MORE ON LAST THURSDAY'S CPAC MEETING

Tomorrow I will be spilling some of the beans regarding Chemtura's scar, line, trench or fence running from Church St., south and east over to their neighbour's property. Today I will mention items such as Peter Gray of MTE Consultants and his presentation Thursday evening. Peter stated that the driver of both shallow groundwater and surface water flow is the topographical high in Chemtura's north-east quadrant. Contrary to Chemtura and Conestoga Rovers' groundwater and surface contours, all the rain and overflow from the former pits does not simply flow west and south. There is a radial flow that distributes both rainfall and toxic liquids to the east as well.

Jeff Merriman of Chemtura as usual rose to their defence and quite comfortably BS'd that referring to the eastern pits as having "overflowed" was inaccurate. I pointed out that Jeff wasn't there prior to 1988 and hence he had no first hand knowledge of that matter. To further sink his leaking ship I quoted the 1991 Environmental Audit written by Chemtura's consultants (CRA) which stated that yes the pits did "overflow".

Mayor-elect Sandy Shantz asked an important question when she inquired as to where are we today regarding this eastern side of Chemtura's property. Graham Chevreau, Rich Clausi and myself responded by advising Sandy that CPAC had asked for a comprehensive investigation of this area that would include testing and monitoring of soils and groundwater. To date the only knowledge we have is that downstream of the discharge of the Drain from the eastern side we have ridculous levels of DDT and Dioxins in the Canagagigue Creek.

Steve Martindale (M.O.E.) asked whether Peter Gray's MTE report gives reasonable and probable grounds for the M.O.E. to investigate the private property involved. For any honest third party the answer is a clear yes however we are not dealing with honest brokers when we deal with the M.O.E.. Councillor-elect Larry Shantz asked if CPAC had had any contact with that property owner to which the answer was yes.

Jeff M. revealed some interesting information. He advised that Chemtura had removed 46,000 tonnes of toxic wastes from RPE 4 & 5 back in 1993. That quantity puts the Love Canal in New York to shame as they only had 28,000 tonnes buried there. Jeff also carefully qualified his comments about allegedly all wastes having been removed. He added the wotds all wastes "that were accessible" and all wastes "to the extent practical".

Ron Campbell of CPAC supported my line of questioning about the line, trench or scar visible on Chemtura's property. I had suggested that any fence present might simply have been put there afterwards to delineate and mark what was under the ground's surface. Sebastian Seibel-Achenbach (CPAC) also asked Jeff to respond to my questions. Jeff M. basically got quite upset suggesting that it was an interrogation and that he shouldn't be put on the defensive like that. Well I suppose if you're a well paid apologist for a thrice convicted polluter who has shut down a town's water supply; occasionally you're going to be put on the defensive. Sorry Jeff if I offended your feelings.

Once again a number of requests for information to both Chemtura and the M.O.E. including CPAC Motions, Financial Assurance and Chemtura funding of CPAC were not fully answered with more delay being the answers. This included the further testing of the Canagagigue Creek last summer with results expected sometime next summer. The M.O.e. and Chemtura continue to run out the clock.

The M.O.E. has bluntly refused to hand over certain cleanup expenses to CPAC as requested. Ron Campbell questioned this as it's taxpayers money being spent. Also councillor-elect Patrick Merlihan had questions on the matter.

We then got into the awful, terrible Elmira Advocate Blog/website which you are currently reading. I was thrilled to learn that the Assistant Director of the west central region M.O.E. is such an avid reader. Good morning A.D. and have you sacrificed any part of the natural environment, already this morning, to benefit your corporate clients? No? Good for you. I thank CPAC and SWAT members who expressed their shock and disgust regarding the M.O.E.'s anti democratic and anti free speech stance. This included Vivienne, Dr. Dan, Sebastian and Richard C.. I was also advised that Steve Martindale (M.O.E.) reads my Blog three times per week as well as the Elmira Independent regularily. Jeff M. and Dwight Este (Chemtura) also proudly advised that they read the Elmira Advocate five days a week. Wow with support in both high and low places I can hardly restrain my enthusiasm each morning when I am posting.

Clearly my questions regarding the Drain on the Stroh property upset Jeff and Chemtura. The questions however regarding the possible Trench running down the eastern side of their property sent Jeff over the moon. He was shocked and upset and whether my line of questioning was too close to comfort to being a courtroom interrogation, I suggest that Jeff might want to get some practice at it. The late Pat Potter of the Dunnville Environmental Hazards Team believed that some day the Uniroyal Trials would begin.