LAST THURSDAY EVENINGS CPAC MEETING

One of the funnier moments on Thursday night occurred when Ron Campbell gently pointed out to Josef of Chemtura that CPAC were right a year ago when they passed their Resolution bluntly stating that the Chemtura/CRA plan was deeply flawed and would not clean up the Elmira Aquifers by 2028. Josef seriously suggested that Ron was a really good guesser. This comes about as CRA's 5 year Update has indicated massive increases in pumping as well as probable source removal via In Situ Chemical Oxidation are required. Also most interesting is my and others understanding that Chemtura have now admitted that 2028 is a bit of a guess but that as they are committed to that date then they have to confirm that they will make it.

Sebastian was nominated and voted in as CPAC's new vice-chair. This was necessary as David Marks has resigned from CPAC.

Adam Loney of Conestoga Rovers (CRA) provided information in relation to both Toluene at 34 ppb. in the Canagagigue Creek as well as answering my question from last month regarding arithmetic means versus statistically significant increases downstream from upstream. Apparently the arithmetic means are the result of the last three years testing in the "Gig" and hence detections of particular chemicals will raise the downstream arithmetic means from upstream non detects for a three year period. This is very helpful and tends to put us on notice in regards to particular recurring substances. One problem we have with resampling after a significant hit such as 34 ppb. Toluene is that due to the lab turnaround time, it takes about a week to resample. While this will catch ongoing discharges it will miss slugs of contaminants going into the creek. I did ask Adam if their testing of the creek (37 samples) over three years was kind of hit and miss and to my surprise he agreed it was. Hmm! Interesting.

Yours truly spoke up at Public Forum on the Agenda and pointed out that there were several pages in Appendix C in the 2012 Annual Monitoring Report which were very strange. They were strange because of all the effort CRA & Chemtura put into denying and refuting petroleum hydrocarbon detections found in well CH70 by Peritus Environmental last March. Chemtura were trying to sell their "oopsy" defence in regards to DNAPL found 100 feet below ground at OW57-32R which is just a little further west than CH70. The "oopsy" defence said that odours, stained soil cuttings and an iridescent sheen found on the mud recirculation tank was not DNAPL but could have been caused by an accidental spill of an oil or gasoline product into the tank. They attempted to buttress this theory by advising that petroleum hydrocarbons were not routinely found in Elmira groundwater. Based just upon the number of service stations alone in Elmira which have undergone major remediation due to leaking gasoline and diesel; their statement is pathetic. Then when you add in spills and or dumping at Yara, Chemtura and Varnicolor, their excuse becomes ludicrous. Long story short we now find out that Peritus Environmental detected petroleum hydrocarbons in the four wells surrounding their client's property which happens to be the old Varnicolor Chemical site. The wells are on the north, south , east and west sides and are named CH43, CH69, OW56 and CH70 again. To me it seems very strange that not only are CRA/Chemtura reproducing Peritus's results in their report but they are doing so without any suggestion that they are inaccurate. Jeff of Chemtura has promised to get back to me on this issue at the next CPAC meeting.

Further to Chemtura's strange suggestion for private/semi-private technical meetings under their control. These allegedly will include things like former Long Range Plans and DNAPL "investigations". While Dwight of Chemtura wants to keep these small and "manageable" Ron of CPAC made it clear that CPAC's SWAT team (soil, water, air & technical) would need to be included. Then we find that Chemtura intend to be in charge of location, agenda, the Chair and even who are limited to speaking roles and who are limited to observing only. Sorry guys but this is just Chemtura playing more of their manipulative games. They are losing in the public CPAC venue and are trying to change the rules in their favour. I for one am not interested in being involved once more in non good faith discussions with a company with a long local history of deception and wasting citizens time. This SWAT team member believes that public CPAC meetings are the appropriate forum for these discussions held under the chairmanship of the CPAC Chair, Dr. Dan Holt.