Oh WHAT A PARTY!

Last evenings first public CPAC meeting since November 2010 was held. When I got home afterwards I advised my wife that in my opinion, the Chemtura representatives, once home, would immediately be applying icepacks to their groins and the interim Chair, Mayor Cowan, putting one on his head. It's not that Mayor Cowan has one headache, he has two. Their names are Dan Holt and Vivienne Delaney and they were spectacular. Not since Henry Regier and I were in our primes have I seen such a tag team . While outnumbered by the Ministry of the Environment and Chemtura, literally seven to two, this pair cut through the drivel, the excuses and the horse manure that Elmira is famous for. Both Mayor Cowan and CPAC member Ron Campbell appeared to be supporting Chemtura's measured (ie. slow) pace. CAO Dave Brenneman was awfully quiet especially for him. I still don't have CPAC member David Marks fully figured out yet. While not obviously taking sides with Chemtura and the M.O.E., nevertheless on a couple of occasions he expressed a desire to hear more of the M.O.E. and Chemtura Orientations before delving into Dioxins in the GP1&2 waste areas. This I find a little disappointing as it indicates to me that he has not been actively pursuing getting up to speed. Dan and Vivienne were both incredible in their focus and in their tone and attitude. Yours truly in the past has been known to get exasperated with intentional obstruction, deflection and delay. Dan and Vivienne were polite, courteous and respectful at all times but they would not be put off, ignored or shut down and Mayor Cowan tried especially hard to do that to Vivienne, unsucessfully.

As a formal delegation to CPAC I had started the ball rolling by asking the CPAC members to refuse their approval for Chemtura's upcoming Reverification by the Chemical Industry Association of Canada. I felt that until or unless Chemtura provided a written commitment that they would finally remove their buried Dioxins on site this year, that CPAC's approval must be withheld. Dan followed up with the July 2003 "Request for Action" document that had been passed unanimously by CPAC shortly thereafter. The M.O.E. on behalf of Chemtura tried to suggest that CPAC's priorities had changed over the years and thus both the Ministry (M.O.E.) and Chemtura were simply responding to more recent priorities. Yours truly as both the co-author of the July 2003 document and as the only unaffiliated citizen present tried to add my two cents, history wise, but was shut down by the Mayor until the "Public Forum" section of the Agenda. At that time I pointed out that the July 2003 "Request for Action" was unanimously passed by CPAC in the presence of both Chemtura and the M.O.E.. Furthermore that document had never been amended, repudiated or even criticized in the following eight years at any public CPAC meeting. I challenged any and all parties to come up with any CPAC Minutes which would dispute my facts. I also pointed out that if this document which includes the removal of Dioxins at GP1&2 was ever privately amended or renegotiated, outside of the public CPAC venue, then those changes were bogus and illegitimate.

A few more points. Based on the time frames for soil testing lab turnaround times (2-3 weeks) as well as the 2-4 weeks of actual excavation required, there is ample time to do the work this season. Jeff Merriman of Chemtura suggested these times and I must also advise that I was pleased that he was forthcoming in regards to the seriousness of Dioxins in the natural environment. Finally the next public CPAC meeting originally scheduled for next Wednesday June 15 has been postponed until Thursday June 30/11 at 6 pm.