FRANKENSTEIN ESCAPES !

Now that title above is certainly taking literary license. I am slowly getting the feeling/impression that our Mayor (& Chair) Todd Cowan has created a monster that he wasn't expecting. I readily admit that at the moment this is speculation on my part but a number of factors including his erratic (aggressive) behaviour, strangely edited Minutes of meetings (see my posting of October 12/11 item #8), and the pronouncing of Agenda Item vetoes by the Chair give me concerns.

As far as a "monster" I mean that only in the best imaginable way possible. This new CPAC must seem like a monster to both Chemtura and the Ontario Ministry of the Environment. Once again all CPAC voting members contributed and contributed strongly. Ron Campbell and David Marks, the environmental professionals on the committee both made pointed remarks concerning other sources in Elmira. Ron Campbell mentioned that twenty years ago, the Region of Waterloo named three companies as defendants in their lawsuit, namely Uniroyal, Varnicolor and Nutrite. Dan Holt also commented that there could easily be seven or eight other locations in Elmira that are contributing to the contamination of the drinking water aquifer. Steve Martindale of the M.O.E. suggested that the plumes indicated Chemtura was the sole source. David responded that the plume 'encapsulated" other sites such as Varnicolor Chemical and could simply be masking Varnicolor's contribution. For me it was business as usual as the M.O.E. clearly view their position at CPAC as being one of defending Chemtura and the status quo which means the increasingly difficult proposition that Uniroyal (Chemtura) alone did the deed 22 years ago. It is wonderful no longer being the voice in the wilderness in regards to "other sources" in Elmira. By the way I tore a strip off of both Chemtura and the M.O.E. for their absolute refusal over the past TWO YEARS plus to confirm, deny or even RESPOND to my information, publicly presented at CPAC, from a Conestoga Rovers Report, detailing free phase DNAPL found behind Varnicolor Chemical near the Elmira water tower.

This is where the Mayor's erratic behaviour once again surfaced. First off let me say in his favour that as Chair he is continuing his appropriate acknowlegement and recognition of questions from the floor. He gives CPAC members first kick at the can and then allows questions from the floor (public) including myself. This is to his credit and to the credit of CPAC overall. This is what public consultation should be. To his discredit he is inserting his personal comments (damn it, afterall he is the Chair and should be nuetral unless things are becoming outrageous) into the mix when he feels a speaker has criticized Chemtura/M.O.E. too strongly. Well CPAC member Vivien Delaney took him to task for jumping on me and again I will give Todd credit for immediately backing down and apologizing to her.

Garth Napier of the M.O.E. inserted some humour into the meeting with his whining about the government having a HARASSMENT policy. Good God! His comments were after I suggested that the M.O.E. weren't clearly listening to CPAC. I also suggested that perhaps their ears were full of either background noise from Chemtura or else they were full of contaminated soil/Dioxins from the site. My attempt at humour at the expense of the M.O.E. was NOT harassment of any one individual.

Chemtura continue their well established delay tactics. We were told that it took a two week turnaround time to get soil and water results from samples. It's nearly November and they allegedly have just received the results from August and we won't see them until the end of November. Other delaying tactics include Chemtura presenting a report in regards to examining and updating their groundwater model of Elmira. I asked a straightforward question about high NDMA and Chlorobenzene in soil samples at Yara (Nutrite). Jeff Merriman of Chemtura suggested that he'd have to get back to me next month. Come on! I will include the M.O.E. in these comments on delaying. Varnicolor's Lot 91 was on the Agenda for discussion. Well golly gee none of the staff from the Guelph office were available to attend last evening so both the Lot 91 and the main Varnicolor site (62 Union) discussions are again postponed.

There was considerable discussion regarding financial support for CPAC's work including hiring consultants. The CPAC members all expressed their wish to accurately know where they stand financially. Sebastian Seibel-Achenbach suggested that it only made sense for them to know what budget was available to them for the duration of their four year mandate. Financial statements and a budget were promised to them by the Township. Some of the concern revolves around CPAC's wish to hire Dr. Gail Krantberg to assist them and needing to know if they can afford to do so.

Once again a very solid CPAC meeting. Again I did not see advance Notices of the meeting in our two local newspapers. I hope this oversight will be remedied shortly by the Township. Afterall we want to involve the citizens of Woolwich and public notices are a must.