needs much further explanation and clarification. Note to Region.  The non political definition of explanation and clarification does not equate with manipulation or obfuscation. Try very hard to remember that. For the life of me, at this time, I do not remotely see how the west side can be more expensive than a major bridge across the "Gig" plus major upgrades to keep the roadway above the floodplain levels over there on the east side of town. Unless the Region are unnecessarily adding in multiple roundabouts at every intersection on the west side plus other unneeded bells and whistles, the west side route should be safer and cheaper.

MAPLEHURST (MILTON) DOES IT YET AGAIN

 

I honestly don't know what to think about judges giving convicted offenders a break on sentencing because of harsh to illegal conditions within our jail system. Today's K-W Record has yet another story and reference to an offender showing up in court for sentencing bearing the marks of a jailhouse assault. The jail was Maplehurst and the issue stemmed from authorities putting four men in a cell designed for two as in only two bunks. As Justice Craig Parry said that was "absolutely unconscionable". 

Well if as I have often alluded to here our political systems are rotten to the core then how can we expect much better from the various government bodies that they allegedly run and supervise? Also in today's Record is an article about sports which also are unfortunately if not managed by government they are at least subject to government oversight allegedly. Between last summer's sexual assault trial of five junior hockey players plus so many other sordid highlights over the years we also have an article in today's Record advising of bribes being offered for preferential treatment on hockey teams.

How can Canadians honestly expect morals and ethics in any of our government ministries or departments when those in charge of them are Cabinet ministers playing the political games necessary to succeed. If jails are training grounds for crime then politics is the training ground for lying. Even government supervised arms length institutions such as jails, other correctional facilities etc. soon learn the rules of the game when it's politicians who make the ultimate decisions. It's not about right or wrong with them it's about appearances and political fallout. When your marching orders from above are simply to avoid scandals and crises at all costs then clearly honesty is not the right path for supervisors and managers hoping for promotion within any system whose ultimate authority is in the hands of politicians. 

Quoting an old joke a boy tells his father that when he grows up he wants to work in organized crime. His father sagely asks "Private or government?" Yes money and power are at the root of most evil and unfortunately my old joke about what floats to the surface in a sewage treatment plant is not cream it's turds also applies to politics. 

SURE WE CAN COUNT ON THE REGION"S CLAIMED ELMIRA BY-PASS PREFERRED ROUTE

 

I mean have they ever lied to the public before on environmental issues? What a silly question. Each and every major industrial case of groundwater contamination has been under reported, minimized and it's length of time for remediation necessary, intentionally understated. Then of course there are also the gross cases such as Breslube in Breslau, Canadian General Tower (CGT), Ciba-Geigy and Northstar Aerospace in Cambridge and Uniroyal Chemical in Elmira. In all of these cases the Region of Waterloo, as the governing body for water supply and quality, have misled the public horribly.  

CGT has free phase TCE DNAPLS in the Bedrock beneath their site. It is possible that there is another source of this TCE (trichloroethylene) nearby as well. All of this results in huge water treatment costs from the Middleton Wellfield literally across the road from CGT.  The Region are back attending the so called Technical Remediation Advisory Committee in Elmira who have no backbone to speak of and are entirely on the wrong cleanup track. The Region attends and says and does little about it. Regarding Breslube, two Regional wells were shut down decades ago due to contamination in the groundwater from Breslube  migrating towards the nearby Grand River where the Region's two river wells (K70 & K71) were located. At least the Region shut them down but of course without pointing any fingers at the irresponsible party. 

Northstar Aerospace was a gross case of vapour intrusion of TCE into homes in the Bishop St. community. Multiple generations suffered ill health and or died prematurely from this company plus another's negligence. The Region assisted in minimizing the crisis and covering up the extent of culpability of  two companies and the Ontario Ministry of Environment. Beyond shameful!

After decades of bragging about their world class, wonderful groundwater expect a turnaround when they decide it's time to build a water pipeline to Lake Erie. Also don't expect honesty for the reason, namely industrial pollution. No it will likely be blamed upon road salt and Round-Up used by weed hating local residents

 So now the Region have claimed in today's Woolwich Observer that their preferred By-Pass route in Elmira is the so called hybrid route up Union St. , through the former Home Hardware on Duke St. and joining up with Church St. (Hwy #86). From there it will go slightly east and then north up to Kenny Place where it will rejoin  Arthur St. north (Hwy #85). Expect a bait and switch in the upcoming years as they and Woolwich, the MECP, Lanxess etc. all want to bury the illegal and embarassing decades long Uniroyal contamination of two active farms producing milk, beef, soybeans, corn and more for public consumption.  

CORRECTIONAL SERVICE & POLICE WERE LEFT OFF OF YESTERDAY'S LIST OF BAD ACTORS CODDLED BY THE COURTS (JUSTICE SYSTEM)

 

Neither one should have been left off. My apologies.  Both are under direct government supervision and both operate essentially "with impunity." Police literally kill innocent citizens and at most get their hands slapped. Here in Ontario we have the murder of Roger Kotanko by a Toronto police officer. That was about four years ago and the family and legal representatives have yet to even receive a copy of an alleged search warrant allowing police to enter his home and business. The entire (on-line You Tube) story is riddled with incompetence, stupidity, malice and as well arrogance and bravado as the lying, story telling and excuses get higher and deeper while the family literally waits years for even the tiniest scrap of justification for the likely illegal, cowboy shoot first and make excuses later attitudes of some police officers to be seriously examined. Unfortunately this illegal, unnecessary and fatal assault upon a citizen, resident, husband, father and bread winner is far from the only travesty inflicted upon Canadian citizens by our unaccountable, armed gangs (i.e. police).

Next we have the following article in today's Waterloo Region Record titled "How Maplehurst inmate abuse scandal led to the collapse of a murder case". This article refers to the recent abuses inflicted upon mostly unconvicted inmates awaiting trial at the Maplehurst jail near Milton . 200 inmates were subjected to mass assaults and collective punishments for the bad behaviour of a few . The treatment of inmates over two days has been described by Justice Clayton Conlan as "akin to torture". The coverup by jail staff and administration included key missing video evidence, falsified written reports by staff, lying to investigators and further lying in court.  For all of this all of one employee, the jail superintendent, Winston Wong, was fired. There have been years of condemnations by judges about conditions within Maplehurst  which have all been ignored by our governments and appropriate ministries and departments. Neither police nor prosecutors have laid criminal charges to date against staff or guards and based upon history likely won't.

Once again we see our expensive, impotent and corrupt government bodies doing what they do best which is bleed citizens through taxes and deliver crap in exchange.    

SUCH A SAD CONCLUSION TO HAVE TO COME TO - IS THIS WHY GROUPS & INDIVIDUALS RESORT TO VIOLENCE?

 

Generalizations can be tricky and dangerous things. There are likely a thousand different reasons that people commit crimes from the most heinous, greedy and self-serving of motives to those of desperation and necessity. I would like to think that our judicial system makes a serious attempt to determine more than who did it to why they did it. We all know the rather sarcastic comments about the judicial system aka the justice system. One of my favourites came from an environmental colleague who refers to it as the "just us " system. In other words it has been subverted into a system designed to keep judges and lawyers fully employed at high rates of pay for their entire lives if they so wish.  One of the other comments is the reference to how wonderfully the justice system treats offenders. It goes something like this : "Our justice system in it's infinite majesty treats the poor man stealing a loaf of bread exactly the same as a rich man doing the same thing." Think about that and chew on it for a while.

So besides desperation and necessity forcing a person to steal food or money to support themselves or their families are their other difficult but understandable reasons why people resort to criminal behaviour? I would certainly think so. "Street justice"  may or may not be  what it claims to be which is a rough and quick way versus the incredibly laborious, slow and expensive route of going through the courts. First of all the police and the courts represented by the Crown often simply refuse to go forward with complaints from citizens. They are almost notorious for their failures in prosecuting sexual assaults for example. Unless the victim is severely beaten or is a nun or ninety years old; far too often police have decided that the case is a "he said, she said" scenario without serious investigation first to so determine. 

Other issues arise such as if you've been harmed by an individual or group and again there is no reasonable recourse to the courts. Having gone through them a couple of times for example trying to enforce the Ontario Municipal Elections Act (MEA) I can advise readers that they are ridiculously slow, complicated and user unfriendly. It's almost as if even the staff are offended if a citizen dares to exercise their rights by attending court offices to either get basic information, forms or advice as to when for example a Justice of the Peace is available for an appointment. Trying to get files or paperwork that you are legally entitled to in a civil or criminal case is equally difficult. Regarding a particular civil servant many years ago I would have been far better off to have broken their leg, been convicted of assault, served time as a first offender then to have gone through a phony complaint process (as so many are) which ended up in court anyways. I might add here that our courts most certainly are biased in so many ways. They bend over backwards for individuals working within the "System" and by that I mean all the government systems including health care, education, municipal, provincial and federal government as well as their various departments. Also no real surprise they are biased against indigenous persons, immigrants, Muslims, blacks and basically anybody else they don't take a shine to. 

Fair warning to our alleged Justice System. Black markets develop both for grossly illegal products as well as for things like cigarettes, lesser harmful drugs such as marijuana and more. This will happen more and more as our justice systems become more and more nothing but a playground for the rich to beat up on each other.  No one objects to proper police procedures in order to maintain the peace and keep honest citizens safe.  If this is followed by more timely and less expensive court appearances and lawyers fees then all will be well. Otherwise once enough people understand that what we now have is the best legal system in the world THAT MONEY CAN BUY , then anarchy will set in.

HOW MANY MORE SURPRISES WILL EVENTUALLY APPEAR IN, ON AND AROUND THE FORMER UNIROYAL CHEMICAL SITE?

 

Will there be identifiable human health clusters involving diseases such as cancers and others? Will there be identifiable wildlife health clusters? Will our government oversight agencies shut down the use of crops, milk and beef from cattle in and around the downstream Canagagigue Creek? Heaven forbid but will scientific testing improve to the point whereby these Uniroyal specific toxins are found down the Grand River through Kitchener, Waterloo and Cambridge? Will it be possible some day to look back and say that so many cancers inflicted upon our citizens specifically came from Uniroyal Chemical in Elmira?

Mankind's history of scientific "breakthroughs" is riddled with after effects. Thalidomide, DDT, Dioxin, Parathion, PCBs, road salt, fluoride, TCE, oil based paints, anhydrous ammonia, mustard gas, napalm, 2,4-D, teflon (PFAS, PFOS) chlorine the list goes on and on. These are just a short list from memory of various bad actors that have killed and severely injured human beings. Yes several of them when used properly, correctly and professionally have enhanced life on this planet. However even common, mundane everyday solvents have been misused, abused and caused severe harm such as toluene, benzene, xylenes etc. 

To put it bluntly, for profit corporations have zero business being in charge of old much less new chemical discoveries and technologies. For those persons in positions of authority such as politicians, a serious reassessment of conflicts of interest are in order. Chemical companies as well as everyday manufacturers are trained to take short cuts. Manufacturers tell their staff to cut costs . That may mean cheaper suppliers of raw materials including chemicals. It may mean short cuts in manufacturing processes to save money today and to hell with putting more CO2, SO2,  greenhouse gases or what have you up their chimneys. Right now the air we breathe is crap as is the chemically treated water that we drink from our taps. Foods may have pesticides and preservatives in them that help producers sell more but which are not healthy. 

I don't believe that anyone at Woolwich Township or the Ontario Ministry of Environment actually understand the Precautionary Principle much less adhere to it. They have allowed the corporations making money off that site free rein to do what they want even after decades of alleged environmental cleanup. That "cleanup" has always been the minimum and continues to be so, unabated. That "cleanup" is a failure by all objective standards.  That will continue until half the town of Elmira don't wake up some morning.    

SO TELL US THE REAL REASON WOOLWICH BIG SHOTS PREFER THE NEW EAST SIDE ROAD THROUGH ACTIVE FARMS

 

There has to be a big payday for somebody. Maybe the two farms at the north end of town will do well financially. Maybe local developers have long ago bought up the properties that Woolwich would like to see developed. Maybe Lanxess Canada is hoping to evade millions of dollars of cleanup costs on the two farms just mentioned.

Furthermore what is the problem with either the west side Alternative or the other east side Alternative along Union St. from south to north and then through the former Home Hardware property up to Church St. (Hwy #86)?  The west side Alternative is Listowel Rd. going west from the traffic light at the south end of Elmira on Arthur St.. You follow Listowel Rd. until you hit the traffic light at Floradale Rd. and make a right turn. Again follow Floradale Rd. northwards to the round about on Church St. and go straight through. Take he first road to the right (Reid Woods Dr.) and follow it eastwards over to Arthur St. North. Turn left and you have just successfully by-passed Elmira from south to north.

I drove Union St. today and it is in excellent shape all the way northwards to Erb St. from the same traffic light at the south end of Elmira at Arthur St. as the west side Alternative starting point.  Union St. has recently been widened in spots as well as repaved. It just like the west side Alternative takes trucks with no problem. I really don't see where it is honestly possible to claim that the proposed new road up the east side is the cheapest Alternative. I believe that is a combination of horse sh*t and poo poo del toro. 

SO WHY ATTEND THE MAPS AND POSTERS BUT NOT STAY FOR THE WHOLE DOG & PONY SHOW AT LIONS HALL WEDNESDAY EVENING?

 

Well first of all a map or a picture is worth a thousand words. Secondly I did speak briefly to a Woolwich  planning? staff person as well as to councillor Schwindt. I also talked to a couple of laypersons i.e. citizens. Besides that I also attended another Region of Waterloo Dog & Pony show about a year ago on the same topic and was not impressed then either. Basically the powers that be who have made theses decisions years to decades ago want to bury Uniroyal Chemical's east side contamination  under the new proposed road (i.e. By-Pass) and pretend it never happened. This also pleases Lanxess Canada mightily. As far as the in stream and downstream wildlife are concerned they do not vote and to a corporation are less than nothing. Unfortunately this may also be the case with the downstream Old Order Mennonite farmers and families all the way to the Grand River and further.

Words are unlikely to fix a self-serving, intentionally nasty decision.  It is beyond disgraceful and shameful to even consider burying this east side contamination. It is also highly disrespectful of the local residents, in town and along the Creek, who want to see their devastated Creek cleaned up. I would never have imagined the stupidity and short sightedness of supposedly intelligent people who take bad advice from powerful persons in gross conflict of interest positions. 

 I expect that I that an appeal may occur around these asinine decisions. Simple attendance at public meetings may or may not make the difference in granting that appeal. It is of course unfortunate when all political groups and parties via private meetings and collusion have come to the same decision allegedly for the sake of public calm and complacency. I wonder how always increasing distrust and contempt of our governments is helping the public stay calm and complacent.

JUST ONE MORE DOG & PONY SHOW LAST EVENING AT LIONS HALL?

 

Lots of maps and data posted on the walls. Lots of helpful? staff including Woolwich & Regional folks. I talked to a few people including one councillor, one staff person, one TRAC member and I confirmed that indeed whatever it's called from Alternative # 2 to Option 2 A or B it's a piece of crap at it's absolute worst regardless. 

The west side option is my first choice with the Union St. option up the east side of Elmira being second. The proposed new road running a little further east than Union St. and running through the Stroh and Martin farms is beyond disgraceful. The councillor I spoke with asked me the question whether they could start development and somehow/sort of clean up as they proceeded. I believe it was a sincere and serious question however I just wasn't in the mood for any more Woolwich nonsense regarding avoiding proper Uniroyal cleanup. Thirty-six years of lies and bullsh*t will do that to a person. I bluntly advised that putting the cart before the horse does not work. Investigate/sample and make a cleanup plan FIRST not either halfway through or at the end of the roadwork and development work required. 

Plus I have seen way too many alleged cleanups by Uniroyal, Crompton, Chemtura AND Lanxess that are simply window dressing. I have seen and heard too many lies by all parties especially the MECP (Min. of Environment). It's way past time to bring in someone knowledgeable, intelligent and for the love of God HONEST! After the chats and looking at the posters I left before the 7:30 pm. "presentation" . Bullsh*t no matter how strong the masking perfume is still BULLSH*T.

TOPOGRAOHY TOPOGRAPHY & MORE TOPOGRAPHY !!!!!!!!

 

Topography:    "a description of all the surface features, natural and artificial, of a particular region".  Also

                "the science of drawing maps and/or diagrams which represent these features ".

So what is so difficult for our so called educated councillors, consultants, Ministry of Environment, experts and others in positions of authority to understand? Why are they ignoring the most obvious evidence of gravity flowing, toxic liquid wastes having overflowed from the east side pits (RPE 1-5) onto the Stroh property for almost the whole length of the Uniroyal/Lanxess east side property line? These same biased and apparently blind persons have already admitted to overflow crossing from Uniroyal Chemical eastwards onto the Stroh property and done a minor excavation (15 cm. or 5.9 inches deep) and removed DDT and Dioxins in the soil in 2019, fifty years after the ending of the overflowing east side pits. This overflowing was based upon approximately 165,000 gallons per day of liquid wastes being pumped through two pipelines over to these open to the sky, pits. Plus without a cover over them simple rainstorms would help overflow these pits. Finally Uniroyal, the MECP and Lanxess have all admitted that the pits did indeed overflow and run southwards and eastwards. 

The answer to Why? is unfortunate. It's called corruption and being a "captured" regulator. The Ontario Ministry of Environment (MECP) shares guilt and culpability with Uniroyal Chemical. The former M.O.E. made deals not in the public interest decades ago (1950s-1980s) with Uniroyal Chemical. They were afraid to fight them in court because Uniroyal had a larger legal budget than they did. Yes folks that is the reality of government enforcement of laws against wealthy multinational corporations.

The drawing of maps and/or diagrams as stated in the second line above refers to topographical contour lines. These lines show both the big picture of ground surface elevations as well as smaller areas of either depressions or higher ground. The big picture is demonstrated by contour lines that indicate where the ground elevation changes, either rising or falling. Liquids of course gravity flow from higher ground towards lower ground. Apparently self-interested and self-serving polluters, politicians and corrupt regulators are incapable of reading and understanding these quite simple maps. Or so they would have us believe. 

THE ISSUE WITH ALTERNATIVE #2 FOR THE ELMIRA BY-PASS

 

First of all at the moment I believe that Alternative #2 is the one that starts at the very south end of Elmira and swings east and then north running upwards towards Uniroyal/Lanxess although on the east side of the Uniroyal/Lanxess property line with the Stroh farm. .  Now of course the Region or anybody else with influence can change these Alternative numbers at will or even alter the routes at will. We the people have only token opportunities to even express our opinions much less have any power whatsoever to make real changes.

The issue for this Alternative is that part or all of the new roadway will be built on contaminated lands. They are of course contaminated by Uniroyal Chemical and like much of their contamination whether on or off site they have done their best to scope it and minimize it from day one. One example is their denial for decades that any DNAPLS (Dense Non Aqueous Phase Liquids) existed off their site . A little over a year ago they admitted to the DNAPL that ended up beside the Howard St. Water Tower in the Minutes of a September 2024 TRAC meeting. They also have denied that Uniroyal toxic liquids flowed onto the Stroh property for years until they did some 5.9 inches (15 cm.) excavations on the west side of the Stroh property in 2019 and removed some DDT and Dioxins. They also did a very few sediment test samples in the Stroh Drain and found Dioxins thirty times higher than the federal health standard. Nothing however was removed.

Without or until a proper and honest investigation of both the Stroh and Martin properties occurs there is no sure way of knowing exactly how serious this contamination is. The companies 36 year history of  manipulating and massaging any and all data to support their position has been disgraceful. Their failure to achieve the mandated cleanup of Elmira's groundwater also does not give one confidence that they are on top of things.  Leaving these toxins behind will simply guarantee the continued ongoing migration of them both downstream in the Canagagigue Creek and further into the Grand River. Why do we keep giving the corporate polluters and their toothless regulator (MECP) opportunity after opportunity to continue their pretend cleanup?

THERE IS A PUBLIC MEETING THIS WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 29/25 AT 7 pm. IN LION'S HALL

 

Ostensibly it is to give the public an opportunity to comment on which option of four that they prefer for the Elmira By-Pass. There are three options for the east side and one for the west side. In reality the Region and the Township have made this decision years ago and are merely going through the motions of public consultation. It is fairly easy to persuade that public opinion to go your way when you are in control of the data, the information as well as being in charge of the process from start to finish. Any contrary speakers to their preferred option of the east side including the Stroh and Martin farms will most likely be given short shrift with the microphone. At best one or two speakers might tell the public about the highly contaminated Canagagigue Creek but they will be drowned out by a dozen or more supporters of an east side By-Pass. Similarly comments about the Stroh Drain, Ditch & Berm's (SDDB)  contamination is only known by a few folks as our local media have been a little reluctant to criticize either Lanxess or the Ministry of Environment the last several years.

SEPTEMBER 2025 PROGRESS REPORT INDICATIVE OF WHAT"S WRONG WITH THE CLEANUP

 

The total off-site pumping is around 63 litres per second which historically is a pretty good pumping rate. Pretty good however does not confirm or clarify Chemtura's claim and promises to CPAC back in November 2012 that they would Triple the off-site pumping in order to achieve drinking water standards by 2028. Now of course they've never even come close to those pumping volumes which is only part of the reason that their "cleanup" has failed. This is the people in charge literally renewing their promises year after year that they were going to achieve drinking water standards by 2028. They quit their bragging/lying maybe eight years ago after twenty years of off-site pumping and five or six years after their promises to vastly increase that pumping. Complete liars yet oddly (or not) neither the Ministry of Environment nor Woolwich Township have ever publicly called them on it.

At the same time this month as they are increasing off-site pumping they continue to under pump their on-site wells. The Target pumping rate for PW4 and PW5 was 4.7 litres per second combined. This month as it has been for the last few years the pumping has been reduced to 3.8 to 4.0 l/sec. Apparently replacing pumping well PW5 with new pumping well PW6 has magically reduced how much on-site pumping is required to combat the lower gradients off-site from drawing and overpowering the on-site pumping wells. This "magic" is unexplained as it generally has been for the last 36 years when the polluter is gilding the lily for self=serving reasons.

ARE THE MEDIA PART OF THE ELMIRA PROBLEM AS WELL?

 

Both the Woolwich Observer and the Waterloo Region Record published stories about the proposed Elmira By-Pass yesterday. The Observer included four tiny maps of which the three depicting the three options on the east side of Elmira were indecipherable to me. The one on the west side was legible because it is so simple. At the south end of Elmira when heading north turn left (west) onto the Listowel By-Pass . Continue west until you hit Floradale Rd. and turn right (north) and continue through the round about at Church St. further north to Reid Woods Drive. Turn right (east) and proceed straight across to Arthur St. Bang you have by=passed Elmira. The gravel base of the roads are already in place plus there are no floodplains or major waterways to cross. there is already a concrete bridge across the Canagagigue on Reid Woods Dr. There are also no buildings or other encroachments along the way. This is a much easier route than the east side of Elmira where annual heavy flooding takes place. 

Road rightaways are already established on the west side. They are not on large parts of the east side. It appears to some of us that half the reason for the east side By-Pass is to bury the legacy of mishandling and negligence resulting in DDT, Dioxins, PAHs, mercury and PCBs in the floodplains, creekbank soils and sediments in the bottom of the Creek. None of these dangerous toxins are on the west side of Elmira but in order to save both Uniroyal/Lanxess and our governments cleanup money they are going to continue their deceptive practices by pretending without proper scientific rigour that the area is not grossly contaminated. Shame on all of them. 

AGENT ORANGE WASTES PRODUCED BY UNIROYAL REMAIN BELOW GROUND IN ELMIRA BOTH ON & OFF THE SITE

 

How is this possible? You've heard the expression "It takes a village to raise a child". Well here's my environmental expression:  "It takes a conspiracy, bribes and favours  to get politicians at multiple levels to agree upon anything but especially upon self-serving, not in the public interest plans." I believe that this is how the original Elmira west side By-Pass has morphed into the east side By-Pass. 

These toxic wastes were from the production of several million pounds of Agent Orange produced in the mid to late 1960s and shipped to the U.S. military for non-humanitarian use in Vietnam. Some of these wastes were buried on the west side of the Creek and others on the east side in pits and ponds. At the same time and up to the present Agent Orange and accompanying dioxin (2,3,7,8 TCDD) has been eroding from creekbanks on the former Uniroyal property. Dioxins are in downstream fish, creekbank soils, floodplain soils and sediments in the bottom of the Creek above health criteria all the way to the Grand River and beyond.  

Liquid toxic wastes also flowed eastwards, southwards and westwards from the high ground on Uniroyal/Lanxess's east side. A tiny amount of these dioxins were excavated in 2019 from a strip of land on the Stroh farm nearest to Lanxess. That was but one more Mickey Mouse pretend "cleanup" done over the decades at the former Uniroyal.

Further off-site migration has been westwards and southwards through DNAPLS gravity flowing off-site decades ago. These off-site DNAPLS were totally denied for decades up until recently. Both DNAPLS as well as ordinary solvents will mobilize DDT and dioxins which have an extremely low solubility in water. These solvents include benzene, toluene, chlorobenzene and many others that have spread out underneath Elmira. 

There has never been a serious, honest investigation of either the Stroh or Martin farms. Now Mayor Shantz and political friends want to cover these Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) with the Elmira By-Pass as well as with commercial development. Neither will stop the ongoing migration of Uniroyal Chemical toxins into the Canagagigue Creek and the Grand River. 

At the same time DDT and Dioxins exist within the Elmira drinking water aquifers where they have been ignored while attention was deflected onto NDMA and chlorobenzene. Dioxins solubility in water exceeds its' Ontario Drinking Water Standard (ODWS).  DDT has a much higher ODWS making DDT exceedances possible although less likely than dioxin's (2,3,7,8 TCDD.