ZERO GOVERNMENT TRANSPARENCY/ACCOUNTABILITY TO THE EXTREME

 

While I have discussed a variety of environmental and political issues here since last December; three issues have been predominate for which no apology is required based upon their significance. FIRSTLY as has been obvious literally since May 2010 when I started this Blog I have spoken to the Elmira Water Crisis from day one. SECONDLY since last December I have also focused upon the Region of Waterloo Water Crisis which I commend the K-W Record for following in detail for weeks and months after December 2025. Unfortunately despite their own research and hard work it was absolutely amazing to me as to how they dropped the issue like a hot potato literally five minutes after the Region of Waterloo self declared their victory over the water shortage. This despite my sending them (and many others) detailed and specific information as to which wells, which wellfields, dates and locations thereof as well as naming specific contaminants in those wells including the industrial sources they came from. THIRDLY  I have discussed the incredible chutzpah, arrogance and blatant contempt of citizens, residents and taxpayers by the Region of Waterloo and Wilmot Council regarding the mostly secret land acquisition of 770 acres allegedly for some out of this world, beneficial to all, industrial megagiant who is too shy to reveal their name. Please feel free to lie to us, steal our money, farmland, drinking water but peeing in our faces is too much. I am about to advise you the readers and public as to whom out of approximately 60 recipients of my close to daily Blog /e-mails have responded, commented, denied or agreed with my Blog postings.  The following groups are the near daily recipients with the number in brackets indicating how many individual recipients for each group. These have gone to the Ont. Min. of Environment (4),  a very few to Mike Harris M.P.P., Woolwich Council (6), Waterloo Region Council (16), TRAC (8), Lanxess Canada (2), GHD (1),  GREN (4),  Green Party (1), Susan Koswan, K-W Record (5), Woolwich Observer (3), CTV (1) and CPAC (9). The last one, the Citizens Public Advisory Committee (CPAC) has been the only one to comment/respond since last December. 

Please note the various government bodies municipal, regional and provincial who have NEVER so much as asked for clarification, discussion or even a meeting. I include TRAC as a government body because they are not in charge of their own Agenda, membership etc. as they are a committee of Woolwich Council totally controlled by them. While disgusted by the three tiers of government blindness and deafness I also am appalled by our local media's seeming willingness to be good little boys and girls and not rock either the government or corporate boat.  

P.S. It took decades of lying, disrespect and contempt by the polluter, regulator (MECP) and other government bodies to hone me into the chiseled, acerbic and disrespectful to authority individual I am today.    

WHO WILL DO BEST FOR WOOLWICH TOWNSHIP?

 

Frankly I'm in a quandry. I am optimistic simply because Sandy Shantz is done. She has been a disaster environmentally as she continues swallowing the crap coming from both the MECP and Lanxess Canada. Look where twelve years of that has gotten us as in exactly nowhere. Back in 2012 the new CPAC (Dan Holt, Sebastian S. A., Viv Delaney, Ron Campbell, Graham Chevreau along with Rich Clausi, Henry Regier and myself as sub-committee members advised Council and the public that the 2028 cleanup wasn't going to happen. Chemtura/Jeff Merriman/Conestoga Rovers lied like dogs six months later claiming that they would TRIPLE  the amount of pumping of groundwater in order to achieve full cleanup. They never even got close to Doubling much less Tripling. Sandy took over in 2014 and eliminated CPAC via dirty tricks including throwing out our formal renewal applications and then demanding new ones. That is precisely how lying pieces of crap operate and she did it on the demands of Chemtura and the Min. of Environment.

The failed cleanup has been official for several years now as Lanxess have made a few admissions that their lying, self-serving predecessors' never did  This last council did not appear willing or able to demand public transparency or accountability on the Uniroyal/Lanxess file. Maybe they will depending on whom is the new mayor. I have to admit that I do not know either candidate well although there are things that I like about both of them. Being an old phart myself, if I have a bias it's probably towards the older more senior of the two namely Eric Schwindt.  Again however I can't point to anything negative with Evan Burgess. One positive in his favour is how he smoothly handled public criticism from his fellow councillor Nathan Cadeau.  Nathan and I got off on the wrong foot early as he from a position of zero knowledge attempted to lecture me by e-mail on groundwater and cleanup issues. Basically as questions and answers went back and forth it became clear that he had a proxy answering for him which most likely was CAO Dave Brenneman. God there's one that really needs to go along with Nathan. 

TRAC has been abysmal only partly due to high turnover over the years. Far too many good ones with potential have walked while along with some dead wood still there are newer members with brains but zero long term background on the Elmira issues. Sycophants  like Tiffany and Eric are no help and Sebastian admits how overmatched TRAC is by Lanxess, MECP and GHD (consultants) and how deferential TRAC are as a result. Master manipulater Pat Mclean thank goodness is long gone. Too bad she didn't take her wingman Susan with her. TRAC are simply a cheerleading team for Lanxess and the Ministry (MECP) and they are protecting their interests not Woolwich residents.     

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POLITICIANS AND REGIONAL WATER SHORTAGES DUE TO INDUSTRIAL POLLUTION, MASSIVE GROWTH, INCOMPETENCE & GREED

 

There are two items in today's K-W Record that all citizens/voters should read but likely will not. The first is by Luisa D'Amato titled "The municipal elections are really all about money. Your money". The second is a Letter to the Editor by Pam O'Rourke titled "Stand up for clean water and prime farmland". Both are exhorting citizens to make informed decisions in the upcoming municipal/regional elections and vote for candidates who will support clean water, secure farmland safe from developers, and good fiscal management versus constant staff increases and higher taxes exceeding cost of living increases.

Ms. D'Amato has given us specific reasons and voting records regarding municipal and regional candidates. This I must admit is superior to my recent blanket condemnation of all our regional councillors when I suggested getting rid of the lot of them. My method would be helpful albeit there likely are at least two or three worthy of staying out of sixteen in total. Ms. D'Amato also suggests that the proposed 770 acre megasite in Wilmot could contaminate part of the Waterloo Moraine. She is correct however she and other media have been informed by me, without advising her readers, as to which wells and wellfields in Waterloo Region are already industrially contaminated and have been for decades. 

Ms. O'Rourke appropriately hammers Premier Doug Ford for his environmental stupidity and political interference here in Waterloo Region. His fingers are in the Wilmot Land Grab as well as his appointing our next Regional Chair. Gosh would it be considered undemocratic if Waterloo Region citizens politely advised Ford's appointee that we are currently collecting a wooden rail, pails of tar and a bucket of feathers to welcome him/her to our lovely Region? Never let it be said that unelected provincial appointees aren't given a rousing "welcome".  Maybe at the very least we could have a new fashion "sit out" versus a "sit in".  Regional councillors could refuse to sit at the table whenever the Doug Ford appointee shows up and in fact councillors could go and sit on the picket lines along with their own striking workers. Now that would truly be labour solidarity combined with a political middle finger extended to our good friend Doug Ford. Let the revolt start here!  

DISTRACT & DECEIVE: MECP & LANXESS IGNORE DDT, DIOXINS, PAHs, PCBs, LINDANE, MERCURY AND ALL THE OTHERS IN THE CREEK AND AQUIFERS

 

The last TRAC meeting discussed an alleged new advanced bioremediation strategy for chlorobenzene. The gentleman involved (Cullen Flanders) admitted that bioremediation didn't seem at all capable to remediate NDMA. What I find interesting is that the long heralded, long claimed to be the end all and be all remediation to achieve drinking water standards for EVERY contaminant in the Elmira Aquifers, namely hydraulic containment (i.e. pump & treat), can't even handle the TWO that they've focused on namely NDMA and chlorobenzene.

Keep in mind that those two are also grossly different types of contaminants. NDMA is totally miscible in water which means that it immediately, fully dissolves in groundwater and travels with it at the same speed as the groundwater does. Chlorobenzene on the other hand is completely different in that it has a low solubility in water and as far as travelling with groundwater, the term is that it is "retarded". By this it means that the chlorobenzene tends to be easily slowed down (i.e. retarded)  by the soils that it and the groundwater are passing through. Chlorobenzene is also a DNAPL chemical as so many on the Uniroyal site are. This includes not only chlorinated solvents but also chemicals such as Benzothiazole, Carboxin, Aniline and Mercaptobenzothiazole all Uniroyal signature chemicals. Of course all these other DNAPL chemicals both in Lanxess's groundwater as well as Elmira's are not routinely monitored as they should be. 

Keep in mind that  an honest discussion of what can be done to lessen the impacts of these chemicals in the title above has not occurred. Instead we get corporate B/S to the effect that some of them are hydrophobic and prefer to attach to soil particles rather than dissolve into the groundwater. This does not account for the low solubility of many of these compounds and their then accumulative toxicities in our groundwater. Nor does it account for the synergistic toxic effects between these compounds as well as NDMA, chlorobenzene and so many others in the Elmira Aquifers. Science is not omnipotent hence no one really knows exactly how toxic our groundwater is and when if ever it will be restored. We can however count upon both the Min. of Environment (MECP) and Lanxess Canada to continue giving us wildly optimistic time estimates in order to diminish their past failures as well as current ones. Mayor Sandy Shantz's removal of CPAC members in 2015 to please Chemtura and the M.O.E. did nothing but solidify the status quo of puffery, hot air, bragging and  truth denial. 

 

A TWIST ON THE UNIROYAL / M.O.E. SWEETHEART DEAL ?

 

The old interpretation was that Uniroyal accepted all blame for NDMA and chlorobenzene contamination despite initially denying it in exchange for a free pass on expensive DNAPL removal and remediation. They knew what a pigsty Varnicolor Chemical was and they certainly knew that their partially funded Elmira Sewage Treatment Plant (1965) had taken five years to be able to handle Borg Textile high strength wastes. They also likely knew that all the ammonia in the aquifers wasn't theirs but the next door neighbour Nutrite.

Now based upon known products and by-products of both the paint industry and the textile industry that there were at least two other major sources of NDMA and chlorobenzene just down the street from them. Finally PCBs had only been banned since the early to mid 1970s and until then those paints would have found their way most likely into McKee Harvestor and Varnicolor Chemical in the 1960s and 70s. All in all our Ontario Ministry of Environment (M.O.E.) certainly were not remotely on top of things in little Elmira, Ontario.

I expect that after the  Ministry (M.O.E.) presented their damaging evidence on Uniroyal Chemical at the Environmental Appeal Board and the hearing was then postponed over the summer that Uniroyal had a little chat with the M.O.E. It might have gone something like this. "You a...holes are going to be publicly destroyed this fall when the hearings resume. We aren't holding anything back. The Creek and the groundwater has been a toxic mess for decades and you've done exactly nothing to stop it. McKee and others have contributed PCBs, Nutrite ammonia, Varnicolor and Borg have contributed NDMA, chlorobenzene and more chlorinated solvents, local gas stations have added benzenes and toluene. Basically we, Uniroyal, have simply added our share on top of an already unregulated, unmonitored environmental mess. Good luck surviving what's coming this fall (1991) unless you play ball with us now."   

At which point a government Ministry maybe with approval from the top decided that neither they nor perhaps even the government would survive the Elmira truth being revealed. So much for the 90s being the turnaround decade. 

PCBs, LINDANE, BENZOTHIAZOLE, DDT WERE FOUND DAMAGING THE CREEK (Gig) IN 1980

 

This of course was fifteen years after the Elmira Sewage Treatment Plant was finally built. It was also about a decade after direct dumping into the Canagagigue Creek mostly ended. Dioxins were certainly known by Uniroyal Chemical and it's hard to believe that the Ontario Ministry of Environment also did not know about them. PCBs had been banned in Canada, the U.S. and likely Europe around 1972. The Federal government commissioned a study through their Inland Waters Directorate in Burlington, Ontario to examine industrial chemicals in the Canagagiue Creek in 1980. Funny thing though, I don't believe Uniroyal's and the M.O.E.'s favourite two chemicals NDMA and chlorobenzene were mentioned.  The chemicals listed in the title above as well as many others were found in Creek sediments, soils, the benthic community (midges, chironomids etc.) and of course fish .

More than half a century since PCBs were banned and they are still with us. Wow but that really puts the "Persistent"  into POPs (Persistent Organic Pollutants) doesn't it? What is most discouraging for me is the understanding as to how innocuous they were and for how long. I had always thought that they were most commonly used as electrical insulators in transformers. Nope their biggest use was in heavy duty paints and coatings for maritime use. Initially they were found to increase both durability and elasticity of paint which meant that heavy duty uses whether for ships, tractors, agricultural equipment, dams, buildings in extreme weather locations etc. were all likely to receive these heavy duty paints. The other scary thing is Artificial Intelligence (AI) suggests that eventually they were used by many, many industries as an inexpensive way to improve the long term appearance of many, outdoor manufactured goods. Here in Elmira that would certainly include McKee Harvester (agricultural products) due to both the timing of their manufacture and the outdoor products they made. Also I had been told decades ago that the Woolwich Dam itself based on its timing (1972) likely had some PCB infused paint used on parts of it and in fact that was claimed at one time as the source of PCBs in the downstream  Canagagigue Creek. 

On a different note it is beginning to appear to me that Borg Textiles certainly got out of town in the nick of time (mid 1980s). As I have long suspected chlorobenzene's presence at Varnicolor Chemical it now seems almost certain that they were also used at Borg Textiles. Quoting AI :  "Dyeing synthetic fibres like polyester and acrylic requires chemical swelling agents known as dye carriers to force disperse dyes deep into the synthetic polymer structure."  "Chlorobenzenes were historically the standard industrial chemical used as these carriers." There were other textile industries in town including a Felt manufacturer as well as one on Park Avenue not far from Uniroyal Chemical. Odd isn't it that Jim Bradley's (Ont. M.O.E.) five man team sent to Elmira looking for other sources of NDMA and chlorobenzene never mentioned Borg, Varnicolor Chemical or the others.  

MORE REASONS WHY LANXESS & THE MIN. OF ENVIRONMENT ARE BLOWING SMOKE UP THE PUBLICS' EAR

 

PAHs or Polyaromatic Hydrocarbons can also be solids at ambient temperatures but just like dioxins and DDT cab be readily dissolved in solvents including DNAPL solvents. The former Uniroyal site was blessed with many PAHs which among other locations ended up in the Canagagigue Creek sediments, creekbank soils, fish etc. Hence they have also migrated into groundwater beneath the Uniroyal site and most likely onwards from there into Elmira's groundwater long before the company allegedly fully slammed the gate shut via Pump & Treat (hydraulic containment) in 1992/93.

Further studies of steam flushing have confirmed the early positive results in removing/dissolving the higher solubility compounds in DNAPLS such as chlorobenzene and other solvents but there are later "tailing" effects or dramatic slowdowns in the removal of these relatively higher solubility compounds compared to more recalcitrant to steam flushing and dissolution; dioxins, DDT and PAHs.

It is not just DNAPL that can infiltrate into low permeability zones. Dissolved contaminants in aquifers at the interface between aquifers and aquitards can diffuse from the higher concentration aquifer into the lower to zero contaminant concentration aquitard over time. This diffusion can be a few inches deep or even a few feet into the aquitard. After many years of pump & treat for example as the aquifer concentrations of contaminants decrease significantly then the contaminants held in the aquitards can back diffuse into the aquifers.

The 1% rule referencing a DNAPL chemical's dissolved concentration in an aquifer indicating likely nearby free phase DNAPL must be viewed in the context of all contaminants dissolved in the aquifer including non DNAPL contaminants. Hence for example five contaminants (4 chlorinated solvents & toluene (non DNAPL)) each having a concentration less than 1% of their Solubility can have their cumulative mole fractions sum higher than 1% providing evidence of possible DNAPL presence nearby (Raoult's Law).  The cumulative mole fraction is each compound's concentration in groundwater divided by its' Solubility (i.e. Ci/Si) and then added together. In the example by Bernard Kueper Queen's University Kingston and Kathryn Davies U.S. EPA, Region 3 in their EPA Ground Water Issue titled "Assessment and Delineation of DNAPL Source Zones at Hazardous Waste Sites" these five compounds mole fractions (Ci/Si) total  .034 or 3.4% , well in excess of the 1% criteria.

So apologies fir getting a little technical there but how are we to interpret this information? Firstly any honest evaluation of even a fraction of the multitude (hundreds approx.) of dissolved Uniroyal Chemical contaminants compared to their Solubility in water would show the high probability of DNAPLS nearby. Secondly the single minded focus on NDMA/Chlorobenzene and later Ammonia  has been simply a distraction from the even worse contaminants and by no means am I deprecating NDMA's toxicity. I'm referring to dioxins, DDT and PCBs. Possibly on Monday we'll discuss the PCBs further. Thirdly we are seeing exactly how difficult it would be to fully remediate the Elmira Aquifers honestly and transparently. Any idjit can lie and say they are doing it but it takes truly inspired prevaricators to hold to the same lie after thirty years and failure.