WHEN THE GOING GETS TOUGH THE M.O.E. GO HOME

Sub-title: LITTLE BOYS WHO DON'T GET THEIR WAY PICK UP THEIR MARBLES AND GO HOME


Oh boy are the Ontario Ministry of the Environment doing their utmost to throw away whatever tatters of respect they have left in Elmira, Ontario. George Karlos the Assistant Director of the West Central District of the M.O.E. had a subordinate send an e-mail to the CPAC Secretary at 1:55 pm. yesterday advising that zero M.O.E. staff would be in attendance for last night's public CPAC meeting. These meetings are set for 6 pm. of the last Thursday in each month. The dates for the entire year are set at the start of each calendar year. Normally from two to four M.O.E. personnel attend each monthly CPAC meeting. The e-mail sent has been shared with CPAC and SWAT and there was not any excuse or reason given for the no show advised four hours before the meeting. In twenty-three years of UPAC and CPAC meetings I have on a couple of occasions seen the out of town M.O.E. (Hamilton) cancel due to severe weather conditions in the winter time. Last evening the weather was perfect and this behaviour unprecedented.

Without so much as a hint of a "force majeur" as suggested by CPAC member Ron Campbell; it appears that George's nose is way out of joint based upon the evolution of this CPAC from well educated and intelligent individuals without a background regarding Chemtura in Elmira; to a group of experienced CPAC members fed up with being given the mushroom treatment by the M.O.E.. This evolution over nearly four years has been helped by two highly experienced and technically knowledgable individuals namely Ron Campbell and Graham Chevreau. I would modestly like to suggest that I have also assisted in the process with my 25 years of Chemtura/Elmira experience.

The most likely recent cause would be CPAC Chair Dr. Dan Holt's Delegation to Woolwich Council on September 2/14. Dr. Dan pulled few punches in his presentation as he expressed concerns over the M.O.E.'s negligence in their handling of the cleanup of the Elmira Aquifers. Both Chemtura and the M.O.E. requested and received copies of Dr. Dan's Delegation after his presentation to Council.

Sebastian Seibel-Achenbach made a Motion of Censure against the M.O.E. last evening which was seconded by Graham Chevreau. It was passed unanimously by CPAC. Furthermore both an e-mail and a registered letter will be sent to george Karlos. Finally a letter will also be sent to the new Minister of the Environment Mr. Glen Murray regarding the behaviour of the M.O.E. yesterday.

Attending on behalf of Chemtura was Jeff Merriman. Coincidentally or not the usual contingent of himself, Dwight Este and often Josef Olejarz were not there as a group. Jeff once again gave a prime example of corporate untruthfulness or if you wish corporate wishful thinking. Despite my having repeatedly over the years provided technical references indicating that hydrophobic compounds such as DDT and Dioxins can be mobilized in solvent contaminated groundwater; Jeff still insists otherwise. Secondly he also claims that the large concentrations of DDT found in the Canagagigue Creek in 2012 and 2013 had been there for decades. Once more it became necessary to publicly correct his corporate self serving nonsense as I quoted from the Jaagumagi and Bedard Report of 1996/97. That M.O.E. report dealing with downstream contamination advises repeatedly that DDT and Dioxins are transported via spring flooding and major storm events on an ongoing basis. Shallow sediment and floodplain contamination downstream especially by DDT is most likely due to recent erosion and deposition from sources on or near the Chemtura site.

More will follow on last night's CPAC meeting especially including a fabulous report by Graham Chevreau dealing with Chemtura (Uniroyal) contamination that has most likely gone off-site on the east side (Stroh farm) as well as the south border (Martin farm). At the end of his report Graham proposed a Motion requesting the M.O.E.'s response within a week for requested data. Without that response CPAC will proceed including a report to Woolwich Council. This CPAC report will be supplemented with a report currently being done by a professional hydrogeologist focusing upon the issue of the east side pits having caused contamination off-site and quite likely being the cause of ongoing and never ending Dioxin and DDT downstream in the Canagagigue Creek. Graham's Motion passed unanimously.