PUBLIC CONSULTATION HAS BEEN ABORTED, MANIPULATED, MURDERED AND GENERALLY TREATED WITH CONTEMPT BY WOOLWICH TOWNSHIP (& others)

 

You  would almost think that it was the apathy or love of polluters by local citizens that caused the cleanup failures to date based upon the behaviour and words of all guilty parties. They are all strutting around as if they are the saviours and the heroes of Elmira when in fact it is the reliance upon our governing structures combined with their refusal to stand up for the public interest that has doomed the cleanup of our drinking water aquifers and of our Canagagigue Creek. Two sellouts by the name of Pat McLean and Susan Bryant dragged CPAC in 2000 into and under the control of our municipal government. Esther Thur, Dr. Henry Regier and myself all spoke against that  direction and time has proven us correct. Susan and Pat knew that they would have support from both Uniroyal Chemical and Woolwich Township  forever more if they could deliver CPAC to Woolwich control and the company knew that they had far more influence with the municipality than they would ever have with individual citizens not working for them.

The best citizens group ever was disbanded by Chemtura, the Min. of Environment,  Sandy Shantz and Mark Bauman back in late August 2015. We volunteers were unceremoniously dumped precisely because we were so effective in insisting upon real cleanup and source removal (both on & off the Uniroyal/Chemtura site)  versus the slow and ineffective pump and treat that had been sputtering along for years. Going on eleven years later and only now is there discussion about enhanced and improved off site groundwater cleanup.  History shows the likelihood of that "discussion" going on forever. The Creek ("Gig") remains totally unremediated downstream of Uniroyal/Lanxess Canada.

Below is a partial copy of my complaint to the Ontario Ombudsman. No remediation done for the public interest versus saving the company money and for saving face for the Min. of Environment will occur until honest and knowledgeable citizens once again are in charge of local public consultation.  

Make a Complaint What's your complaint about? Ontario and municipal government and public services Your contact information First Name alan Last Name marshall Phone Number 519 6692801 Email Address agmarshall@rogers.com Address 99 Church St. W. Elmira, Ontario. N3B3K7 What is your complaint about? Describe your problem in 3 to 5 sentences. Include  the name of the organization you are complaining  about and what happened. Woolwich Township (part of Waterloo Region) refuse to  allow the public, citizens or residents either the right to   comment or ask questions at public meetings of TRAC,  a committee of Council. The Technical Remediation &  Advisory Committee (TRAC) advise on restoring the  town of Elmira's drinking water destroyed by Uniroyal  Chemical in 1989. All members are appointed by Council  and include non residents and even a non Canadian  (American) while refusing myself (& others) wholly  qualified and quite frankly better technically and historically  informed than current members. I have lived in Woolwich  Township for 32 years and in Elmira for 23 years plus I  led the charge to convict and imprison Severin Argenton,  owner of Varnicolor Chemical, for dumping solvents and  other toxic liquid wastes at his Elmira business. Varnicolor  has since been recognized as being one of three now  responsible for contaminating the Elmira drinking water  aquifers. Additional information Let us know if you need special support or have a  preference about how we contact you. This could be  something like braille, large text, a phone call instead  of email, an in-person meeting, or the best time for us  to call you. e-mail or phone calls during business hours please Yes, I want to subscribe to your monthly newsletter to  receive news about Ombudsman Ontario Yes Yes, please send a copy of my complaint to the email  address I provided above. Yes

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?