CPAC GENTLY PUSH, CAJOLE CHEMTURA INTO DOING THE RIGHT THING

Last night's CPAC meeting in Woolwich Council Chambers was another gamechanger. CPAC through reason, quiet confidence and persuasion are slowly digging the ground out from under Chemtura's decades plus non cleanup plans. From the Chair Dr. Dan Holt to Sebastian, Ron, Vivienne and Councillor Mark Bauman they are working together as a team and logically undermining the shaky foundations of the Chemtura/M.O.E./CRA longterm psuedo cleanup.

Ron Campbell expressed it well when he referred to both the on-site as well as the off-site pump and treat programs as actually both being nothing more than containment programs. This is not the position of the polluter and their alleged regulator, the Ontario Ministry of the Environment. Ron also pointed out that back on October 7, 1991 , then Ontario Environment Minister Ruth Grier promised the public via a Press Release that ALL buried wastes would be removed. This is also what the November 4, 1991 Control Order demanded. Unknown to the public, until recently, the M.O.E. on October 7, 1991 had negotiated a private deal with Uniroyal (Chemtura) giving them an Indemnity for known contamination once they had removed two east side consolidation pits (RPE 4 & 5).

Sebastian got the ball rolling with a request that the M.O.E. do a cost benefit analysis of continuing their financial contributions to the off-site pump and treat versus putting some of that money towards source removal. Mark added that "...continually sucking out of the ground..." seemed like a waste of money. Steve Martindale of the M.O.E. defended their position by stating "...kill a contract, go to court...". He was referring to the November 4, 1991 Control Order. At that point I clarified the discrepancy between the Control Order and the private October 7/91 Settlement Agreement/Indemnity.
The Control Order specifically named the west side ponds (RPW 5,6,7 & 8) as having DNAPLS beneath them and requiring source removal.

Dr. Dan asked a very simple question of George Karlos of the M.O.E. namely would he drink water from the Elmira Aquifer when Chemtura's site was still heavily contaminated. George moved up several notches in my opinion when he honestly stated no he wouldn't. Mark Bauman also put them on the hotseat by suggesting eventually Chemtura will leave and put the Ontario taxpayers on the hook. Therefore the M.O.E. should partner with them now and remove what on-site source contamination they can. Sebastian also put things into perspective when he used Chemtura's words back at them and suggested that they Chemtura would not be pumping on-site in perpetuity. The reality is that companies wind up, fold, go bankrupt eventually and when Chemtura head back to the States, they'll leave their on-site mess behind.

Once again I was very pleased with Mark's contributions last evening. He asked whether In Situ Chemical Oxidation worked on breaking down NAPLS which it does. He further suggested that a combination of shallow excavation and ISCO could be workable to remove DNAPLS as well as dissolved contaminants. Both Ron and Sebastian kept on the theme of pumping "in perpetuity" being a poor plan. As Sebastian indicated at some point on site sources will leak and in fact historically that's exactly what has happened. Ron pointed out how much worse the on-site contamination is compared to overall off-site. He also reiterated CPAC's position that they would like a professional technical consultant to assist SWAT and CPAC with detailed peer reviews of Conestoga Rovers reports.

It appears as if Chemtura don't like the present public set up of CPAC meetings. They initially proposed private technical meetings like they've had in the past. Councillor Mark Bauman jumped on that fairly quickly and appropriately said CPAC would not be sitting down privately with Chemtura. Chemtura also made it clear that they would be in charge of the meeting and that "...the smaller the better..." when it comes to who speaks. This matter will be further discussed here this coming Monday.