LAST NIGHT'S COUNCIL PRESENTATION

Following is the presentation I made to Woolwich Council last evening at 6 pm.. Written copies were left with Council, the Elmira Independent and the Woolwich Observer. As usual Councillor Bauman played defence after my delegation but he has learned to avoid asking me questions because he doesn't care for the answers. As a result he and the Mayor tried a little stickhandling by suggesting that all was copacetic at CPAC. It isn't.


DELEGATION (Draft # 3) TO WOOLWICH COUNCIL (Comm. Of the whole) Jan.31/12

Good evening Mayor, Council, Staff , Media and the public

Two months ago I appeared here and gave Council an update in regards as to how their appointed CPAC were doing. I advised Council that they had chosen wisely and that the CPAC members were performing their duties well. I also gently advised Council that the model of public consultation was however a poor one. Since that time , despite the best efforts of CPAC members, there has not been a single public CPAC meeting . Chemtura and the Ministry of the Environment had been feeling the heat generated at the public CPAC meetings and I believe they are very appreciative of this three month break from that. It can not be pleasant spending a fortune on consultants and lobbying , only to have new members of CPAC politely advise you to quit stalling and start digging.
I applaud CPAC living up to their name ie. Chemtura Public Advisory Committee. Some people think CPAC are only supposed to advise the Township or perhaps the M.O.E.. This is incorrect. They are to do as their name implies which is to be a public advisory committee. It is on this basis that I suggest that the mistake made on the Township’s website should not be held against them. Mixed in with five public CPAC meeting Minutes was the Minutes of a private, educational CPAC meeting. This meeting was recorded and Minutes produced unknown to the CPAC members. Hence they were a little more open and less diplomatic than they might otherwise be. One of the professional environmental persons explicitly stated that the Elmira Aquifer would NOT be restored to drinking water standards by 2028. This is incredible news that must be shared with the community who have been told otherwise by both Chemtura and the Ontario M.O.E. for the last twenty years. Personally I welcome this confirmation of what I’ve been saying on line and to the old CPAC for the last few years.
Two environmental professionals who are CPAC members have also stated that Source Removal of subsurface contamination must be undertaken. This Source Removal is both on and off the Chemtura site and again it is in direct conflict with Chemtura , the M.O.E. and even certain politicians suffering from “fictitious disorder syndrome”. Another off-site source which no politician to date has acknowledged is the Chlorobenzene and DNAPL found 100 feet below ground , west of Varnicolor Chemical, near the old water tower. Perhaps it’s been easy ignoring this contamination as long as the M.O.E. and Chemtura continue to do so. To date they adamantly refuse to comment, confirm or deny its’ existence despite their own consultants, Conestoga Rovers, having discovered it in 1998. Furthermore Chemtura are still denying CPAC and the public the lab results they received four months ago regarding Dioxins on their property in GP1 & GP2.
Almost coincidentally with the swearing in of the new Council, Chemtura’s off-site pumping of groundwater has been in the crapper. This pumping is to allegedly clean up the Elmira Aquifer by 2028. On its’ own it will not succeed even if the company meet their own computer modelled pumping rates. The problem is they are still trying to sell an inferior system while not even being able to maintain the pumping rates to the standards they have determined as necessary.
Your CPAC are referred to on the Township website as an independent body. This is inaccurate and will certainly remain so until your Mayor, CAO and Municipal Clerk decide otherwise. Also on the Township website, the Agendas and Minutes are still in error. The offending Minutes have been removed but the missing Minutes have not replaced them. Also the incorrect September 19, 2011 Agenda is still present. There are further errors in the ostensibly Amended Minutes that still need correction. Furthermore a number of CPAC members have informed the Chair that they are not particularily pleased with the Chemtura link located where it is in the midst of the CPAC information. I personally was offended by this as well, because it gives the impression that Chemtura are somehow working cooperatively with CPAC. If you think that is so then you definitely need to communicate much better with your CPAC.
It is my position that your CPAC members are doing well despite stolid and vigorous opposition by both Chemtura and the M.O.E.. What is currently holding them back is you Woolwich Township. You can read between the lines as to which personnel need to loosen the reins. Your CPAC are neither horses nor children . They are your volunteer citizen appointees. Give them your confidence and respectfully let them perform their duties .

Alan Marshall Elmira Environmental Hazards Team



One interesting point is that Mayor Cowan did advise Council and the public that there was a private CPAC meeting this evening (Wed. Feb. 1/12). It will be very hard for him to again cancel this meeting unilaterally as he has so many others. Also the Agenda of this meeting is typical in that it appears once again not to be an Agenda of concensus but an Agenda put together by anyone but the CPAC members. Also keep clearly in mind the CPAC members are NOT subject to the federal Official Secrets Act. Amazing how petty municipal officials believe they have a right to keep all their bad decisions private and out of the public eye. They have no such right except in their wee little minds.