ELMIRA INDEPENDENT CHALLENGES CHEMTURA

This week's edition of the Elmira Independent has two articles as well as an Editorial by Gail Martin all dealing with last week's Chemtura Public Advisory Committee (CPAC). The titles are "No cleanup target defined for Chemtura" on pg.1, "Chemtura advised to take lessons from Alberta industry" pg.3 and the Editorial on pg.4 titled "Clarity needed".

The no cleanup target refers to the lack of specicivity around how many aquifers need to be at drinking water standards by 2028. Sebastian Seibel-Achenbach and Graham Chevreau raised the issue concerning the Bedrock Aquifer in Elmira. Yours truly had read NDMA concentrations greater than 5,000 parts per trillion in this aquifer. With a drinking water standard of only 9 ppt, one can see the huge problems ahead. Conestoga Rovers gave CPAC the vague response that they were currently focusing on the Municipal Aquifers and that was adequate to address the deeper Bedrock aquifer. CPAC made it clear that the targets for 2028 needed to be clearly spelled out now as ignoring the Bedrock Aquifer issue until then was a grave error.

Regarding the pg. 3 article Pat McLean pointed out that Chemtura had broken promises that they had given in order to receive their last verification under *Responsible Care. These promises included focus groups, community newsletters and an updated, ongoing website. The irony here is that it was Pat McLean herself who handed Chemtura their last verification against the wishes of CPAC and their representative Dr. Dan Holt. The locals did not believe Chemtura remotely deserved this verification but with representatives from Scarborough and Guelph combined with Pat McLean's vote they got it. Her hypocrisy and ignorance of the facts is stunning as is her support for this company. By the way the last broken promise of Chemtura's has to do with fenceline monitoring of their air emissions. This is a pet project of Pat's and as long as she and her colleague keep giving concessions and kudos to Chemtura they will keep accepting them. Afterall the only price they have to pay is broken promises.