TRAC REFUSE TO ACCEPT HONEST BUT BLUNT WRITTEN DELEGATIONS FROM ME BUT CHEERFULLY ACCEPT DISHONEST, SELF-SERVING BULLSHIT FROM CONVICTED POLLUTERS & OTHER LIARS

 

To be specific my thoughtful, specific and relevant critiques may very well indeed have a word such as is included above albeit I usually spell it as follows:  "bulls*it" . I am also known to call professional liars OMG "professional liars" although sometimes I even soften that slightly to simply "liars".  Thank you Sebastian and Nathan Cadeau for stating very clearly at the end of last Thursday's TRAC meeting that TRAC were refusing to include written Delegations to themselves as part of their official correspondence if they didn't meet or pass certain professional standards. Or did Nathan say certain politeness standards? Or was it a censorship standard whereby certain unstated but common and well known English words being used would automatically disqualify the document from being sent on to TRAC members? Anyways thanks Nathan (five minute boy wonder) - ooh ooh are any of those words also naughty?  for publicly live and on video telling the world that Woolwich and TRAC censor on topic and well researched citizen written Delegations to TRAC.

I watched last Thursday's TRAC video on-line. It was no more disappointing than usual. The bulls*it however is getting thicker and heavier. Apparently failing to achieve drinking water standards after 27 years of pump and treat technology that regularly failed to meet their own consultant's Target Pumping Rate can be remedied by reducing that same pumping. At least that is what Luis and Hadley (three minute girl wonder) are selling .  

Hadley also claimed that the Region of Waterloo have stated that they want to put the water from well E10 by Scotch Line into the Elmira Distribution System. Really? Then why has the Region put well E10 (& others) out for tender? Check their website under Bids & Tenders and it says that they want to decommission that well.  Very strange.

Cullen somebody or other has expressed surprise about increasing concentrations of contaminants (likely chlorobenzene) at well CH 44D after shutting down most of the off-site pumping wells. Oddly or not nobody brought up or pointed out to him the history of that well including its' proximity to DNAPLS from Uniroyal plus other issues over the decades. That is likely because there is no one on TRAC who either ever knew or who can now remember those issues.

I just love how Hadley and friends are trying to soften up both TRAC members and the public to getting back to drinking contaminated Elmira water. After all we all drank NDMA, chlorobenzene and so much more in our tap water for decades prior to November 1989. Hadley even suggested mixing clean water with contaminated water to reduce the contaminant concentrations to below drinking water standards.

There will be a new but equally useless 2028 Control Order from the Ontario Ministry of Environment (MECP) eventually appearing. Allegedly there will also be either public meetings or more public consultation upcoming regarding some of the expected changes. Sandy and fellow travellors have a very low mark to hit to achieve "more" public consultation. Refusing the public the right to present statements and ask questions of the MECP and others at TRAC may and should doom the credibility of the process over the last decade. 

The failure to achieve promised groundwater results by both Uniroyal and corporate successors while supervised by the M.O.E./MECP should remove them from doing yet further damage by being in charge of cleanup any longer.

The failure to even start cleaning up the downstream five miles of Canagagigue Creek is shameful and should also remove them  from any further supervisory or control status. Their money can go to honest brokers not professional gamers and liars.  

EXPLORING FALSEHOODS PRESENTED BY LANXESS TOADIES & SHILLS IN THE K-W RECORD NOV. 15/25 EDITION

 

Yes leeches put in cages in the Canagagigue Creek were loaded with chlorophenols back in the day. Today my understanding is that they are much lower concentrations possibly even close to non detect. This is because the source of the migrating chlorophenols has been significantly reduced by the UACS (Upper Aquifer Containment System). Secondly any fish tissue results made available to CPAC around 2014 had concentrations exceeding the health criteria i.e. Tissue Residue Guidelines (TRG) They were certainly exceeded for DDT as well as for dioxins . Mercury and PCBs were detected but I do not recall at what concentrations.  Councillor and TRAC Chair Nathan Cadeau was one of the persons presenting inaccurate information. Another was Hadley Stamm, the second five minute wonder (Nathan is the first) . She works for Lanxess Canada. 

Between the two of them they are caught claiming no contamination in leeches and below criteria contamination in fish. These are both likely self-serving lies although it is possible both five minute wonders are simply ignorant and or listening to lying colleagues.

I have recently approached both Woolwich Township plus a TRAC member looking for any new biomonitoring reports presented to them that might suggest a lowering of contaminants in fish and leeches. To date my inquiries have been fruitless as both parties state that they are unaware of any such recent or new data. 

A third example from the K-W Record (Nov. 15/25) has just come to mind. namely Well E10. This well is located at the extreme south end of the town of Elmira beside Scotch Line. I had advised that it's water had never been used in the Elmira Distribution System. An environmental colleague has confirmed this via knowledge of and discussion with the owners of the property the well sits on or possibly beside. 

REFRESHER AS TO ALL THE INACCURACIES IN THE NOV. 15/25 PUBLISHED ARTICLE ABOUT LANXESS & CLEANUP FAILURES

 

 Specific explanation will be easier than specific evidence.  I am not a detective agency nor should be. All of my complaints are factual knowledge known by many here in Elmira who have followed the alleged "cleanup" for the last 36 years. Aquifer treatment started in January 1992 with on-site pumping wells PW1 and PW3. Within a year PW4 was added as the first two were inadequate on their own.

APTE was founded by Esther Thur, Sandra Bray and Susan Rupert.  NOT Susan Bryant!!!  Sandra Bray is the only surviving founder and lives in Elmira and likely will give an accurate answer. If you ask Susan Bryant you have a 50% chance of being misinformed. 

Esther Thur started APTE (with the other two) in 1989 and resigned from them and joined the Elmira Environmental Hazards Team in early 1994 which consisted of Rich Clausi and I plus Dr. Henry Regier (in about 1997). She remained with our group until her death in approx. 2004 hence she worked for twice as long on her Archives as a member of the EH-Team than as a member of APTE. Her Archives should either be called the Esther Thur Archives or the EH-Team/Esther Thur Archives. 

NDMA did not "develop" within the aquifers. It developed from production waste components such as Dimethylamine (DMA) and Nitrogen with the Nitrogen both naturally occurring and as part of Ammonia (NH3) discharges from Uniroyal as well as Nutrite Fertilizers (Yara) next door. It was released into both the air above Uniroyal as well as was in their liquid waste discharges eventually sent to the Elmira Sewage Treatment Plant (after 1965) and into the Canagagigue Creek.

How do I prove that well E10 at the extreme south end of Elmira has never been a part of the Elmira water distribution system? Proving a negative is always difficult but perhaps a phone call by the Record to the Region of Waterloo would work.

The number of dump trucks involved with the removal of toxic wastes from the Envirodome/Mausoleum is a matter of record. I have been advised by an individual personally involved in the project . Presumably the Ontario Min. of Environment could set the record straight on that if the Record or anyone else wished to call them.

There are test results with significant detections of DDT and dioxins the full length of the Canagagigue Creek down to the Grand River five miles away. The furthest downstream testing was done from Jigs Hollow Rd. a few hundred metres west of the Grand River and again is a matter of public record. The Min. of Environment as well as Lanxess should have those results and if asked nicely would probably give the K-W Record a reasonably accurate answer.

Leeches were part of annual or semi-annual  Biomonitoring for many years. They were put in cages in the Creek precisely because they were known to absorb chlorophenols which years of results confirmed. Again the Min. of Environment (i.e. MECP) could confirm this. That afterall is the Ministry's job to provide answers to questions.

Fish studies which the Ministry have also done confirm years of Tissue Residue Guidelines (TRG) including 2014 exceeding criteria in fish such as carp, shiners and minnows.  

Warning signs in the Creek were erected as a direct result of fish sampled and found to be contaminated with DDT, dioxins, mercury and PCBs. The Ministry (MOE/MECP) should confirm that for the Record or for yourself despite their disgusting opposition to posting them.

The K-W Record deserves kudos for the time and effort they put into this article. Unfortunately however if you solely or primarily interview co-opted citizens and fellow travellors of the polluter (Lanxess) you will have numerous  exaggerations and inaccuracies..

A CHRISTIAN WOULD FORGIVE & FORGET AND MAYBE THAT'S THE PROBLEM (Too Many Christians)?

 

I would find it easier to forgive and forget (hmm maybe?)  if there had ever been an out and out apology. Even sincere regret followed by promises that were kept would be more palatable than what Elmira and Woolwich citizens have received from Uniroyal Chemical and successors. That would be false promises combined with lies, deceptions, dishonest public communications and consultations.

Furthermore there is the not so small matter of the company and their hired intellectual pros ti toots consistently squeezing every nickel possible in order to reduce their financial liability. Of course this reduced financial liability and expense comes at a cost but it is one that corporations just love. It's called externalization of costs. In other words if a corporation can grab every dollar of profit while reducing legitimate toxic waste disposal expenses then they are thrilled. This reduction however is based upon using public rivers and streams as sewers. It also relies upon discharges of toxic gases into the communal air. Finally our legal system in it's utter majesty has permitted dirty corporations to dump as much poison into ground and soil that they own allegedly provided that it doesn't migrate onto neighbours property. This however is the elephant in the room. 

Everybody knows now and has known for at least the last 100 years that buried toxic wastes, just like those intentionally dumped untreated into rivers and streams, will migrate. The poisons can migrate via groundwater, via surface water, via air currents and via subsurface gas vapours. Dr. Gail Krantzberg advised CPAC (Chemtura Public Advisory Committee) that everything ever dumped on and into the Uniroyal Chemical site in Elmira will eventually migrate off site. It could take hundreds of years but anything not removed today and treated will eventually depart including liquid wastes that have stained and contaminated soil more than one hundred feet below ground surface.

This public apathy apparently knows no bounds.  It is only exceeded by public ignorance which has been exacerbated by a grossly weakened media desperate for corporate dollars.   

CLEARLY THE WOOLWICH/ELMIRA PUBLIC ARE NOT ACKNOWLEDGED AS STAKEHOLDERS BY POLLUTERS OR POLITICIANS

 

No citizen or resident of Elmira/Woolwich not vetted by Lanxess or her majesty Sandy Shantz are permitted to speak directly to TRAC at their occasional public meetings (3-4 per year). Even written Delegations can and are censored if the powers to be feel that they do not exhibit the necessary respect for killers of wildlife and purveyors of poison to human beings .  In most jurisdictions refusing to clean up Agent Orange (2,4-D & 2,4,5-T) in public streams and on private floodplains along the Canagagigue Creek would result in a jail sentence.  Not here in Dogpatch where Lanxess preside over five miles of downstream contamination that greatly exceeds mere dioxin . Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH), DDT, DDD, DDE, mercury and PCBs all further enrich the toxic brew with nary a scientist in sight who can accurately advise what the criteria should be when you pile these poisons on top of the most toxic dioxin (2,3,7,8 TCDD) plus others. 

Good thing those lying swine and their shills and mouthpieces are protected if not embraced by our society, laws and politicians.  Otherwise in the times of yore they might be afforded a free trip out of town on a rail. Today the best we can hope for is a long vacation in hell for them preceded by the cancers which they have contributed to.   

STILL TRYING TO GET NUMEROUS K-W RECORD ERRORS CORRECTED !

 

No good deed goes unpunished. Boy that is so true and on so many fronts. This is primarily due to both amateur and professional liars defending their alleged right to have their self-serving way contrary to the public interest.

If these liars are confident that a newspaper will not even remotely fact check their claims then why wouldn't they gild the lily? Afterall a lie repeated often enough that is not questioned eventually becomes fact for most. Plus if the polluter knows that they have eliminated all opposition from alleged "citizen"  advisory committees then they are even more confident in their self-serving falsehoods.  Corporations today do not want to spend money on cleanup especially if they can spend less money on public relations, propaganda and self-serving falsehoods.

This morning I responded to an e-mail from the National NewsMedia Council. They claimed that I hadn't provided enough "specific explanation and evidence" to support a breach of journalistic standards.  Hence I sent them a full page of specific explanations and evidence. Keep in mind this is after advising me to deal directly with the K-W Record and try to resolve the various errors and issues. Of course the Record simply weren't following up seriously if at all.

Most of my complaints of inaccuracies concern data and information that is publicly available. Perhaps the K-W Record should have considered communicating with the Ontario Ministry of Environment directly and asking them a few straightforward questions. Perhaps the National NewsMedia Council believe that I should hire a detective agency and spend thousands of dollars pursuing this. I guess that I would like to see some serious questions from either the National NewsMedia Council or from the K-W Record concerning my specific complaints and whether or not I actually have documentation to back up my claims.  Of course I do but so does the Min. of Environment, Woolwich Township, Lanxess and the Region of Waterloo. Why aren't the K-W Record checking in with them to confirm my claims? I'm starting to get the idea that they really don't want to know the truth. 

One last thought. If  any of the groups I've just listed above give a contrary answer to mine, to either the K-W Record or the National NewsMedia Council (NNMC), will the Record or the NNMC ask/demand  written proof from them?   

  

THIS IS HARDLY A ROBUST LOOK AT A CITIZEN'S COMPLAINT ABOUT K-W RECORD INACCURACIES

 

Firstly timing is everything. The article was published on November 15, 2025. It was a very lengthy article (4 pages) and quite technical with lots of claims of success by company shills even suggesting that the warning signs along the Canagagigue Creek were unnecessary. Fortunately that nonsense was disputed by some although again far too little of the company's (Lanxess) claims were disputed by knowledgeable people. By delaying the necessary corrections it gives weight to all the falsehoods. By totally failing to correct an article, likely written in good faith, albeit with these numerous inaccuracies, the Record are solidifying the company's propaganda.

Is the company's influence not sufficient already? Do they also have to have control of what the public read about them? Why do the Record seem intent upon refusing  to allow input from some of the most knowledgeable local citizens namely CPAC members from 2010 -August 2015? Why are they promoting the obviously false narrative that one American citizen who formerly lived in Elmira with absolutely less than average science and math skills somehow has successfully battled a multi national, multi billion dollar chemical company? Her efforts always had an element of self-service in them and she and Sylvia Berg quickly marched to the polluters (Uniroyal) tune on the Dense Non Aqueous Phase Liquids (DNAPL) issues in the very early 1990s . That is what got her her elevated and preferential status with the company, the Ministry and all their fellow travellors.  To this day she may oppose their lack of cleanup of the Creek but she frivolously and hopefully unknowingly gave away so many environmental issues along the way hoping for the big payoff (the Creek) at the end. She is still hoping although perhaps she is learning what happens when you make deals with the devil and his acolytes. i.e. nothing good 

Meanwhile I wait for the K-W Record and or the National NewsMedia Council to step up and do the right things. So far almost no discussion or communication from either of them. Clearly they don't want to correct or possibly even know about their errors. Will they see the light or not?

 

 

ANOTHER USELESS TRAC MEETING THIS THURSDAY AT 6 PM.

 

Useless is pretty strong.  As bad, self-serving and entirely not in the public interest that TRAC meetings are, it is still difficult not to find some small legitimate benefit . If I try really hard. 

They start with a Land Acknowledgement which I believe has been mandated by our provincial government but is now under a legal suit for removal. Or at least the school board's (WRDSB) use of the Land Acknowledgement is under attack which likely will affect other users thereof. 

Next is a Delegation from Schlegel Urban Development regarding future residential development in the extreme south end of Elmira. This is followed by discussions of Off-Site Contamination Cleanup, Groundwater Pumping and the truly pathetic Human Health and Ecological Risk Assessment (HHERA) yet again. How unsurprising that these shoddy plans require rewrites over and over to essentially pretend that they are responding to critics when they are not.  How dare the filth long in charge of the cleanup wait 55 years (1970-2025) before even beginning to clean up the downstream Creek and then suggest that there are now no unacceptable risks. BURN IN HELL YOU FILTH

The new and useless (just like the old ones)  2028 MECP Control Order summary will be presented. It will be flowery and self congratulatory and inherently useless as intended. We wouldn't want to upset our corporate masters now would we?

Item 9.2 will discuss the November 15, 2025 Record article titled "The Long Cleanup of Elmira's Water Contamination Crisis" which they couldn't even write correctly. I doubt that they will point out all the errors because they are the source of most of them.

The Universe is unfolding as the wealthy and powerful so intend and the rest of us sheep are merely along for the painful ride.

CRUNCH TIME IS COMING FOR LANXESS & THE MECP

 

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

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

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

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

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

NEVER ENOUGH DIRTY TRICKS FOR CORPORATE POLLUTERS & TRICKSTERS

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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