MORE ON LAST THURSDAY'S CPAC MEETING

Jaimie Connolly of the M.O.E. was describing his support for source removal via ISCO (In-Situ Chemical Oxidation) for two off-site problem areas immediately west of Chemtura at Yara (Nutrite) and further away in the North-West direction. I therefore suggested that if two off-site problem areas were good for ISCO why not also do it to the Municipal Lower Aquifer by Varnicolor. Here we have the largest plume of off-site chlorobenzene.

I also asked Jaimie if the proposed ISCO for the Yara site would take care of not only NDMA but also diesel contamination, ammonia and pesticides on the site. Jaimie didn't even blink about the further contamination but did say he didn't know which chemical oxidant was being used. I suspect that Fenton's Reagant is the likely candidate.

In regards to my question to Jaimie about whether he & the M.O.E. had confidence in Chemtura's ability to triple their pumping, he gave a very interesting answer. He said he was confident they could do it but the question was would they do it. Well!

Susanna Meteer, SWAT team member and nominee for CPAC membership, asked Jeff Merriman of Chemtura an interesting question about a new remediation method (for DNAPLS?) called smouldering. Jeff while not very familiar with it did suggest that it sounded more like a thermal cleanup method versus a chemical one such as ISCO.

Once again yours truly advised Chemtura and the M.O.E. that I wanted some literatire reviews regarding the ability of Dioxins ?DDT binding or sorbing to different types of soils. In other words while I may buy that they sorb to topsoil I'm much more skeptical that they sorb to sand and gravel.

Lastly Chemtura/CRA keep bragging about taking groundwater samples in the south-east corner of the Upper Aquifer 1 (UA1) and supposedly only finding low levels of solvents. I believe that the results in UA3 and the Municipal Aquifer (MU) would be substantially higher and would indicate the how and why of groundwater flow of Dioxins & DDT.

The young CPAC has Chemtura/CRA/M.O.E. on the run and on the defensive and that's appropriate. Good news from Chemtura would be their source removal of drums, waste and contaminated soil in the south-west. If Chemtura want more appreciation for their efforts then they must continue on the source removal path.