CHEMTURA"S *RESPONSIBLE CARE VERIFICATION SHOT DOWN AGAIN

I'm not even going to bother with crocodile tears. It would be an affront to companies who have seriously made efforts to engage their communities in honest dialogue if Chemtura had been verified yesterday. They were not and again I suggest that their failure is of their own making and actually increases the credibility of the Chemical Industry Association of Canada (CIAC). I do not remotely endorse the CIAC because I don't know enough about them. I do endorse this their latest decision regarding Chemtura in Elmira.

One reason why I am still wary of them is of course their membership. They are comprised of a who's who of chemical polluters in Canada. That being said if their mandate is sincerely to promote more responsible and safe handling of chemicals then who can criticize that? My other concern is the reason they've given currently and in the past for Chemtura's ongoing failures to achieve verification. It is stated as being a lack of community involvement. I'm sorry but perhaps there is a lot that can be read into that simple reason but I wish they'd be a whole lot more specific. It would give me confidence that future attempts by Chemtura, without substantive change in their honest communications, will continue to be rebuffed. Two days ago here in the Advocate I stated that Chemtura's basic dishonesty with the Elmira public needed to be drastically changed.

Phony long term DNAPL investigations and never ending junk science surrounding issues such as petroleum hydrocarbons and DNAPL in the off-site Elmira aquifer must end. Honest admissions of Chemtura off-site chemical sources must be made along with the ramifications of their presence to the overall Elmira cleanup. Bait and switch documents involving the M.O.E. must be acknowledged. An Indemnity was given Uniroyal for known on-site contamination on October 7, 1991 and then a public Control Order was issued on November 4, 1991 which was significantly different than the private sweetheart deal/Indemnity.

This is the heart of the matter. Any company that feels that long term deception and misrepresentation of facts to the public is O.K., does not deserve the *Responsible Care designation.