NEXT THURSDAY'S TRAC AGENDA IS OUT - IS IT 465 PAGES OF UNADULTERATED BULL**IT?

 

Well it's been my experience that even world class liars can't produce 465 pages that have absolutely no social redeeming value. The trick of course is sifting through most of the crap looking for the rare nugget. I've literally spent decades doing that for free and while there are various scars of various natures for my efforts, I don't regret any of the major facts and issues that I have uncovered. 

First of all waiting four months between public meetings is par for the hypocritical course.  Chemtura and the M.O.E. without ever declaring a boycott began missing CPAC meetings in late 2014. Allegedly (according to Sandy & Mark) they were upset with how they were being treated.  Chairman Dr. Dan Holt did an excellent job under difficult circumstances running those meetings properly and professionally. Yes CPAC members including myself took no crap, guff or blatant lying from the M.O.E. and Chemtura without calling them on it. Boiled down that was their biggest whine in that people around the table no longer would compliment the polluter and their regulator about how sweet their horse apples smelled. Hence Chemtura and the M.O.E. knowing a new Council/mayor were on the way simply bailed. Well they got everything they wanted and they still don't seem keen on attending meetings filled with their acolytes, fellow travellors and others in way over their heads.

With the Ministry and Lanxess monopolizing the propaganda, unsuspecting citizens will hear lies about  asymptotic behaviour (again), followed by more lies about new directions in handling the groundwater remediation failures, followed by how the HHERA states that no downstream remediation is required, followed by more nonsense gilded with the patina of independent professional experts merely searching for the truth. 

It will be a highly entertaining, albeit somewhat incomprehensible, dog and pony show that we taxpayers are paying for one way or the other. 

 

HOW CULPABLE IS SUSAN BRYANT?

Was sha a fifth columnist right from the beginning? Or did she sincerely believe that polluting companies including chemical companies had an inherent right to make money and sell their products to willing customers? Did she possibly feel that the rhetoric coming from APTE members and co0ordinators was too much?

For years I thought that Susan and Sylvia's position on DNAPLS was basically the kiss of death regarding ever cleaning up the site. However I did not even begin to fathom the depth and width of their betrayal of Elmira citizens and their fellow APTE members until late in 2007 when I saw the lying and manoeuvering within CPAC to avoid bringing Drs. Cherry and Parker's DNAPL revelations to CPAC by Susan and Pat McLean. Until 2007 I had become aware of more and more contradictions in their behaviour versus their words. I also had long been concerned with Susan's allegiance with Pat Mclean who in my eyes had never shown much knowledge or care for the natural environment. I also had concerns with hydrogeologist Wilf Ruland who while ostensibly working for CPAC was in fact taking all direction from Pat and Susan. He was also way too deferential to CRA literally on all their hydrogeological pronouncements constantly favouring their client Uniroyal/Chemtura etc. . 

Is it conceivable that a master manipulator like Susan was actually so ill informed  that she embraced Uniroyal's often outrageous claims concerning cleaning their site, the Creek and Elmira's groundwater? I find that hard to believe. I also note that she stuck to her guns regarding the lack of shallow aquifer containment plus maintaining proper on-site Municipal Aquifer pumping in the early days. Yes she did give concessions to the polluter far too often for my liking regarding number of monitoring wells and timing of their sampling 

She and Sylvia worked hard to remove Richard, Esther and I from APTE. She did something similar with Dr. Regier  who was heads and shoulders more knowledgeable than Darryl & Susan multiplied by 100. It was that totally unnecessary behaviour combined with her enjoyment of private meetings with Uniroyal that finally got through to me. Susan and Pat led UPAC and CPAC for many years. Even the M.O.E. occasionally bragged about how CPAC was the best citizens committee in the province. I found that pronouncement bizarre as so very little was actually getting done. Frankly none of it made any sense and then the gross DNAPL behaviour after the two world experts (Cherry & Parker) clarified what should be done about it was the final straw.  Keep in mind that McLean, Bryant, myself and Ruland all attended that meeting at the U. of Waterloo and I was the only happy one of the four afterwards. Clearly McLean and Bryant saw the writing on the wall and eliminated me from CPAC as fast as their wagging tongues were able. 

Recently I've said shame on the APTE co-ordinators' 1994 DNAPL failure and now I say shame on CPAC in 2007 and 2008 for their stupidity and willingness to blindly follow Susan and Pat.  Clearly an inappropriate deal was made with two APTE co-ordinators in 1994 and renewed again in 2007 and 2008 at CPAC.  Apparently as long as polluters can convince the local politicians that their plans can save everybody money then honesty and ethics are out the door.   

LESSONS LEARNED FROM DEALING WITH WOOLWICH, RMOW, GRCA, POLLUTING COMPANIES, THEIR CONSULTANTS, MECP, THIRD PARTY CONSULTANTS HIRED BY THE POLLUTER

 

1)  "They all lie."   This is a quote emblazoned on T-shirts/pullovers by environmentalist Pat Potter.

2)  Their promises are wind.  Meaningless doesn't even come close to describing their promises.

3)   They are incestuous.    In other words getting a request turned down by a municipal Council almost                                              guarantees it will be turned down by the Region and the GRCA. Way too much                                            overlap in membership.

4)  Never accept their dates for delays.  Almost always these parties interpret a "delay" as meaning for                                                                       forever.

5)  If you ask a question assume their answer will be a lie.  This prevents disappointment as well as future                                                               expectations of good behaviour on their part.

6)  Make these "lessons" available to the parties listed above.  Let them know that you appropriately have                                                                zero confidence in them. 

7)  Let the parties know that despite these "lessons" you will keep track of future promises, statements,                                                               lies  delays and commitments.

8)  Never apologize for any of these lessons.    Thirty plus years of despicable behaviour can not be                                                                   undone by a future few years of good behaviour.

9)  Laugh at their outlandish claims and junk science regularly.

10)  Never feel the need to prove them wrong.   Yes it is satisfying but it only encourages even more lying                                                           from them.

THE 2024 ANNUAL MONITORING REPORT (AMR) HAS BEEN RELEASED

 

As usual it's a bit of a stinker with lots of back patting at every opportunity combined with professional explanations (excuses) each time hydraulic containment fails. Combined with this is the liberal use of statistics such as those over 90% to describe up times for various pumps and wells. Those with up times however of only 55% seem to get short shrift in the explanation department. 

We are also advised that the Ontario MECP has given  "temporary" relief to Lanxess in regards to their Bio-monitoring program. Apparently bringing in clams etc. from Balsam Lake has been a no-no for a long time that was conveniently ignored. Now it is being enforced hence Lanxess asked and received permission from the MECP for the "temporary" delay.  

I find as usual the Executive Summary to be an exercise in self-serving gratuitous bravado. Everything is good, trust us we are professionals, nothing really exceptional to see here folks kind of nonsense. To date I have seen no honest or legitimate explanations of decreasing on-site pumping while the off-site generally remains around 52 litres per second. When the off-site rises the odd month I see no explanation as to why the on-site pumping is also not rising to ensure hydraulic containment of contaminants so that they are not drawn off site by the higher off-site pumping.

This AMR appears to be the usual bought and paid for good news that Ontario polluters and their captured regulator (MECP) strive for. 

BOTH K-W RECORD & WOOLWICH OBSERVER TAKE A ROUND OUT OF SANDY & WOOLWICH TOWNSHIP

 

Luisa D'Amato (K-W Record) wrote an Opinion piece on February 2, 2018 denouncing Woolwich Council's decision to appoint a replacement for Scott Hahn to Council. Then on February 8/25 the Woolwich Observer followed up with their opinion on Woolwich Council deciding who they'd prefer to work with versus what the public wanted. Funny sometimes how democracy works isn't it? Luisa's piece was titled "In Woolwich, a vacant council seat exposes bitter divisions". The Observer's Editorial was titled "Vacancy gambit means council has to deliver".

As appropriately critical as both newspapers were can you imagine if they knew exactly how perverted Woolwich Council had actually behaved? They offered the seat to former councillor Julie-Ann Herteis behind the scenes and went through the whole rigamarole including speeches and presentations at a public meeting of council .  Wow now that really is a dog and pony show when nine candidates in good faith address a council who in bad faith have already, surreptitiously, made their decision.  I wonder which mayor before Sandy taught her these tricks. Maybe it wasn't mayor Strauss afterall. Maybe it was Sandy's and Woolwich's longtime CAO, David Brenneman. Now that's a difficult question.   

Dr. HENRY REGIER IS AN INCREDIBLE ACADEMIC, ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVIST & GENTLEMAN. PAT POTTER WAS ALSO MAGNIFICENT.

 

I have been unfortunate to meet a few lickspittles, co-optees and ethically non-existent individuals over the last 36 years. I have also been extraordinarily fortunate to meet a large number of dedicated, serious environmentalists over the same decades. These fine people include Barb S., Mary R., Pat Potter, Esthur Thur, Rich Clausi, Linda W., Robert B., Debbie Vitez, Tommy Vann, Tracy Hipel, Ron C.,  Dan H., Sebastian, Graham C., Ken J. and more. All are unique but Dr. Regier is literally one of a kind.

If I could remake myself it would be as a combination somehow of Henry Regier and Pat Potter. Both are/were (Pat is no longer with us) intelligent, clever and dedicated individuals. Henry spent much of his career researching Great Lakes fisheries and advising the IJC (International Joint Commission) on Great Lakes issues. He also spent some quality time in Elmira, Ontario after 1995.  Pat lived in Dunnville and later further north in her and husband Chuck's "tire" home that they built.

Pat often wore T-shirts at public meetings emblazoned front and back with the words "They all lie !".  Oh boy I should have paid more attention decades ago to those words, they are so true. Pat could hold her tongue when she chose but oh boy if she was upset enough she could blister paint off the walls. She and Chuck also padlocked Uniroyal Chemical's front gate closed on one occasion.

Henry had what I view as an almost magical ability to lecture polluters, ineffective bureaucrats, dishonest politicians and when he finished they seriously applauded and thanked him for his words. Somehow no matter how strong his words were; his tone, his volume, his soft spoken voice seemed almost reassuring. Even the guilty parties somehow felt that it was an honour to be criticized by Dr. Regier.  Everyone responded positively when he spoke.

HOW WERE THE APTE COORDINATORS SO GULLIBLE ABOUT DNAPLS CONSIDERING EVERYTHING?

 

After I switched over to the Uniroyal Public Advisory Committee (UPAC) from the Varnicolor Liason Committee (VCL) in 1992 one of the first things I did was expose Brian Beatty's ridiculous 10% concentration rule. He had taken  out of context hydrogeologist Stan Feenstra's research allegedly showing  that DNAPLs could be present in the sub-surface anytime that groundwater concentrations of a chlorinated solvent (DNAPL) equalled or exceeded 10% of the compound's aqueous solubility. In fact Mr. Feenstra's research showed that the actual percentage was only 1% not 10% as Mr. Beatty (Morrison-Beatty) claimed on behalf of Uniroyal Chemical. Mr. Feenstra actually wrote me a letter explaining this and criticizing Mr. Beatty for his behaviour.

Mr. Beatty was shortly thereafter "consolidated" by Dr. David Ash of Uniroyal Chemical . I received a nice little award signed by numerous APTE coordinators for my efforts and discovery.  In hindsight I guess I should have taken that award along with me to remind the APTE coordinators at the January 1994 meeting at Sylvia's house but I guess I thought that might be a little tacky. Almost as if I didn't trust their judgement, memories etc. In hindsight I had no idea of the politics and corruption going on with Sylvia and Uniroyal Chemical.  

She had zero interest in debating DNAPLS at that meeting and turned it into a "Do you trust me as your co-leader meeting."  Susan Bryant was in India at the time with her husband. The APTE coordinators basically didn't have a clue about DNAPLS and sided with Sylvia. Rich Clausi, myself and a few days later Esther Thur all left APTE. All I wanted from that meeting was for APTE to stand up and say publicly that DNAPLS are an issue and just because the Ministry of Environment has rolled over to Uniroyal's interests, APTE has not. 

The APTE coordinators essentially in hindsight right there gave up the fight to Uniroyal and the M.O.E.  I knew it was a major screwup by APTE but only later on understood what was going on behind the scenes and how crucially APTE needed to oppose the DNAPL non cleanup plan.