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.

WILL WE EVER DRINK WATER FROM THE ELMIRA AQUIFERS AGAIN?

 

That does not depend upon either science or evidence of adverse health effects. It depends on how desperate we are for water and how little our authorities care for our well being. Based upon politicians growth projections  promoting even more immigration and hence population growth I would suggest that we will indeed be desperate for new water sources including going to Lake Erie. As far as our health concerns go just visit any Emergency Room at local hospitals and you'll see how far behind we already are in having timely and appropriate health care. 

As already stated Dr. John Cherry was aghast at the state of both knowledge and ignorance on display by both Ministry of Environment personnel as well as Uniroyal Chemical personnel when he was a member of CEAC in the early 1980s. Partly my thoughts on removing extremely low concentrations of dioxins, including 2,3,7,8 TCDD, from our Municipal Aquifers is the enormous difficulty in so doing when you look at how Uniroyal/Lanxess have failed with NDMA which has a drinking water standard (ODWS) measured in parts per trillion versus dioxin with a drinking water standard measured in parts per quadrillion (i.e. 1,000 times smaller). The excuses from Lanxess and their consultants frankly border on the ridiculous especially when they can't even reduce chlorobenzene to its' drinking water standard of 80 parts per billion which measurement (parts per billion) is a thousand times higher than NDMA 's parts per trillion and one million times higher than the dioxin Ontario Drinking Water Standard  (ODWS) of  15 parts per quadrillion. 

Perhaps excavation is the way to go. In other words dig up the dioxin contaminated soils between Uniroyal/Lanxess's property and the Howard St. Water Tower where the free phase DNAPL was found originally in 1998.  Also the dioxin contaminated soils on the Nutrite/Yara site would require this as well as dioxins throughout the Stroh and Martin farms currently scheduled by wily Woolwich politicians to be buried under the Elmira By-Pass as well as under commercial development. 

Hmm this is getting expensive but hey as long as clever Uniroyal management can continue to buffalo less than clever Woolwich and regional politicians, they can perhaps, just like the Elmira Aquifers remediation, get the public to pay for half of it. Or conversely they can do nothing but continue obfuscating (lying) and pretending that the dioxins that Uniroyal Chemical allowed to escape their property are nowhere to be found. Of course decades of sampling the Creek primarily by New Jerusalem Rd., Northfield Dr. and Jigs Hollow Rd. outside West Montrose say otherwise. Not a problem for these obfuscational giants to overcome. They will continue to hide behind their recent bought and paid for Risk Assessment  that says there are no unacceptable risks in and around the Creek. Tell that to the dead and sick cattle, the dead and sick human beings and the dead and sick wildlife. 

Risk Assessments for wily polluters are simply greenwashing and not worthy of our respect when conducted under the auspices of the polluter and his/her influence including supplied data.   

Any further remediation/cleanup needs to be conducted by third parties without contact, links, advice or money from either the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks (MECP) or from Lanxess/GHD. Why reward failure with status or respect by permitting them to continue their scam?    

 

SUSAN B. AND PAT MCL. REFUSED TO PUBLICLY TAKE DRS. CHERRY & PARKER DNAPL INFO TO CPAC AFTER JANUARY 2007

 

Why not? Most likely because Susan B. along with Sylvia Berg had rolled over thirteen plus years previously and privately did what they and later Susan B. and Pat McLean did which was negotiate away items of which they had no clue as to the environmental or other significance of. I further believe that Susan B. was told by Uniroyal that in exchange for APTE dropping DNAPLS as an issue, they Uniroyal would guarantee her that in good time they would clean up the downstream Canagagigue Creek. Also remember that neither Susan Bryant nor Pat or Sylvia had the slightest science backgrounds and most certainly zero chemistry backgrounds . This was a big reason why I picked up the organic chemistry lessons so quickly as I did  have not only Grade 13 chemistry but also took and passed first year Chemistry at the U. of Waterloo in their Co-op Chemistry program. Another reason for Susan B.s and Pat McLean's behaviour likely was Pat's penchant for being a "control freak" as Susan B. had earlier advised me. Quite frankly APTE's influence as representatives of the public was compromised very early on after Susan Rupert had departed Elmira and the leadership of APTE.

Yesterday here I mentioned the 1985 excavations beside the Elmira Sewage Treatment Plant. According to internal M.O.E. documents the removal of long buried drums did not go as well as hoped. Many of the drums split or collapsed as they were being lifted out of the hole they were buried in and their liquid contents fell back into the pit/ground. No mention is made of vacuum hoses or other emergency equipment having been mobilized ahead of time. Furthermore it appears as if the liquid contents were off spec components of Agent Orange such as 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T. Keep in mind that despite all Uniroyal claims to the contrary over many decades, in fact DNAPLS did migrate (gravity flow) off their site and those DNAPLS carried other solvents as well as DDT and dioxins along with them. These DNAPLS certainly went westwards both onto the Nutrite/Yara property as well as along First St. towards the Howard St. Water Tower as recently admitted by Lanxess Canada and their consultants. The DDT and dioxins would have ended up attached to subsurface soils and in regular contact with flowing groundwater. Most likely the dioxins for certain and the DDT perhaps would exceed the Ontario drinking water standards (ODWS) which are set at 15 parts per quadrillion (ppq). The toxicity of dioxins is so great that the drinking water health standard is 1,000 times smaller than even the standard for highly toxic NDMA  (9 parts per trillion).

Finally overflowing east side pits and ponds also contained both DNAPLS and DDT and dioxins dissolved in solvents which would have flowed and indeed did flow onto the Stroh farm next door. A tiny proportion of these were excavated  in 2019 along the property line albeit on the Stroh property. The excavations went an astounding 15 cm. or 5.9 inches in depth. This was but one more token "cleanup" effort that literally barely scratched the surface. If left as is these dioxins and DDT will slowly dissolve ( at low concentrations albeit higher than the ODWS) into the groundwater and continue on towards the Canagagigue Creek. Clearly our authorities have known this for many decades and decided that slow poisoning of life forms including human beings either directly or indirectly through contaminated milk, beef , fish, soybeans or corn crops is O.K. with them.

FAMOUS HYDROGEOLOGIST JOHN CHERRY WAS INVOLVED WITH CEAC IN 1982 IN ELMIRA

 

Why did I not know that decades ago? Likely it was because of the circumstances of APTE's beginnings in 1989 as Esther Thur and Susan Rupert left CEAC (Citizens Environmental Advisory Committee) under the chairmanship of Dr. Murray Haight. Sandra Bray was also one of the three founders of APTE and may well have been also on CEAC. I'm not sure. Regardless I joined APTE in the spring of 1990 and there was very little discussion of CEAC, either its' strengths or weaknesses.  John Cherry indeed would have been a huge strength and I did wonder for years why he was not involved with APTE or the whole situation until I met him in January 2007 at the University of Waterloo. 

During the 1980s apparently the Globe and Mail were doing a number of environmental stories dealing with Agent Orange lawsuits, Uniroyal and Elmira. Jock Ferguson of the Globe and Mail did do a story about Varnicolor's infamous Lot 91 at the eastern end of Oriole Parkway.  This I have known about for decades . The Globe and Mail quoted John Cherry in relation to his work with CEAC as follows. Cherry stated "I'm aghast at what they (the company and the ministry) know and don't know about the site." The Globe and Mail reported that Cherry was regarded by other earth scientists as one of North America's leading chemical contamination experts, and he said that the presence of a wide range of organic chemical wastes, including an unknown amount of tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin, make the Uniroyal dump the most difficult site in the country to control and cleanup. Furthermore Cherry stated "This is going to be the Canadian test case...This is not an everyday problem that can be coped with by ministry employees who are new in this world of organic spills and all the complexities that go with it."

World famous Dr. John Cherry knew how awful the ground and groundwater was in and around Uniroyal Chemical in the early 1980s. By 1985 excavations were underway in order to expand the 1965 Elmira Sewage Treatment Plant . They unearthed an ungodly mess of buried chemical drums put there by Uniroyal Chemical. By 1989 the Ontario Ministry of Environment coincidentally ?? discovered ??  NDMA in the south Wellfield. This is the same NDMA that had been found on the Uniroyal property and in the air in 1979.  Being extremely toxic, albeit less so than dioxins, it was a very convenient distraction from the dioxins in Agent Orange that were the subject of numerous American lawsuits at the time.        

FURTHER DETAILS ON THE 1965 KILLING OF LEANDER MARTIN'S CATTLE IN ELMITRA, ONTARIO

 

NOT BAD ONLY SIXTY YEARS AFTER THE FACT -  Hey Mayor Sandy do you still proclaim there are no coverups here in Dogpatch?

Firstly it wasn't one or two cattle that died. It was eleven of them and they were killed by high strength chlorinated solvents in the Canagagigue Creek . A couple of suggestions included carbon tetrachloride or 2,4-D. 

Secondly Leander Martin wasn't the only downstream farmer with poisoned cattle. Norman Bauman also suffered similarly.  Furthermore both of them and others had their milk rejected by the local Silverwood Dairies located in town .  Their cows had been giving milk with an off taste and odour and the Dairy didn't want it.  

Thirdly the brand new Sewage Treatment Plant was supposed to be operating and treating Uniroyal's wastes. There were problems including fibres from Borg Textiles clogging things up as well as Creek flooding and unknown inputs from Naugatuck/ Uniroyal Chemical. 

Neither the Ontario Water Resources Commission (OWRC)  nor Naugatuck/Uniroyal wanted the blame or the bad press. It appears that both were equally culpable and it appears that both stalled, delayed and conspired to minimize the fallout upon themselves. Eventually Mr. Martin received compensation for his dead cattle whose livers had taken a fatal dose of toxic chemicals .

Keep in mind that the infinitely flexible contortionist who both sat on Elmira Council and was General Manager of Naugatuck/Uniroyal, Art Gorman, took the lead in negotiations between town council and Naugatuck. Yes I just wrote that shit with a straight face. This is the same Art Gorman as Council's Sanitation Committee Chair who made and enforced the rules regarding local industry dumping in the Bolender Landfill. 

If at this point in time you smell even the faintest whiff of corruption then just hold your nose and stop breathing for the next sixty years.   

CO-OPTED AND CORRUPT OR MERELY EGOTISTICAL & SELF-SERVING ?

 

Referring to them as pieces of sh*t is both rude and over the top.  I can confidently say that their manipulation, bending of rules and deceptive behaviour even in conjunction with their egotistical and self-serving behaviour would not entice me into criticism as harsh as "pieces of sh**".  It would take substantially more.  More as in my giving both of them unqualified support, confidence and most particularly respect. More as in my defending them publicly on occasion and most certainly supporting their honesty and integrity both privately and publicly. The one had caused private concern regarding her political background, the other had not. It truly takes being stabbed in the back by someone you think is  a friend  to understand what betrayal really is. Only slime or pieces of sh** will go out of their way to befriend someone for years who has demonstrated their friendship and loyalty over the same period and then conspire to harm their reputation, denigrate their commitment and minimize their positive contributions. 

This behaviour applies mostly to one of the following three namely Susan Bryant. Pat McLean and Wilf Ruland were never friends as was Susan B. Wilf  I gave my respect and admiration to based upon my understanding of him being an "independent" hydrogeologist helping citizen groups. I also trusted his professionalism as representing the entire group not just the two who were approving his invoices.  If indeed he did their dirty work by telling the other CPAC members that he would quit as their consultant if I continued as a CPAC member then he has come close to earning the "pieces of sh**" title. It was up to CPAC at that time to send him packing and to ask some hard questions of Pat and Susan. They failed to do so. Wilf understood what I had found hydrogeologically unsound regarding the Ammonia Treatment Plan in 2007 and he attempted to present it to  Chemtura, CRA and the Ministry of Environment because he knew that my findings were accurate and correct. The guilty parties, just mentioned, shut him down quickly and he backed right off .

Pat Mclean always worried me due to her political activity but I accepted her at face value precisely because Susan Bryant vouched for her. Wow did I get suckered on that one. Hence I suppose that "pieces of sh**" is too strong for Pat and Wilf simply based on their cowardice, financial constraint, self preservation and ego etc..

IT IS NICE TO MEET AND LISTEN TO FOLKS WHO HAVE AN HONEST INTEREST IN ELMIRA'S DIFFICULT ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY

 

That was a large part of my takeaway from yesterday's meeting. We shall see how things unfold down the line as their efforts progress. I am both hopeful and confident. Meanwhile lets have another story told. We (Richard, myself and Ted) had advised the Ministry of Environment that there was both a buried tanker and a buried septic tank hooked up to the floor drain in Varnicolo's orange building facing Union St. in Elmira. There were valves inside the building to direct liquids that flowed into the drain to the public sewers (storm or sanitary) or out the back of the building to the buried road tanker or septic tank. After the road tanker was excavated one could see the below ground pipes exiting the building and running along the back wall of the orange building (i.e. administration/offices etc.). 

One of these pipes went directly into the fully buried road tanker and the other appeared to run towards the septic tank on the north side of the tanker which was parallel to the back side (i.e. west side) of the orange building. It appeared that is in the wonderful, coloured photographs that Gord Robinson and Con Papenhuzen showed Richard and I at EDSS, the high school in Elmira where Richard taught. Con and Gord were M.O.E. inspectors of somewhat dubious quality. This is explained by the fact that they showed us these photographs in order to confirm that we were correct in telling them about their existence. By this point both Varnicolor and the M.O.E. certainly knew that I had an inside person feeding me information after I was fired for whistleblowing. 

Now the most priceless picture showed one of the two M.O.E. inspectors standing at the north end of the tanker as it was being pulled out of the ground. I think it was Con with Gord taking the picture. It was fabulous because not only did we get a good look at the still intact tanker but (be still my heart) I could clearly see rebar (reinforcing rod) poking out of the ground beneath Con's (?) feet. In addition I could just slightly less clearly see the concrete edge of likely the lid of the concrete septic tank. Now either Con and Gord were miles beyond stupid and had no idea what they were looking at or they figured that Rich and I being city boys had no idea what a septic tank looked like. Wrong. I spent many glorious summers at our cottage near Sauble Beach and knew full well what septic tanks looked like and how they operated.

So here were two M.O.E. inspectors with one of them literally standing on top of the buried septic tank tellung us that yes we were right about the buried tanker but no we were wrong in that they had not found any septic tank. Well that blew up in their faces and a few weeks later the septic tank was also excavated by the M.O.E. Both these containers were part of an elaborate and massive illegal dumping system that never did actually go to court or make a big splash in the media as they should have. Regardless the owner was convicted of pollution charges and spent some time in jail (Burtch - Brantford). 

I ENJOYED OLD RECOLLECTIONS & TELLING FUNNY STORIES THIS MORNING

 

"Gorgeous George":  i.e. George Karlos of the Ontario Ministry of Environment. Funny thing but he never reappeared at CPAC meetings after advising us all, in answer to a question about what looked like a pathway for surface flows, that he had personally walked Chemtura's south-east corner looking for any routes for surface waste waters off their site. He claimed that there were absolutely none . Shortly afterwards  I walked the south -east corner looking for viewing/shooting locations for a CBC affiliated Documentary. I of course nearly fell over in shock when I discovered the Stroh Ditch, Drain & Berm (SDDB).   

The SDDB is barely ten metres away from and running parallel to the Uniroyal property line . The north to south Drain maintains this ten metre distance from Uniroyal for a stretch of about 125 metres before the Drain turns south - eastwards and continues through the Stroh and then the further south, Martin farms. Neither the MOE/MECP nor George himself did their reputations or credibility much good after his ridiculous claims of no off-site routes for liquid wastes. By the way this surface drain however is deep enough to intercept the polluted shallow groundwater on the Uniroyal site and draw it as well as surface waste waters from overflowing waste pits and ponds onto both the Stroh and Martin farms. 

I MADE A LIST THIS MORNING OF SOME OF THE DISHONESTY & LIES FOISTED UPON ELMIRA & WOOLWICH RESIDENTS

 

Over what time period:  36 years

By whom:                      Uniroyal/Crompton/Chemtura/Lanxess, CRA/GHD, Woolwich Township, MOE

Why:                             An upcoming meeting 

This is not a usual speaking engagement such as the pair I had earlier this year. Sometimes I will show a Documentary on the subject first and then both speak and answer questions about the Uniroyal Chemical documentary. 

Here are some of the lies and dishonest actions on the list that I will present at the upcoming meeting:

DNAPLS  DNAPLS  DNAPLS

Stroh (& Martin) Farm contamination

"Hot Spots" in the Creek'

The "Gap"

Chlorobenzene not in the Bedrock Aquifer

Triple Off=Site Pumping (Nov. 2012)

2008 & 2011 CPAC removal

RAC/TAG in September 2015

TRAC 2022 - 2023

15 cm. (5.9 ") excavation on east side Lanxess/Stroh boundary

co-opted citizens

I'm sure that the above list which took five to ten minutes to write down is not 100% inclusive. Likely other dishonesties will come to mind prior to the meeting. 

OOPS I KIND OF LET YESTERDAY GET AWAY FROM ME.

 

An old friend had a Goodbye Party yesterday afternoon which I and my wife attended. I had reservations that it could be an incredibly sad and difficult time. It was not. She had family and friends present and everybody was happy to see everybody else. Her health took a major turn for the worse a couple of years ago and she spends her days either bed ridden or in an expensive wheelchair that can be operated with one hand. We were thrilled to see her and see how strong and sharp she remains psychologically and intellectually. Her body has failed her not her brain or her personality.  

ZERO ACCOUNTABILITY : NOW PROVEN LIARS ARE NOT EVEN CENSURED IN ELMIRA

 

Once again our judicial system shines (Not !).  Generally speaking it is not against the law to lie. Or is it? In court it is called perjury although rarely are charges laid even with blatant and gratuitous lying.  Similarly there are other situations where lying to our authorities can get one into trouble. However when was the last time that either an elected or unelected individual in a position of authority got charged with telling falsehoods to the public? Likely never. Yes it is hypocritical to the maximum.

With the recent revelations from GHD and Lanxess that I have published here (mostly last month) it is clear that both parties have been on a long term lying binge to the public. Prior to GHD's merger with Conestoga Rovers & Assoc. (CRA ) it was CRA who were stretching the truth always for the benefit of their client Uniroyal/Crompton/Chemtura.  Various Uniroyal and CRA names on the naughty list should include Jeff Merriman, Dwighte Este, Allan Deal, Luis Almeida, David Ash, Wally Ruck, Ramin Ansari, and the most recent truth stretcher Hadley Stamm. Past M.O.E. liars would include Con, Steve, Gord and many more. Current dubious ones would include Jason and Lubna . Surprisingly most of the Ministry (M.O.E.) hydrogeologists  such as Jaimie, Bob, Cynthia etc. stuck to the truth to my surprise.

If Susan Bryant had even a twinge of ethics or guilt she would speak up publicly at TRAC and make it clear that she, CPAC, TAG and the public were all lied to for years by Uniroyal, CRA/GHD and the Ontario Ministry of Environment. Her silence on the matter, especially after the recent revelations regarding Varnicolor Chemical, further chlorobenzene sources in Elmira and the presence of DNAPL at OW57-32R and W4, condemn her as part of the problem. She went along with so many public lies as part of her deal with the polluter that honesty now might tarnish her environmental personna, as well it should. 

TWO K-W RECORD ARTICLES ABOUT "TOXIC TIME BOMB" : ELMIRA'S TOXIC PAST (& Future)

 

The two articles were published on August 17, 2020 in an article by Leah Gerber titled "Film looks back on Elmira's toxic past" as well as on August 20, 2020 in an Opinion piece by Susan Koswan. The first article focused on the Documentary's message of the  effects of the use of Agent Orange by the U.S. in Vietnam as a weapon of war. It also tells readers about the after effects in Elmira, Ontario as the town continues its' decades long alleged "cleanup".  The town's drinking water aquifers were destroyed as well as the Canagagigue Creek which flows through town and discharges five miles away into the Grand River. They were destroyed by chemical company Uniroyal Chemical with able assistance from at least two other companies (Varnicolor Chemical & Nutrite/Yara).  While Dioxins in Agent Orange have done extreme damage around the world they were compounded by many more contaminants discharged onto land and into the air and Creek including such as NDMA, DDT, benzene, lindane and more.

The second article/Opinion piece by Susan Koswan focuses a little more on a number of Elmira activists including myself, Susan Rupert etc. Ms. Koswan also has strong words for the Ontario Ministry of Environment. They are strong words not complimentary ones. My cynicism concerning delays and lawyers' fees is also mentioned as I suggest that lawyers' fees  are much cheaper than cleanup fees. On a similar vein I suggest that a part of the company's and Ministry's strategy is delay, delay , delay waiting for the activists to die off.

These are two well done articles and credit goes to the Waterloo Region Record i.e. K-W Record for educating the public on this local, ongoing issue.

OCCASIONAL GLIMMERS OF LIGHT BETWEEN THE STORM CLOUDS

Don't get me wrong here. The powers of influence and money are unabated. As long as there is money to be made legally while lying like dogs, then that unfortunate norm will continue. The almost constant lying over the last 36 years represents the storm clouds in the above title and the glimmer of light are various individuals and groups who still have an interest in the issue.  Ahh human nature isn't it sometimes perverted especially when we can justify our dishonesty by telling ourselves that with every lie we are solidifying our families financial base.

Of course in a better labour market we would have a better choice between good jobs and those that require way too much employer loyalty.  Some employers may talk up the teamwork aspect and or the us versus them  mentality whether "them" is the competition, customers, officials or regulators. I suppose if it is put to you that telling the truth and the whole truth could seriously damage the company, then perhaps a compromise is necessary. Eventually of course it's all about "compromises" never about lies.

I seriously doubt that any corporation would actually hold a "liars recognition night" dinner and award presentations for their employees. Plain talk like that really must be kept between senior management and ownership to avoid any chance of a scandal. Corporations want their cake and to be able to eat it too. Here in Elmira Uniroyal Chemical, Crompton & Knowles, Chemtura and now Lanxess want as much credit as they can get for spending as little money as possible to clean up their mess. In fact if you can believe it they are now telling the public that remediation of aquifers and surface water can be environmentally harmful. Allegedly this includes high pumping rates (excess electricity useage) as well as ecological disturbances in attempts to remove contaminated Creek sediments.  

More sunshine and less storm clouds please.

 

SLIMEY, GREASY, DEVIOUS - EVERYTHING A WORLD CLASS POLLUTER WANTS IN A CONSULTANT?

 

I guess way back in 1989 I should have started a file titled "Slimey, Greasy & Devious". By now it would be full of (mis)interpretations, (biased) opinions, (shaky) positions and (sketchy) conclusions written by various consultants to Uniroyal, Crompton, Chemtura and Lanxess.  I have long ago lost count of how many times Conestoga Rovers for example have decided to write something in their reports that instead of clarifying anything, it merely succeeded in making a cloudy area even darker and harder to understand.

The term client driven has been bandied about just about since the first report was written. The whole idea of the preponderance of evidence is a joke. Client driven consultants ignore well known hydrogeological rules and understandings and routinely hang their hats on some tiny anomaly or minor contradiction. Of course they fluff it up, maximize its' alleged weight and proceed in their report as if their shoddy interpretation was handed down by God himself. Similarly if there is any evidence that points to a serious (i.e. expensive) environmental problem then they happily throw out the baby with the bath water. That serious evidence allegedly is outweighed by any possible ifs, ands or maybes. The consultants will search for precedents, they will search for sketchy explanations to provide cover for their clients. They will embrace and enhance the old joke (?) about the CIA always looking for "plausible deniability" such as Oh no we didn't kill that country's leader, we were attending our child's birthday party that day. 

Allan Deal of GHD presented a pile of rubbish called "Chlorobenzene Source Evaluation" just over a year ago to TRAC. He constantly conflated chlorinated solvents and chlorobenzene. He did this both verbally and in writing. Maps he produced for example might be titled "Review of historic chlorobenzene users" only to have the legend at the bottom of the map be referring to either Halogenated solvent users or chlorinated solvent users. All in all very deceptive and likely intentional. The other interpretation is just plain incompetence. 

Other Figures such as the one on page 5 titled "Chlorobenzene Concentrations vs. Time purport to show the concentration difference of chlorobenzene between an on-site pumping well (PW4) and an off-site pumping well namely W4 .  We were advised by Mr. Deal that this graph clearly indicated that the on-site well (PW4)  was located immediately beside formerly free phase DNAPL that over time has become residual DNAPL .The off-site well with somewhat lower concentrations according to Mr. Deal had over time via pumping increased the dissolution of the residual DNAPL such that it was now gone.

Mr. Deal of course failed to explain both pumping slowdowns as well as pumping stoppages in off-site well W4. Furthermore he failed to indicate that on-site pumping well PW4 was solely pumping in the Municipal Upper Aquifer whereas off-site well W4 was pumping in both the Municipal Upper and the Municipal Lower Aquifers resulting in significant dilution and reduction of the chlorobenzene concentrations.

This has been the norm of the quality of consultants' reports on behalf of Uniroyal and successors over the decades. If they were facing an honest and competent regulator (Min. of Environment) then their literary bulls*it would go nowhere. However when your regulator is cozily snuggling with you under the covers then the least they can do is rubberstamp your consultants' reports as "A - O.K.". 

HOW ARE THE POLLUTER, THE MINISTRY (MOE/MECP) & WOOLWICH TWN. GETTING AWAY WITH THEIR PAST LYING NOW ?

 

Firstly it was easier before they were caught. Now they've been outed not just by myself but by Lanxess, GHD and Arcadis Inc. (Jesse Wright). Secondly they were very quiet about their revelations. So quiet that they nearly flew under the radar which is exactly what they hoped would happen. Afterall I haven't been attending TRAC meetings either in person or by Zoom. Instead I watch the videos on the Township's website a few days later. Who knows maybe the swine have been laying low just waiting for me to either croak or fade away into oblivion. Not yet you pack of lying pis*ants. 

Also there is no one honest at TRAC with serious, local, environmental knowledge going back before 2011 (i.e. Sebastian). No I certainly am not accidentally omitting Susan Bryant. TRAC can and are led around by the nose despite some smart people on the committee. 

Of course if Lanxess and GHD were completely straight forward they would now clarify and comment about how the misinformation surrounding DNAPLS by W4 and OW57-32R came to be. It was Uniroyal/Chemtura's consultants Conestoga Rovers (CRA) who first claimed DNAPL presence very quietly and then when I did find the data they covered it up with all kinds of techno babble and bullsh*t. Unfortunately the Ministry of Environment and their hydrogeologist Jaimie Connelly also got into the picture suggesting that acetone was the culprit for higher solubility of chlorobenzene, not DNAPLS. 

The extent of Varnicolor's contamination of the Elmira drinking water aquifers has also recently come to light as well as the alleged six to eight companies nearby Varnicolor who handled chlorobenzene back in the day and maybe even currently. Awfully convenient not telling us about that until 2025.

Again by refusing the public the right to speak at TRAC meetings whether verbal Delegations or even questions, they have shut down public consultation except for hand picked, nice, pleasant and deferential folks who won't say sh*t if their mouths are full of it. 

MY PREDICTION AS TO WHEN (OR IF) THE ELMIRA AQUIFERS WILL BE RESTORED TO DRINKING WATER CAPABILITY

 

There are a number of answers based upon politics, public acceptance and technical standards i.e. ODWS- Ontario Drinking Water Standards. Politically will be all about the proposed Lake Erie Pipeline. Will getting our drinking water from highly polluted Lake Erie fly versus serious cleanup of our currently polluted aquifers in southern Ontario? Heck will it even fly with the United States? If that idiot Donald Trump or anyone vaguely related to him is the President then all bets are off. He'd rather invade us then share Lake Erie water with us.

Public acceptance here in Elmira and Waterloo Region over ever drinking water from the Elmira Aquifers could be a hard sell. Everybody knows about DDT and Dioxins in the Canagagigue Creek and they assume, rightly or wrongly, that they are also in our groundwater. Furthermore I believe that our citizens and residents have lost faith and confidence, rightfully so, in our provincial government and our Ministry of Environment. Just because they suggest that the Elmira Aquifers will someday be restored just doesn't cut it anymore. Especially as they are just about ready to blow past the first mandated deadline of 2028.

Lastly we have technical standards. Oh boy we have a ton of credentialed experts hired by world class polluters and these "experts" will give you their client's opinions for big bucks. I have no doubt that within a few years of selective sampling by compound/chemicals , by location within the aquifers and by even adjusted health standards that some of these twits will proclaim the aquifers safe to drink. Now keep in mind they advised Elmira folks for twenty years prior to the alleged discovery of NDMA that Elmira's water was safe. It was not plus it stunk and tasted crappy. 

All in all I have seen  zero honest and serious intent to date to properly remediate the Elmira Aquifers. I'm not saying that it can not ever happen but that it will take major changes in honesty, personnel involved, public awareness  and more to ever occur.

EXACTLY HOW BLATANT WAS VARNICOLOR CHEMICAL'S POLLUTION?

 

Three incidents come to mind namely General Motors revelations about Varnicolor in the Globe & Mail written by Jock Ferguson, followed by Digger Dave Holmes discovery of solvents floating on the water table on the 62 Union St. site and lastly the panic and alarm that resulted from my opening a tupperware container filled with Lot 91 soil inside the Elmira Fire hall on Howard Ave. 

The first incident occurred in the mid to late 1980s after General Motors were tipped off that barrels with their name on the labels were sitting and rusting in an open field in Elmira which was Varnicolor's infamous Lot 91 at the east end of Oriole Parkway beside Landfill Creek and it's discharge into the Canagagigue Creek. The M.O.E. ordered Varnicolor to take those barrels up to their Union St. site (out of sight) where they then sat on the ground uncovered there as well. 

The second incident occurred in the summer of 1989 when the gentleman involved was hired to dig a trench for a minor construction project on the Varnicolor site. A few feet below ground surface he was shocked to see/smell subsurface solvents flowing into the hole .  He reported it to both Varnicolor and the M.O.E. both of whom were satisfied to simply fill in the hole and forget about it.

Thirdly in the summer 1990 or 91 we had a meeting of the Varnicolor Liason Committee at the firehall where Rich Clausi and I asked the Ministry of Environment (M.O.E.)  about dozens of barrels with lids filled with soil that they had excavated from Lot 91. They advised us that oh the soils were not a big deal and merely had minor solvent contamination in them. At that point I advised that Richard and I had taken samples from a specific marked barrel, put a specific dated coin into the barrel and resealed the lid. Ministry personnel present scoffed at that claim until I reached under the table and pulled out my tupperware container. As I lifted the lid and awful odours engulfed the room the M.O.E. folks were the first ones out the door running for their lives. They knew exactly how bad and for how long the dumping had been going on on that site.

In hindsight the only reason that Uniroyal, Varnicolor and Ministry personnel got away with as much as they did regarding the Elmira crisis was because of the two plants (i.e. helpers) they had within APT Environment pretty much from the beginning. 

SO WILL OUR AUTHORITIES EVENTUALLY ADMIT TO LYING ABOUT THE STROH FARM THE WAY THEY HAVE RECENTLY DONE SO REGARDING DNAPLS & CHLOROBENZENE?

 

That is anybody's guess. Sure the chief liars have either retired or stepped back at Uniroyal/Crompton/Chemtura and especially at the MECP.  Representing Lanxess and GHD there are two with a history namely Lou Almeida and Allan Deal. Mr. Deal's history is much worse than Lou's although Lou does seem to be attempting to catch up with his Stroh farm nonsense. 

I am confident that councillor and TRAC Chair Nathan Cadeau along with Tiffany Svensson and mayor Sandy Shantz will soon realize that all their manipulation, deception and just plain blatant  and willful blindness and deafness on the subject will not fly.  Unfortunately for them I am a team player and made certain over a decade ago that a number of local citizens were fully aware of the situation on the Stroh farm.. That situation also applies to the Martin farm immediately south of the Stroh farm with the migration of contamination being both directly from Uniroyal (southern property line) as well as indirectly through the Stroh property and the SDDB (Stroh Drain, Ditch & Berm). 

What limited evidence there is due to Chemtura/Lanxess's refusals to do even a half hearted investigation with serious soil, ground and surface water sampling (in the ditch) supports the likelihood of serious contamination including dioxins and DDT migrating off-site. The Mickey Mouse investigation along the property line between Lanxess and the Stroh farm speaks volumes. Soil sampling was only fifteen to twenty metres onto the Stroh farm and the soil sampling extended to a whopping 15 centimetres or 5.9 inches in depth. WHAT A JOKE !  Nevertheless the contamination was serious enough all these decades later to require removal. 

One of the key pieces of evidence is the topographical maps showing that the lowest ground elevation is on the Stroh farm to the immediate east of Lanxess's south-east corner. In other words all the admitted gravity flowing toxic liquid wastes from Uniroyal's overflowing east side pits had to go somewhere and most of that somewhere was not into on-site GP-1 & 2 . It was onto the Stroh property as well as the adjoining Martin  property. Lanxess have intentionally been muddying the waters to the best of their abilities for years on this matter. 

Fess up Lanxess! And then clean up or else the Creek will never be safe or healthy.

SO WHY HAS THE MECP NOT TOLD THE PUBLIC DETAILS ABOUT THE OFF-SITE DNAPL ?

 

Let's see that would include the OW57-32R and W4 DNAPL by the Howard St. water tower as well as the on the Varnicolor site DNAPL consisting of trichloroethylene, vinyl chloride, dichloroethene  and more. Then of course there is also the likely off-site DNAPL from Uniroyal that flowed over to the Nutrite/Yara property consisting of chlorobenzene, mercaptobenzothiazole, carboxin etc. There could also be DNAPL from any of the six to eight properties which used chlorobenzene recently identified by Jesse Wright of Arcadis Inc. near First, Union and Howard Ave.. 

Now the details required by the public would include the exact location, the depth, what stratagraphic unit they are in, the estimated mass plus as many of the components as possible. Confirmation as to whether it is still free phase DNAPL or whether it has spread out under gravity to the point that it has been reduced to residual DNAPL or not would also be helpful. This is the kind of data and evidence that must be given to the public so that they and any alleged representatives at TRAC can do their jobs properly.

This data would have resulted in citizens both on and off any alleged citizen committees being able to quickly point out years ago to Dr. Neil Thompson (U. of Waterloo)  where the excess 2,000 kilograms of dissolved chlorobenzene originated from. Clearly he was kept in the dark by Chemtura during his efforts to write up a worthy and professional Conceptual Site Model (CSM) versus what the first TAG Chair (Dr. Richard Jackson) described as nothing more than a cartoon that Conestoga Rovers had done.

All in all we've had just about 34 years (Jan. 1992-2026)  of intentional mushroom treatment of our alleged public consultation. This has of course consisted of keeping them in the dark and covered in bullsh*t. The guiltiest bodies include Uniroyal, Crompton, Chemtura, Lanxess and the M.O.E./MECP. Honourable mention goes to Woolwich Township especially for the efforts of Mark Bauman and Sandy Shantz in September 2015.