SHAMELESS - LANXESS & MECP ARE BACKING INTO ADMITTING MULTIPLE SOURCES OF CHLOROBENZENE IN ELMIRA"S GROUNDWATER

 

Why am I calling them shameless? I attended the June 19/25 TRAC meeting. I sat in the front row of the gallery to ensure that I could both hear speakers as well as see any maps or Figures put up on the overhead screen. Just now I have sat watching the first hour and twenty minutes or so video of that TRAC meeting as it is available on the Woolwich Township website. The overheads are much clearer and I am almost speechless.

One particular map was put up on the overhead screen that was very relevant. Unfortunately it was difficult to read in particular the tiny little yellow rectangles representing POTENTIAL OFF-SITE CHLOROBENZENE SOURCES.  It was at the 50:38 (fifty minute 38 seconds) mark of the TRAC video. Holy crap but Lanxess can't get their story straight! That map of Elmira has four or five potential off-site source areas for chlorobenzene. They appear to be close to or within the blocks of Industrial Dr., Union St, Howard Ave. and First St. It appears as if both Borg and Varnicolor are coloured yellow as well as others .

Keep in mind that I've stated for at least the last fifteen years that there are other sources of chlorobenzene than just Uniroyal Chemical. Perhaps eight years ago Dr. Neil Thompson of U. of Waterloo wrote a Conceptual Site Model (CSM) in which he agreed that others had leaked chlorobenzene into the groundwater besides Uniroyal. Then last summer/fall I asked Allan Deal (GHD) publicly if he agreed or not. He was presenting a new, updated CSM. and he emphatically denied any second source of chlorobenzene to Elmira's groundwater.

Keep in mind that I am not conflating a second source with what Jesse Wright of Arcadis (working for Lanxess ) referred to as secondary sources. These are not direct infusions of contaminants from an industrial source at the surface but are back diffusion (leakage) from the aquitards (clay & silt) which occurs as the aquifers (sand & gravel) concentrations of chlorobenzene slowly decreases over time which induces the chlorobenzene in the adjacent aquitards to then release their chlorobenzene back into the aquifers. 

I used to think of councillor Bauman as Mr. Flip Flop. This is a breath taking flip flop by Lanxess.

"THE STROH DRAIN IS BRUTALLY DAMNING EVIDENCE"

 

The quote above comes from an anonymous commenter here of two days ago. To this day the Stroh Drain will be draining contaminated groundwater from both the Uniroyal/Lanxess site as well as overland rainfall flow. It was installed after the massive bulk of toxic liquid waste dumping into RPE 1-5 was ended approximately in 1970. It is fair to say that the Uniroyal property and soils were saturated with their liquid wastes to a great depth. Now do keep in mind that the Stroh Drain will be only draining shallow aquifers such as the Upper Aquifer (UA). 

Think about this carefully. The massive volumes of liquid wastes pumped into the five east side pits were done. Yes various swales on the Uniroyal site would still assist southerly flow of rainwater that would be less contaminated than when the pits were operating. Groundwater on the other hand might remain highly contaminated for a very long time. The former low lying swamp on both the Uniroyal and Stroh property originally consisted of both overland flow of liquid wastes as well as of groundwater.  That swamp has been drained by the Stroh Drain, Ditch & Berm (SDDB) hence there no longer is water at the ground surface as the Stroh Drain is dug well below the water table (surface of the shallow aquifer). 

I view the SDDB as a reward to the Stroh family for services rendered. They had allowed, for consideration, toxic liquid wastes from their next door neighbour to flow through their property  and then via the Martin Creek into the Canagagigue Creek. It left however a stinking chemical laden swamp behind. The SDDB drained the swamp on both properties by lowering the water table. It certainly would have been much easier to install the Stroh Drain after the ending of the use of the east side pits for holding massive volumes of toxic liquids. Perhaps the brain trust at Uniroyal thought that the swamp on both properties would dry up when the pumping of liquid wastes to the east side pits ended. That might explain why they waited thirteen years or so to build the SDDB.

Regardless the Stroh Drain as the commenter pointed out "...is brutally damning evidence.".  This Drain is located on the Stroh property in the lowest lying areas which of course is where the overflowing original liquid toxic wastes ended up. As we all know contaminated groundwater takes much longer to attenuate than does surface water. Surface water basically begins cleaning up as soon as the contamination pumped or dumped into it ends. Contaminated groundwater on the other hand can take decades to centuries to clean up. 

LYING - SHORT TERM GRATIFICATION VERSUS LONG TERM RESPECT ?

 

Some lies are white lies as when a friend asks you for feedback on something they've done and you really don't want to hurt their feelings hence you soften your comments  somewhat. Everybody "lies" at one point or another. Pathological liars however get a rush out of telling lies and "fooling" whomever they're talking to. Sometimes the lies are for the purpose of self-aggrandizing other times to avoid censure for actions or mistakes made.  

Then there are corporate and or business lies. These are the lies whereby an employee, manager or director feels an obligation to protect his business or employer. Perhaps there is also a loyalty to the shareholders as well as the others putting staff into a conflict of interest situation. These are the situations whereby staff are often expected to view the situation as them versus us. When the "us" is providing your food and shelter and the "them" is either the general public or even some authority (eg.  Min. of Environment) the choice is easy. 

These are the realities of corporate control over their staff. Especially in a non-union environment corporations can fire at will provided some notice or pay in lieu of notice is given. Take the example here in Elmira, Ontario. Any number of staff or employees could have ratted out the company (s) over the years albeit the risks to career and financial stability would be extreme. This is why both the public and the government (MECP) need verification of all facts and statements provided by the corporation. Many of the issues here could have (and should have) resulted in many more millions of dollars to clean up their mess. This ongoing corporate lying unfortunately needs to be expected. 

Here in Elmira the corporation (Lanxess) has the best of both worlds. Not only can they lie at will but their lies have mostly been given the green light by the MECP. These lies not only save the company millions of dollars but they also protect the Ministry of Environment (MECP) and the government of the day from public condemnation. Corporate lying backed by elected officials both locally and provincially is very difficult to beat. Just ask Uniroyal Chemical, Crompton, Chemtura and now Lanxess Canada. 

 

"CLEANUP LAUNCHED AFTER ELMIRA CHEMICAL FACTORY TAINTS FARM NEXT DOOR" - K-W RECORD

 

"Lanxess has speculated that years ago, toxic chemicals called dioxins and furans were blown onto the farm by wind, or washed there by rain." This is a statement Jeff Outhit (reporter)wrote and was  published in the January 4, 2019 Record . Of course it was but one of many over the decades that raised hopes that Uniroyal/Lanxess were going to do the right thing by both local residents and other downstream lifeforms.

It was not to be. Exercising their uncanny ability to contort truth and facts until they are unrecognizable, Lanxess have dogmatically insisted that they have examined the whole site. Perhaps this harkens back to their former environmental engineer, Jeff Merriman who ingenuously suggested that his world class nose and eyes could pick out sub-surface contamination with ease. No need for professional testing here folks as I (Jeff) declare that all is well. 

Polluters like Uniroyal/Lanxess have learned how to battle stubborn pollution with words when they are unwilling to do the cleanup necessary. For example :  "Soil tests have found a shallow ribbon of contaminated dirt on the farm, up to 500 metres long but limited to the top 15 centimetres and less than nine metres from the factory boundary." Isn't that just amazing. Perhaps the senior Mr. Stroh had put a sign on his property advising that " The premises are monitored 24/7 and any incursions by free flowing liquid toxic wastes past the nine metre mark will immediately result in a manure barrage." or some other equally insidious deterrent. Or perhaps the senior Mr. Stroh had buried sensors along his property line with Uniroyal/Lanxess deeper than 15 centimetres (5.9 inches) which threatened a barrage of contaminated earthworms would be unleashed upon the company. 

The facts are clear. Lanxess have NOT properly sampled or tested the Stroh farm because they are afraid of the truth. They continue to lie and hide behind the Min. of Environment (MECP) as well as Woolwich Council who clearly have been indoctrinated into believing that they must support Uniroyal/Lanxess's verbal nonsense no matter the reality.. 

JANUARY 4, 2019 - K-W RECORD PUBLISHES CLEANUP STORY ON STROH FARM IMMEDIATELY BESIDE UNIROYAL/LANXESS CANADA

 

The reporter was Jeff Outhit and he did a good job in letting the public know that the cleanup was neither extensive nor comprehensive. He quoted Sebastian Seibel-Achenbach who referred to Lanxess's story about wind blown dioxins and or rain washed dioxins ending up on the Stroh farm as being "self-serving". While Sebastian is correct, the rain washing dioxins and more onto the Stroh farm does actually validate the fact that gravity flowing toxic liquid wastes travelled eastwards onto the Stroh farm. This also reinforces yesterday's Blog post and many others in which Uniroyal toxic wastes ended up on the Stroh property. The title of this January 4, 2019 story is "Cleanup launched after Elmira chemical factory taints farm next door". 

What has long surprised me is that neither Health Canada nor any provincial or federal food agencies have ever seemed the least bit interested in these highly toxic various chemicals entering our food supply. Above and beyond cattle producing both milk and beef on the farm, the immediate contaminated property has produced both corn and soybeans for decades.  Whether these are for direct human consumption or for indirect consumption via cattle feed, these are serious health issues. When non-smokers and non-drinkers not exposed to toxins on the job get cancers then it becomes obvious that their exposures are from the air they breathe, the water they drink and the food they eat. 

Thank you Uniroyal, Lanxess, MECP and local politicians for your inattention. 

A LITTLE DISAPPOINTED THAT THE STROH PROPERTY WAS NOT RAISED AT LAST THURSDAY'S TRAC MEETING

 

I know that interest had been renewed due to the Lanxess site tour in early May. I also know that inaccurate statements were made by Lanxess representatives to diminish the credibility of gravity flow of Uniroyal Chemical toxic liquid wastes over to the Stroh property. Of course it has become obvious over the decades that Uniroyal/Crompton/Chemtura and Lanxess are extremely adept at making, polishing and gilding falsehoods until they shine brightly. Then by repeating them over and over again even normally skeptical people can be slowly brought around. Maybe not fully but at least to the point where they know that disputing certain falsehoods is a waste of time. If propaganda worked for Dr. Goebbels then why not for chemical companies as well?

The most obvious proof positive versus mere evidence is both the finding and removal of dioxins/furans and DDT on the Stroh farm next to the Lanxess property line in 2019. Yes it was a typical polluter's Mickey Mouse "cleanup" but at least it proved that Uniroyal crap flowed over to the Stroh property/farm. Further very strong evidence would include the detections of dioxins/furans in the Stroh Drain at about 30 times greater than the federal criteria for sediments afterwards . 

Finally no one from the MECP to Lanxess have ever clarified how NDMA was found in a deep Municipal Aquifer well a couple of hundred metres cross gradient and a little upgradient from Uniroyal/Lanxess.

Of course it is very helpful when both politicians and media know their place in the food chain and are careful not to rock the boat or the gravy train.

THEM VERSUS US ?

 

Wow! Quite the developments yesterday. A few days earlier Israel while still bombing Gaza decided to drop a few on Iran allegedly for pursuing nuclear weapons development. One of the problems I see is that various European countries as well as some international monitoring agencies haven't indicated that Iran is doing any such thing. Even some senior U.S. officials have publicly stated the same while admittedly others have said the opposite. Does anyone remember Iraq's alleged Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) turning out to be false? How many times can and does the U.S. lie to the world before nobody believes a damn thing they say? Oh wait that's already occurred under Donald Trump 2.0  . I'm to the point that my rule is whatever "The Donald" says I'm confident that most likely the opposite is true. Again does nobody remember the parable about the boy who cried wolf? Well that fat ars*d boy is now the President of the United States. God help us all. 

There may be some serious or not bellowing from the U.S. Congress that Trump's bombing of Iran is either illegal or unconstitutional. Again allegedly he is required to advise/consult Congress in advance. If the bellowing is serious then I commend whoever does so. If it's just posturing then everybody's time is being wasted. 

What the world should have known for centuries is that international law appears unenforceable upon the strongest countries in the world.  I have long wondered about vetoes being available to the U.S., Russia, China, etc. at the United Nations. What does that say other than all countries are equal except for those who are more equal. 

Might is right and this attitude has trickled down to all tiers of government certainly in Canada and probably throughout the world. Is it any wonder that municipal politicians guard their areas of authority so carefully? Is it any wonder that provincial Premiers do not tolerate either municipal or even federal encroachment upon their jurisdictions? Bad news folks but our politicians behaviour is constantly less based upon doing what's right and more often upon what serves their purposes which mostly is preservation of their authority. Any attempts to do the right thing which may expose political gamesmanship, pettiness or even lesser sins will not move forward. Just look at the scandal involving mercury in the English-Wabigoon Rivers (i.e. Grassy Narrows) and at the phony "cleanup" that's been ongoing in Elmira, Ontario for the past 36 years.

FOLLOWUP TO THURSDAY NIGHT'S TRAC MEETING

 

Agenda Item 6.0 was titled "Control Order Process and Public Engagement" .Unfortunately the "process" part far outweighs the actual public engagement. In the good old days there was Intervenor funding so that groups of citizens could hire their own experts, lawyers and consultants. Those days are long gone and instead of a Tribunal of knowledgeable and expert persons with legitimate environmental knowledge now we get the much maligned OLT (Ontario Land Tribunal. Yes one can ask for Leave to Appeal their decision but again there is no Intervenor funding hence individuals or even groups of citizens are risking big money to present a case to a biased, pro government, pro business body.

Yet another consulting company has been hired by Lanxess this one called Arcadis. It's good to know that Lanxess and GHD understand that there own credibility has been damaged by their behaviour and lack of compassion for the victims  of corporate negligence locally. One claim by Jesse of Arcadis I found odd was that on-site NDMA  sources are mostly on the west side of the former Uniroyal site and chlorobenzene sources allegedly are on the east side.  No explanation was given just as no explanation has ever been given as to why monitoring well CH38 near Industrial Dr. and Oriole Parkway has had such high concentrations of contaminants so far away from Uniroyal Chemical.

Hadley also brought up Lanxess's whine about Pump & Treat technology being hard on the environment i.e. high electricity useage likely plus discharge of only partially cleaned groundwater into the Canagagigue Creek. Gee they and their predecessors should have thought about that 36 years ago! She also suggested that goals may have changed such as the Region of Waterloo no longer being interested in using Elmira's water for drinking water. Well! Karl Belan (RMOW) quickly corrected that and suggested that at the least the Region were eyeing the most southern well (E10) as a future source of water.

Lanxess allegedly want to do a study of the groundwater in its' more natural state . In other words with the pumping wells shut down in order to get a more accurate idea as to where the higher contaminant concentrations currently are.  Groundwater pumping distorts concentrations of contaminants as they are pulled towards wells etc. To me this sounds like just one more ecuse to cut back on their remediation costs.

As stated yesterday there are as yet no decisions on remediating any of the "hot spots" in the Creek. Hadley again complained that she didn't like that terminology which is too damn bad although I believe that Chemtura started it as a method of "scoping" (lessening) the amount of cleanup needed in the Creek. We were also advised that the Ministry of Expanded Corporate Pollution (MECP) sent out more (likely deceptive) letters to the local residents along the Creek last summer. Hadley stated that residents had been advised against amending their gardens using Creek sands and also not to allow fowl (chickens etc.) to run loose near the Creek. We were later advised by Jason Rice (MECP) that free range chickens were possible at farms that had not been contacted. There was also a brief discussion/confusion over dioxin/furan criteria

Most TRAC (Technical Remediation Advisory Committee)  members don't know what they don't know and are easily swayed and led by the nose. I saw a little less at this meeting than usual however it was still a disgrace of self-promoting, self-justifying, lily gilding by Lanxess and politicians . The utter and complete failure to allow questions from the audience (2 whole people) denigrates the process. The refusal to ask hard questions early on about the new proposed Control Order or ECA whichever they want to call it is but one example. Lanxess and the MECP should also have to explain where the hell the last 36 years have gone with failures in all cleanup endeavours. Any other private or government initiative with such a record would be shown the door and new management/supervision brought in to do the job that should have been done in the first place. Not in this venue as Woolwich/Dogpatch just keep on repeating their failures over and over again with the same biased, self-serving idiots in charge. 

 

LAST NIGHT'S TRAC MEETING WATCHED IN PERSON

 

Well as expected it started slowly and boringly. Somewhat to my surprise it actually got a little better. In fact generally speaking there was less bull**** and more fact than usual. What happened? I even found Hadley's (Lanxess) droning much less offensive (likely because there was less of it and she didn't seem to be forcing her two cents in where it wasn't needed). Then to my utter astonishment there was a reporter present. It was not a reporter from the Woolwich Observer but from the K-W Record!. Even more astonishingly it was Terry Pender the reporter that I had to take to the National Media Council for his May 1/25 article about Vietnam and Agent Orange. O.K. last but not least Susan Bryant from the comfort of her home made a comment that I agreed with regarding downstream residents (farmers) having decades of high exposures to Uniroyal contaminants.

In no particular order Hadley made a few concessions if you will. Yes she downplayed the level of dioxins in the environment and how ubiquitous (common) they now are with sources other than Uniroyal Chemical. However she did admit that higher than background levels of dioxins/furans downstream are indeed from past Uniroyal discharges. She wouldn't go so far as to suggest that some are still coming off the former Uniroyal site however she did seem to be angling towards looking harder for them along the creekbanks on site including the east side creekbanks! Well Well?

Somewhat disconcertingly she repeatedly said something about not taking a risk or not exposing the company to risk in regards to further testing of sediments and soils along the Creek. She stated that the HHERA (human health & Ecological Risk Assessment) claimed that there were no downstream "unacceptable" risks hence I'm wondering if she is trying to stickhandle by doing more sampling but somehow any bad results don't count against Lanxess's position or cleanup.  Those comments should have been clarified at the moment but yours truly like the rest of Elmira residents may not ask questions or speak at TRAC according to her majesty Queen Sandy.

Luis Almeida also made some comments that were decades overdue but which I had figured out a long time ago. He conceded that the off-site pumping wells were indeed placed in positions in the Municipal Aquifers where contaminant concentrations were highest. Now isn't that interesting especially as contaminant plumes generally have highest concentrations nearest their sources (Uniroyal) and decrease with distance from those sources. Hmm.

We learned that the EAB (Environmental Appeal Board) which was replaced by the ERT (Environmental Review Tribunal) has also been replaced by the well disparaged OLT or Ontario Land Tribunal. The OLT by the way originally was known as the OMB or Ontario Municipal Board and was reviled for its bias in favour of developers versus property owners. All in all clearly just a pro business, pro powerful and wealthy board put in position to go through the motions of unbiased and balanced weighing of the public interest versus that of private individuals. This whole discussion was in regards to the MECP's (Min. of Environment) new ECA or Control Order taking over after the 2028 deadline has passed and failed. 

The discussion of the Control Order seemed to focus on the extent of diffusion of contaminants from the aquifers (sand & gravel) into the less permeable aquitards (silt & clay).  The presenter stated that he was showing us why remediating large, dilute plumes takes a long time to do so. Indeed his Figure on the screen did show extensive diffusion below the Municipal Upper aquifer into the aquitards below which allegedly are now back diffusing into the aquifers as their concentrations of contaminants decrease. 

Hadley, Luis and Sebastian got into a discussion of times now believed required to achieve drinking water standards. Hadley advised that if they stick with Pump & Treat technology that decades more will be required hence they are looking at other technologies.

Not bad, it only took CPAC until early 2012 to tell the Ministry, the Township and Chemtura that their pump & treat couldn't cut it and it's only taken another thirteen years for the guilty parties to admit the same. These delays have always been intentional hence talk now about improvements carries such little credibility.

Spoiler Alert:  Likely more discussion here tomorrow on this TRAC meeting but as suggested in yesterday's post little or nothing promised much less done regarding "HOT SPOT" removals downstream in the Creek.

TRAC AGENDA ITEM 8.5.1 - "TARGETED HOT SPOT REMOVAL UPDATE"

 

And yet again we talk about it tonite in Council Chambers but is any tiny thing whatsoever going to happen? More importantly just because they say something is going to happen do we pay any attention to those blatant, lying crappers? They could tell me that they are removing 1 1/2  hot spots in their entirety in the Canagagigue Creek and I wouldn't believe a word of it. Why should I or anybody believe pathological liars? Just as importantly why do our authorities show respect to that pair of liars namely Lanxess Canada and the Ontario MECP? Quoting a television show showing courtesy to liars and disrespectful people simply means that you are a doormat. That is why I do not try to hide my contempt for those who hold Elmira and Woolwich citizens in contempt. 

Allegedly Justin Trudeau is disliked by Donald Trump. Big deal. Any decent, honest person should not want to be liked by an ass the size of Trump. His behaviour towards immigrants, women and the disadvantaged is an embarrassment to the rest of us. Showing him respect merely reinforces his asinine view of the world and his attitudes towards those he denigrates unfairly.

The Canagagigue Creek requires and deserves remediation. The human beings living downstream along the Creek deserve it to be cleaned up as do all the lifeforms impacted by Uniroyal Chemical's toxins still in the Creek.

HOW MANY COMMUNITY MEMBERS WERE AWARE OF THE CHEMICAL SWAMP ON THE STROH PROPERTY?

 

One community member with first hand knowledge of the Stroh farm, swamp, Drain etc. recently died. There are many others however who are still with us. Generally speaking they are keeping their heads down to avoid being shot - figuratively not literally I hope. Speaking from experience I can advise that there are consequences in this town for speaking out. For speaking the truth. Most especially for speaking truth to power. The big players have an exaggerated view of their own superiority and influence. Yes they have run local politics forever and not in anybody's interests but their own.

Some of these community members may honestly think that by now the Stroh swamp and accompanying Uniroyal chemicals are ancient history. In one sense they are correct. Sights and odours of a repugnant nature generally seem long gone. The bad old days as late as 1998-2000 in which the Duke St. rowdies took up arms (figuratively again) against horrible overnight emissions from Uniroyal/Crompton are gone.  The Creek (Canagagigue) no longer runs in different colours depending upon which products Uniroyal are producing.  Downstream cattle as far as I know are not dying as they did back in 1965 (Leander Martin's). 

Our drinking water has sort of been restored via a pipeline from Waterloo to Elmira.  Uniroyal/Lanxess are no longer front page news. Yes they are still fabricating feel good stories and pretending that chemical companies no longer kill people either directly or indirectly. Tell that to the residents of Elmira who passed on prematurely due to alleged natural causes. Tell that to any Stroh family members who lived for decades next to that chemical swamp and paid the price. Does any amount of money properly compensate for ill health and a shortened life? Will these knowledgeable community members step up and speak out in time ? 

WE KICKED VARNICOLOR"S BUTT FROM THE INSIDE - UNIROYAL/LANXESS ARE A LOT TOUGHER

 

Plus the irony is not lost on me that Uniroyal kicked our butts from the inside. They had APTE under control from very early on. I suppose it's debatable as to whether there were some good intentions in the beginning which simply went awry after enough compromises and private deals were made . It's even possible that to this very day Susan Bryant still hopes to see at least a token amount of cleanup at a "hot spot" or two. I do kind of wonder however what the former APTE coordinators are thinking now when they realize the wasted opportunities that their group has had. APTE actually had serious influence for the first few years but as soon as the coordinators backed away and let first Susan and Sylvia run the show followed in 2000 by Susan and Pat; then the jig was up.  Here we are in 2025 and the drinking water is no where near being restored to drinking water standards for either NDMA or chlorobenzene not to mention all the other chemical toxins that got "scoped".  Plus the cleanup of the Creek hasn't even been started. Same with any cleanup of the former Uniroyal site itself.

APTE of course are not the only reason that Uniroyal prevailed. Inherently guilty and corrupt governance really sank the ship. The Ministry of Environment was only initiated by our provincial government as a public pleasing, vote getting attempt by politicians and their lobbyists to convince the public that their government gave a hoot about the environment. Perhaps as the mounting costs of Climate Change, polluted air and water rise governments are beginning to see the light. The trouble is their financial backers still want to make more money. They think that they can take it with them when they die. They think that their money will immunize them from cancers and other diseases that are a direct result of the air we breathe, the food we eat and the water we drink.

SO ARE THE SILLY BUGGERS NOT INCLUDING MY WRITTEN COMMENTS IN THEIR "CORRESPONDENCE" SECTION OF THE TRAC AGENDA?

 

OR IS IT POSSIBLE that they are simply hiding them somewhere? It becomes oh so tempting when you are in charge of the process to take liberties with that same process. Pat McLean did it when she was Chair of CPAC. Sandy has done it as Mayor. An addition here and maybe an improper omission there sort of tilts things in your favour as long as nobody calls you on it. While I'm calling Mayor Shantz, current Chair Nathan Cadeau and even former Chair Tiffany Svensson on it. My critiques have been sent far and wide including to the TRAC Chair and TRAC members. If they aren't already so acknowledged then hop to it !

Meanwhile the same crap continues with the pump and treat systems both on and off-site. On-site was supposed to by GHD 's claims to maintain 4.7 litres per second on -site pumping rates . It isn't happening with PW5 done and finished and new well PW6 still barely pumping at only 1 litre per second during the month of May 2025. Meanwhile the monthly Progress Report states that "Lanxess is establishing a Target pumping rate for PW6." Really? The old well had an established pumping rate of 1.8 litres per second so why wouldn't it's replacement be the same or higher? The reason appears to be that this is just one more opportunity to reduce costs and reduce alleged hydraulic containment.

Meanwhile the off-site pumping is a  comparative whopping 71.5 l/sec  !!!  To me this is just an attempt to pull more contaminants off-site with no concern for the probable loss of hydraulic containment on site resulting in more toxic groundwater moving into the Elmira Aquifers. Is it any wonder that the guilty parties are failing to achieve their stated and mandated goal of drinking water standards by 2028?

FURTHER TO THIS THURSDAY'S TRAC MEETING

 

This folks is why Sandy/Chemtura/MOE dropped the old CPAC back in June 2015. They did not want any honest folks with long term knowledge on that committee. It makes it so much easier now to pull the wool over the eyes of the current well credentialed but woefully ignorant of the history of the Elmira Water Crisis, folks on the committee now known as TRAC. This will be so helpful as the Ontario MECP lie like dogs and talk about holding Lanxess's feet to the fire and other poo poo del toro that is simple rubbish.

We were told that Control Orders are binding documents with legal standing that must be obeyed by the polluter. What a pile of pus .  Multiple Control Orders have been issued over the decades and Uniroyal/Crompton/Chemtura/Lanxess violate them at their will and the MOE/MECP  either look the other way or answer with lies and delays about compliance. The fact is that we the public get to see a document written for our consumption but we are not allowed to sit at the table and listen to the backroom deals made privately between the polluter and the alleged regulator. 

This Thursday's TRAC meeting has Agenda Item 6. which is about "Control Order Process and Public Engagement". How dare the MECP let Lanxess off the hook. We the citizens were promised for twenty-five years that by 2028 the Elmira Aquifers would be at Ontario drinking water standards and now all parties say they can't do it. So instead of insisting upon HONEST, OPEN PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT we'll get more TRAC poo poo del toro with the MECP pushing the cleanup goal of 2028 decades down the road. 

Too bad you pieces of crap that some of us have lived long enough to call you exactly what you are namely: lying scum with no morals or ethics who have been protecting the polluter's interests instead of the public's since November 1989.

 

TRAC IS SLOWLY & INTENTIONALLY BECOMING REDUNDANT

 

The last meeting was in April the next one in six days on June 19/25. The scheduled one after that is for September 18/25. This committee as UPAC or CPAC met once a month for years and could have met more often. Since Sandy and 2015 RAC & TAG met less often and now we are down to about four times a year which is what Chemtura wanted way back in 2015.  The door is slowly being closed and all legitimate goals are being abandoned but through political manipulation and lack of citizen will dissent has been stifled. 

Agenda Item 7. for next Thursday's meeting is "Updated Conceptual Site Model Presentation with Q & A. "  It seems to me that Dr. Neil Thompson's (U. of Waterloo) made Lanxess and the MECP uneasy. They surely didn't want to hear about a second source of chlorobenzene to the Elmira Aquifers as that could get people thinking that there was also a second source of NDMA which is quite likely as well.  

Agenda Item 8.4 is "Updated Screening of Enhanced Technologies for Offsite Groundwater Remediation of the Elmira Drinking Water Aquifer". I have two comments for this. 1) Way too little way too late and  2) This is the magic bullet bulls*it (i.e. "poo poo del toro") that Dr. Dick Jackson referred to. There have been lots of acceptable technologies for decades that Uniroyal/MOE/MECP and political friends simply refused to consider.

Agenda Item 11. is "TRAC Update to Council- Tentaive August 26, 2025". This will be a feel good, glass half full pile of pus and more poo poo del toro.as always.  

Agenda Item 14. is "TRAC Meeting Schedule & Agendas Review; Next Meeting - September 18, 2025". As stated earlier there is lots that needs to be discussed/DEBATED & ARGUED but holy gosh we wouldn't want to upset Sandy's wee bit of equilibrium and complacency now would we? What should be discussed is a new, unbiased person/group that Lanxess or the Ministry (MECP) can't buy who sincerely want to clean our aquifers, Creek and former Uniroyal property. Whomever this is they need to be independent of the corruption that has ruled this "cleanup" since November 1989. 

TRAC MEETING IN ONE WEEK

 

I believe however that the asinine and intentionally undemocratic rules are such that I could not right now apply to be a Delegate to that pack of mostly twits. My recollection is that you have to apply more than a week ahead of the meeting which of course as the Agenda only comes out later today, makes it difficult to  address any agenda issues . Also unless they have changed their stupid rules (entirely possible) one is not actually allowed to speak but only to submit a written  report. No questions and certainly no debate for fear of touching a nerve of which there are lots.

So Sandy, Lanxess and friends have totally captured TRAC and have it doing their bidding. It really is sad and the only reason that I watch the entire meeting on-line a few days after the meeting is to see which old lies they are still telling as well as any new ones. There certainly is no shortage of nonsense, creative fantasizing and blatant misrepresentations available for one's listening pleasure. I usually respond with the facts to Lanxess and GHD's verbal diarrhea here in my Blog. Often of late I have also e-mailed copies of my critiques to all of Woolwich Council, several Regional Councillors, MECP, and recently a couple of times to that annoying, obnoxious twit Hadley (Lanxess). Geez for a five minute wonder she sure has a big mouth just about everything  with so little actual knowledge of the Uniroyal-Elmira-Lanxess situation. 

I also send my critiques to a number of interested Elmira and area citizens who have never been brainwashed by our pro Lanxess authorities with their twisted and perverted versions of reality.   

OH BOY I"M GOING FAR AFIELD WITH THIS POSTING - MIDDLE EAST

 

First of all I am fairly astounded at Canada's joining in with the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and Norway in condemning/criticizing Israel for their behaviour in the West Bank namely allowing more illegal Israeli settlements. This article is in today's Waterloo Region Record. Secondly I am conflicted for a number of reasons. I have two very long time Canadian friends who are Jewish and whose loyalties and hearts are unequivocally pro Israel . I guess I would have thought that perhaps distance and time away from Israel combined with the last year and a half of death and destruction in Gaza might have somewhat at least softened their positions/opinions at least a little. That does not appear to be the case. 

Then there is the cogent observation of a family member of mine that Hamas were currently in their sixteenth year of their four year elected term. Well that certainly caught my attention. How the heck can that be? But apparently that is exactly what it is. They were elected to a four year term in Gaza and at the end of that term they simply seized power. Hmm how does one square that circle when discussing either legitimacy or illegitimacy of a government and it's behaviour. 

While no one can justify the murder of 1,200 Jewish mostly non-combatants, women and children that occurred late in 2023 by Hamas; then equally how does one justify the deaths of close to 50,000 Palestinian men, women and children by Israel since then? Yes while I believe that Israel have killed many Hamas  members I do not accept that 50,000 people are merely "collateral" damage. That that is somehow O.K. because Hamas are embedded within the rest of the Palestinian community does not compute for me.

So what is the solution to both the current bloodshed and humanitarian disaster, much less to the long term road to peace and co-existence? Much brighter minds than mine have been working on this unsuccessfully both short term and long term. I just don't know.

EVIDENCE THAT DEMOCRACY WORKS ?

 

Let's see now. Mayor Shantz fudged her Financial Statements after her first election victory here in Woolwich Township. The coverage was pretty good in the Woolwich Observer, the Elmira Independent and in the K-W Record. In my opinion based upon a close examination it seemed reasonably obvious to me that she had done it intentionally to avoid the extra cost (approx. $1,250) of the mandatory Audit when your expenses exceed $10,000. Now don't get me wrong here. Yes there is a significant extra cost as indicated but perhaps money wasn't the sole motivation for fudging her election Financial Statements  so badly. What if it was embarrassment? What if she was embarrassed to have spent approximately triple what her three opponents together spent on their campaigns? In other words she may have fudged her expenses intentionally simply to try and avoid any critics suggesting that she had "bought" her mayoralty. Do you know the irony in that? She got a ton of bad publicity between MECAC and the provincial courts  when in fact with her Mennonite last name  combined with publicity from having been a School Board trustee, she was a likely shoo in from the getgo. Oh and the always knowledgeable electorate have re-elected her twice. Apparently a little dishonesty or incompetence in financial matters are nothing compared to a Mennonite last name even yet in Elmira and Woolwich Township.

As a senior who's wife  has recently retired I am thrilled that our now gone health care benefits from her employer are being partially offset by the new federal Dental Care program.  You can thank the New Democratic Party for that as they propped up the Liberal minority government in exchange for that benefit. Once again the electorate spoke and showed their appreciation in the recent federal election by almost demolishing the NDP. They were reduced to below party status. Talk about No Good Deed Goes Unpunished ! 

Democracy has been defined as tyranny of the majority and it has also been defined as success by the biggest liars. Either way we've literally gotten millions of voters who don't have the remotest idea about who or what they are voting for and by God that is their God given right.  And I didn't even speak of the a**hole to the south of us to have to make my point.

Bill 5 IS THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG REGARDING ONTARIO'S CONTEMPT OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS

 

Workarounds are built into every piece of environmental legislation passed by either the Liberals or Conservatives in this province (Ont.). Why you ask? Because both parties are long ago bought and paid for apologists by corporate Canada and corporate U.S.  The Conservatives however are more blatantly right wing, pro business at all costs and the consequences be damned.  They appeal to a certain well off part of Canadians who don't like change and don't want change and by God they aren't going to weaken the immense economic biases that have been in place to enrich themselves, their families and their business friends for a few Jefferson salamanders or any other endangered species including human beings. Liberals on the other hand work much harder to sell the image of being greener than the Conservatives which isn't really saying much. When push comes to shove they will simply be a little more subtle in gutting any current legislation that might or might not delay economic growth even very short term. 

This includes mechanisms like the Ontario Land Tribunal, the former Environmental Appeal Tribunal and it's replacement (Environmental Review Tribunal) , Environmental Assessments and the much ballyhooed and properly much maligned Risk Assessments. The Liberals work much harder to give the appearance of being concerned about climate change and actually when last in power in Ontario were promoting wind, sun and biogas power production.  Yes some of these projects did end up in the hands of their supporters but hey who says you can't do some good environmentally while rewarding the party faithful?

Ontario are truly on the road to environmental hell and are setting a bad example for even worse jurisdictions. Those in power don't care as their unbridled belief is that you can buy your way out of most bad decisions.  Hence economic growth even as the population including your own families are facing unprecedented assaults by environmentally caused cancers of all kinds. What these twits forget is that cancer isn't only caused by smoking, too much sun or drinking; it's mostly caused by breathing the air, drinking the water and eating the food all three of which are and have been contaminated for decades to varying degrees.  All in the name of economic growth at all costs. 

THERE IS ANOTHER WORD FOR RISK ASSESSMENTS & OTHER DECEITFUL ENVIRONMENTAL MECHANISMS

 

The better known word is "GREENWASHING". 

It is rampant around the world as well as here in Woolwich Township. It's adherents are right wing, low ethical persons in positions of authority. They also generally are bullies.  Some are practiced liars via getting elected for office and others are strictly private, corporate apologists who also know where there bread is buttered.  

PART OF THE REASONS WHY RISK ASSESSMENTS ARE A SCAM OF THE PUBLIC INCLUDING LANXESS"S HHERA

 

Known exposure pathways have indicated serious exposures far in excess of multiple criteria, ongoing for decades. Many of the past exposures such as solvents in the Creek (the "Gig") include benzene, toluene, chlorobenzene, chlorophenols etc. aren't even on anybody's radar because they are mostly gone way downstream now but have done damage to humans and wildlife in the past. Meanwhile nobody even wants to look at other known contaminants in the Creek such as mercury and PCBs because they claim they come from a different source than Uniroyal Chemical. So start figuring in what effects those contaminants have on DDT and dioxin/furan toxicity and the risk multiplies. Finally remember that the MECP and scientists are virtually unable to figure out cumulative risks if multiple contaminants are present thus they only look at the single risks of each contaminant versus the unknown cumulative risks. Therefore if you have excess cancer risks of 8 per 100,000 people for DDT alone and 9 per 100,000 people for dioxins/furans they don't add them together, they pretend that there are no synergistic (multiplying) effects. Then add in all the past exposures (previously mentioned solvents) plus risks from Polyaromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH) and mercury and PCBs whatever the source and your actual health risks are multiple times higher than the mathematical manipulations they use to allegedly determine risk.

K-W RECORD DISAPPOINTS ON THE ACCOUNTABILITY SCALE

 

Hmm I love the word conflate. I think that our reporter friend conflated the disgusting issue of compensation fighting with the province over cancer from airborne volatile organic chemicals at the former Uniroyal Strange St. Kitchener tire plant with the equally disgusting exposures to DDT and dioxins/furans at the Elmira chemical plant. Also speaking of conflation it may appear that the Titles of yesterday's Blog posting and today's have been conflated.

Look at a map of the Uniroyal Chemical/Lanxess property in Elmira that shows where many (not all) of the buried wastes were/are buried. First of all the west side ponds and lagoons are all nudged up tight with the Canagagigue Creek which runs through the property from north to south. In other words the west side ponds and lagoons are moved as far to the east as the Creek allows. Why would either the company or the OWRC/MOE ever permit that clear intention for overflow directly into the Creek? Now look at the east side pits and ponds location. Again the east side is the larger of the two sides and there is to this day nothing but empty space over there. So why did they locate all their east side pits and ponds tight up to the eastern property line with their neighbour Earl Stroh? One suggestion that I have received is that when these toxic waste pits were being planned Uniroyal wanted them as far as possible from their workers and from the general public. They did not want issues with odour complaints, stinging eyes, breathing problems etc. Remember the west side pits both conveniently overflowed/drained into the Creek on their own and were washed away and as well at least annual flooding completely emptied them into the Canagagigue Creek.

So if Uniroyal Chemical were concerned with public perception of their business as either dirty, smelly or poisonous why were they unafraid of complaints from Earl Stroh, his wife and eventually four children? They had to have compensated him! He was NOT a Mennonite with a religious distaste for taking arguments and disagreements to court. Even our most biased, pro business, pro big shot courts here in Waterloo Region would have had a difficult time not telling Uniroyal that they had literally hundreds of metres of open space from Earl Stroh's property line westwards towards the Creek.  Especially so when you realize that Mr. Stroh was planting both corn and soybeans for animal and likely human feed right up to his property line.  

Then there are the local legends. I distinctly recall being told in the early to mid nineties at UPAC (Uniroyal Public Advisory Committee) meetings that Uniroyal used to deliver an envelope full of money to the Stroh household each Christmas.  Allegedly this was due to "crop damage" along their shared property line. Afterall Uniroyal was pumping millions of gallons of waste water from the west side over to the east side pits and ponds through two pipelines. Much of these wastewaters included herbicides which would kill crops and vegetation. I personally recall seeing crop damage at the northern end of the Stroh field beside Uniroyal well into the 1990s two decades after the pumping had stopped. Other rumours circulated decades earlier including that some knowledgeable  parents warned their children to stay well away from the Stroh swamp as it was full of chemicals. 

Uniroyal/Lanxess like to suggest that their environmental sins were "historical" and or were the industry standard at the time.  Well if murder and mayhem were the industry norm would they have participated in that as well? 

Finally I will also point out that the Stroh family likely paid a high health price for any money that they received.  Yes one of the four children has done extraordinarily well financially. Is it possible that that financial estate started via permitting an alternate route for Uniroyal chemical liquid wastes to discharge further eastwards and downstream into the Canagagigue Creek beyond the Ministry of Environment's normal monitoring at the time?  

DID UNIROYAL CHEMICAL IN ELMIRA HELP FINANCE RON STROH'S CONSTRUCTION BUSINESS?

 

The WATERLOO REGION RECORD on May 1, 2025 claimed that "...workers, companies and the provincial government were fighting about compensation for workers who developed cancer after being exposed to Agent Orange in the chemical plants in Elmira...". Since then the Record (under duress) has corrected that statement in today's Record by stating that "Only one Elmira plant was involved in the production of the defoliant Agent Orange. Incorrect information was published in a Record story on May 1."

So it appears that the Record are standing by the rest of their story while backing down on the inaccurate claim that multiple companies/plants exposed their workers to cancer causing Agent Orange.  Therefore  would  the corrected version now read "...workers, a company and the provincial government were fighting about compensation for workers who developed cancer after being exposed to Agent Orange in a chemical plant in Elmira...".?

This could be an outstanding admission with incredible repercussions. Of course the one plant in Elmira which produced Agent Orange for the American war effort in Vietnam was Uniroyal Chemical now known as Lanxess Canada. Lanxess Canada are currently heavily involved in NOT cleaning up the downstream Canagagigue Creek which besides being polluted with mercury, PCBs, DDT, DDD, DDE also has dioxin (2,3,7,8 TCDD) from Agent Orange in exceedance of health criteria in creekbank soils, floodplain soils, bottom sediments and in fish tissues. 

Thank you WATERLOO REGION RECORD for publishing what you did, when you did. Your courage (?) may assist TRAC members as well as local citizens to stand up and demand an honest and fair cleanup of five miles of the downstream Canagagigue Creek from Lanxess all the way to the Grand River just south of West Montrose.   

P.S. Honesty makes me admit that I did receive some conflicting information verbally from the reporter. Also I do recall the National Newsmedia Council suggested to me only that the offending sentence would be removed. I wonder how you remove something like that over a month after the fact without reprinting the original article as well as the alleged new version. Perhaps the on-line version which I can't access has done it properly but the printed version doesn't appear to have done so.

TRAC MEETING JUNE 19/25 - MOSTLY HOT AIR & DEFLECTION COMBINED WITH OBFUSCATION

 

Always the optimist however I am hoping that there may be a pearl of wisdom or knowledge inadvertently dropped by a member or other attendee of the upcoming TRAC meeting. Worst case scenario I will have more ammunition of the long term coverup if Lanxess and GHD speak . 

It is truly amazing how an insulated group fully in charge of the Agenda, the membership and the speakers can so convincingly make the case that the earth is flat, the sun rises in the west and that they have successfully been incapable of restoring our drinking water to it's former potable state.  Now of course this small group (Lanxess Canada) and their corporate predecessors have bought, bribed, intimidated or outsmarted our local politicians for decades . They also have always had a very sympathetic provincial government whether Liberal or Conservative.  Nothing is too good for this chemical company who have made and sold various poisons for decades. The irony if you will for the natural world is that these poisons-surprise, surprise- have also turned out to be poisonous to human beings plus most other non-target species. I guess they call that "Better Living With Chemistry".

We human beings are literally hell on earth when it comes to money making discoveries (herbicides, pesticides, fungicides, insecticides, explosives etc.) and not so hot when it comes to forseeing the downsides of any of them. Any possibility of balance or honest consideration of  compromise has a difficult journey getting through profit oriented boardrooms.  Allegedly our political system is supposed to assist that balance with rules and laws in the public interest. That particular counter balance has been missing in action for a very long time as corporations long ago both subtly and blatantly have taken over our political system. They have way too much say whether by formal lobbying or informal and possibly illegal lobbying. Rarely if ever can we count on our political bodies to actually step in and bluntly say no to corporate adventures profitable to them but damaging to the public interest.

CLARIFICATION ABOUT LAST FRIDAY"S BLOG POST RE: THE CREEK & NON-DETECTS AND THE CREEK & CORE SAMPLERS

 A core sampler is a hollow tube which can be inserted into the sediments at the bottom of a creek by basically shoving downwards in order to pick up a sample of  those sediments inside the hollow tube. The tube is then opened up and the sediments can be visually examined as well as tested for various contaminants. The core sampler of course needs to be used where sediments are present not where Lanxess and GHD decide to sample which sometimes is where the bottom of the Creek is "armoured" i.e. where larger stones and rocks are sitting.  Then using the "armoured" bottom of the Creek as an excuse they use an ordinary shovel to move rocks and stones out of the way plus they actually use the shovel to take the sediment sample. Well an open shovel blade is a poor tool for that job because as the sediments are lifted through the water column on the way to the surface the fines simply wash away. The fines are where dioxins/furans, DDT and other contaminants are most likely to be attached to.  Basically Lanxess and GHD are artificially manipulating the sampling to reduce concentrations of contaminants found in the Creek. If TAG members at the time had even an ounce of backbone, grit or character they immediately would have loudly condemned the practice and thrown out all the results. One TAG member, Joe Kelly, did stand up and loudly complain about this practice.

Next we have phony Method Detection Limits (MDL). Yes some contaminants are routinely tested for in low parts per billion in water such as benzene. which has a Ontario Drinking Water Standard of 5 parts per billion. Now how intelligent would it be for the Region of Waterloo to test benzene in water at a Method Detection Limit of say 15 parts per billion (ppb.) versus a more normal 1 ppb. ? Basically only concentrations higher than 15 ppb could be detected  and all the other samples would be written as Non-Detect or ND (15 ppb) even if every sample was above the drinking water standard of 5 ppb.

Many soil and sediment samples have much lower health criteria thus requiring lower MDLs. For example a contaminant with a criteria of .007 requires a MDL at least that low in order to capture all the exceedances of the health criteria. Many labs actually charge a higher fee per sample the lower and presumably more difficult it is to achieve the target concentration. This actually gives unscrupulous persons an incentive to ask for higher (and cheaper) MDLs. They not only lower their lab costs but also lower their detections and exceedances of various contaminants.  

Figures can lie and liars can figure. The best ones are hired by the biggest and dirtiest polluters. If you want a job after you get your University science degree casually mention to the private industry recruiter that you fight for the brand and your loyalty only extends to your family and your employer, nobody else. Shareholder profit oriented businesses really like that kind of enthusiasm.