A FRUSTRATING YEAR PLUS FOR CHEMTURA IN ELMIRA

They probably knew that they were in trouble the day after the last municipal election. They had developed a longlasting, ongoing rapport with Woolwich Council which mirrored their relationship with the Region and the province. They played ball locally and their air emissions were a fraction of the horrible days back in the very late 90's. They learned that out of site contaminated groundwater could safely be bafflegabbed but in your face air emissions were hard to bullshit away.

Along comes a new Council to rock the boat. The new Mayor had also been making disturbing noises during the campaign. Multi national world class corporate polluters prefer the staus quo. Nevertheless even their old public advisory committee seemed to be in jeopardy. The old CPAC Chair was a former Councillor and had just run against the winning Mayor unsucessfully. She also was a member of the former CCPA (Canadian Chemical Producers Assoc'n) National Advisory Board.

Late spring 2011 confirmed Chemtura's worst fears. The entire old public advisory committee were not reappointed and horror of horrors not only did the new CPAC have some very bright people on it but they also had yours truly. The new CPAC had bright, competent independent thinkers, two environmental technical people and myself who knows the history and figuratively where the bodies are buried.

A year after that, namely this past spring, CPAC unanimously passed a Resolution which was a very professional, smooth denunciation of the past twenty years of pretend cleanup here in Elmira. To add salt to the wounds, Woolwich Council also endorsed unanimously, CPAC's Resolution. At this point in time Woolwich Council who have sent this Resolution on to the Region, the Province and the Assoc'n of Municipalities of Ontario are seeking an audience with our provincial Environment Minister. This will be a very, very difficult pill for the Ontario M.O.E. to swallow. They are masters of manipulation, misdirection and delay. Their expertise lies in backroom deals with polluters while waving red herring Control Orders around for public consumption. Stay tuned as the battle unfolds.