REGION OF WATERLOO ANNUAL DRINKING WATER REPORTS - MARYHILL

The last couple of years I usually have examined West Montrose's Annual Report along with Cambridge early on in the process. These Regional Annual Reports cover three cities and four Townships and are quite laborious and time consuming. This year I've looked at West Montrose first and Maryhill second. Last year I had a number of concerns with Maryhill and though I haven't yet looked back to 2013 or earlier my recollection was issues with bacteria.

Maryhill has two separate water systems namely the Maryhill Village Heights System and the Maryhill Water System. The former to my eye seems overall fine although I do notice there are zero THM (trihalomethane) readings. This is especially inappropriate for a system using sodium hypochlorite for primary disinfection and not using chloramines for secondary disinfection in the distribution system.

The Maryhill Water System gives me a little more concern. Sodium and Fluoride are both high. The Sodium isn't extraordinarily high but it is well above the suggested (not mandated) 20 mg/l mark. Fluoride is weird in that the system is not fluoridated yet the 1.15 mg/l concentration is much higher than other Fluoride readings in Woolwich township. Very odd. Also we have again no THM readings. This is not appropriate folks. Finally there are two adverse incidents involving high chloramine readings namely > 3.0 mg/l. This system does use chloramine via ammonium sulphate hence chloramine is to be expected but the standard is 3.0 mg/l. Only the last couple of years has the Region been wimping out by only showing the greater than symbol (>) versus giving us the actual numerical reading. Shame on the Region of Waterloo.

LAST THURSDAY'S "DOC ZONE"

Well I've been receiving more phone calls than usual including from old colleagues and acquaintances. Apparently they all enjoyed the documentary. Even my kids who were born long after the American War on Vietnam, expressed surprise regarding Canada's political and economic ties to the war. Others while vaguely aware of Canada producing arms and ammunition were quite surprised with the linkage to either herbicides or chemical warfare depending on your point of view. In hindsight an argument could be made contrary to the rationalization at the time that herbicides solely targeted vegetation.

The Vietnam War became intensely unpopular in the United States. In fact like most wars it was the political ideology of the politicians in power that drove it forward. That said it was the young generation and their immediate families who paid the awful price.

Elmira, Ontario is not intrinsically a hotbed of pro war fanaticism. It may well have seemed at the time a logical extension for a company producing insecticides (DDT) and herbicides (2,4-D & 2,4,5-T) to supply Agent Orange as a herbicide to the U.S. military to defoliate jungles. The fact that Agent Orange had already been used for the purpose of destroying an enemy's food supply was not well known. Nor were the awful contaminants in it that produced terrible birth defects in human beings. Not well known by the public but still known by scientists and senior politicians.

The issue now is what are we doing about it now? Both for human beings generations later both in Vietnam and the U.S. as well as what are we doing here in Elmira. The answer in Elmira is that our political leaders are continuing the legacy of denial, deflection and distraction. As we speak friends and fellow travellors right here in Elmira are trying to defuse the discoveries of the last year approximately. Dioxins the toxic component of Agent Orange are still flowing down the Canagagigue Creek from Chemtura and eventually into the Grand River. Intentional bypasses of Uniroyal's toxic wastes have been discovered. A professional hydrogeologist has determined the high probability of Uniroyal's toxins flowing both east and south off site. The Ministry of the Environment quickly discovered even yet higher concentrations of DDT downstream in the Canagagigue in 2012 and 2013. Now they've decided to sit on the 2014 results while claiming lab delays. This is the politicans once more usurping authority from scientists and honest citizens.

MORE ON WEST MONTROSE WATER

Well first off I have received an e-mail from Dan Kennalley of Woolwich Township advising me of the timing and availablity of the Staff Report being presented to Woolwich Council on April 14/15. If I were to have a bias towards Dan it would be a positive one due to regularily reading his Ontario Federation of Anglers & Hunters stories in their monthly magazine. Also he shares a fishing passion with my good friend Richard Clausi. This is the Staff Report dealing with the West Montrose water supply.

I have read the 2014 Region of Waterloo Annual Drinking Water Report for West Montrose. On its' own it appears substantially better than the 2013 Report. The Woolwich chlorine and microbiological Table on page 98 & 99 in the March 24/15 Council Minutes shows zero non-compliance in the West Montrose Distribution system for both 2013 and 2014. Then on page 101 in these same Minutes we have a somewhat different Table presumably produced by the Region of Waterloo indicating a reduction from 12 occurrences of non-compliance in the West Montrose Distribution System in 2013, reduced to two incidents of non-compliance in 2014. How can this be you ask yourself? Whatever the reasoning the Regional Annual Drinking Water Reports are designed by the Ministry of Environment (M.O.E.) to understate issues and indeed hide many while the municipal Reports are even worse. Part of the issue would include the fact that Woolwich are more concerned with the end of the Distribution System and the Region more concerned with both the beginning of the System as well as the raw water.

Taken as a whole and looking at the last eleven years of drinking water in West Montrose I am surprised that there haven't been outbreaks of E.Coli poisoning. Certainly the Boil Water Advisorys in 2004, 2005 and 2008 speak to a water system in crisis. The Region and M.O.E.'s claims of quantity problems only not quality problems in West Montrose are blatant lies. There is a very thick report produced by AECOM Canada Ltd. in January 2013 which is much more forthcoming. It is titled "West Montrose Water Supply Class Environmental Assessment: Project File Report" and is on-line.

The other mitigating factor is the Region bringing in water tankers for years, allegedly to solve water quantity problems alone. In fact this water is helping to dilute both the bacterial problems and the excesses of by-products of disinfection such as THMs, Chloramines, NDMA and Haloacetic Acids. The chloramines measured by the way I believe are monochloramine alone not dichloramine and trichloramine which are also health issues. Despite these tanker loads of water from outside the community, the residents of West Montrose have been and are still being exposed to dangerous levels of carcinogenic chemicals. The lack of testing and reporting of NDMA alone is quite shocking. It's hardly as if the excuse of twenty-five years ago, that nobody had heard of NDMA, is going to fly now.

WEST MONTROSE WATER APPEARS LESS UNSAFE THAN A YEAR AGO

OMG is this the second day in a row I have to say something nice about Councillor Mark Bauman? The discription I received of the discussion at Woolwich Council last Tuesday indicates that Mark was the only Councillor who asked questions about the Drinking Water Engineering Report. I was advised that Mark specifically asked questions about West Montrose water. While I'm on a Councillor back patting jag, kudos to Councillor Merlihan. You campaigned on reducing financial waste municipally and by gosh you are doing your best in that regard.

There have been a couple of e-mails back and forth this week regarding drinking water quality in West Montrose. While their wells remain contaminated with E.Coli, shades of past Walkerton and present aboriginal third world conditions in northern Ontario, this year's report doesn't look as horrible as last year's and some previous to that. Nevertheless there is unsurprisingly still E.Coli detections in their raw water. As they are still on their own wells, downgradient of their septic systems, this is unlikely to change. What was supposed to change was a pipeline over to Conestogo to either use their water or water from St.Jacobs also via a pipeline. Apparently there is no urgency to improve West Montrose water as long as tanker trucks are diluting and reducing the use of their wells and as long as the media remain toothless on this subject.

Spring is here and April rains may yet cause the disaster that has been waiting in the wings for years. If not, cancer will probably do the job based upon the decades long, high THM (trihalomethanes) and Chloramines concentrations. Finally it would be nice if the Region of Waterloo would also test for the other toxic products of disinfection (NDMA, HAA). Keep in mind all drinking water standards are based upon the ridiculous assumption that each contaminant is found in isolation versus the real world reality of multiple contaminants simultaneously.

I HAVE NOT GIVEN UP ON COUNCILLORS MERLIHAN, HAHN AND L.SHANTZ

I know, I know. Burned a thousand times over the last twenty-five years and still cautiously optimistic. Truth be told I've been a bigger sucker for female liars than males. Why is that? That said Mark Bauman continues to stickhandle around facts and the truth with incredible skill and finesse. Unlike former Mayor Cowan whom it took very little time to understand; Mark continues to throw bones to those who don't trust him. For example his fairly insistent belief that the Stroh farmlands on the east side of Chemtura are drained by tile; I felt at first was to undermine the possibilty that the steel pipe discharging into the top (north) end of the Stroh Drain came from a groundwater collection trench draining Chemtura's shallow east side groundwater. As of the public CPAC Working Session this past Monday I have a whole new understanding of the implications of the possibilty that there is a tile drain system, right beside Chemtura's east side toxic waste pits, on the Stroh property.

These implications were enunciated by professional hydrogeologist Peter Gray of MTE Consultants. And Mark did not seem discomfited by Peter's hydrogeologic interpretation. Peter has already indicated in writing his belief that groundwater flows radially from the topographical high that is most prominent by the former IR-2, RPE-1, 2 & 3 on Chemtura's northeast corner. Radially as in west, east, south and possibly even a little north. What Peter advised us on Monday was that any drainage of subsurface water (ie. groundwater) on the east side of the Chemtura/Stroh property line simply lowered the groundwater levels there hence increasing the "head" or water pressure via gravity from Chemtura's property towards Stroh's. Therefore while this "head" already existed, drainage tile as Mark suspects exists simply exacerbates this flow of contaminated groundwater eastwards from the Chemtura site. Holy crap Batman!

Therefore if drainage tile exist on the Stroh property it has increased contaminated groundwater flow eastwards. If it doesn't exist then the steel pipe discharging into the north end of the Stroh Drain is most likely coming from the Chemtura property possibly via a surrepticious groundwater collection system. Chemtura are buggered BOTH ways!

One last huge revelation/confirmation from Monday's meeting. Chemtura senior management might want to put their affairs in order. They are still reading this Blog on a regular basis and they won't like this. As I suspected as an amateur hydrogeologist based upon twenty-five years of reading and studying hydrogeological reports from dozens of contaminated sites; the Stroh Drain is not only draining overland flow (surface water) and groundwater via the steel pipe (Stroh's and or Chemtura's) but it also will have a capture zone of nearby groundwater. Nearby groundwater such as the former Chemtura wetland approximately twenty feet west of the Drain.

This Councillors Merlihan, Hahn and L.Shantz is where you must come in. Both Chemtura and the Ontario M.O.E. are desperate to escape from revelations of their gross negligence in permitting discharges and drainage off Chemtura's site, into the Stroh Drain and then downstream via the Canagagigue Creek into the Grand River. Chemtura and the M.O.E. will say and do anything to avoid many millions of dollars in cleanup costs and or a totally appropriate inquiry into the M.O.E.'s negligence.

LAST EVENING'S WOOLWICH COUNCIL MEETING

O.K. first off an admission. I'd been out to the Woolwich Township Building for a public meeting the previous night regarding the Chemtura Public Advisory Committee. Hence after I presented my Delegation to Council I bailed out. Now a friend from CPAC who attended last evening gave me a call later on advising me to do some digging deeper into the Agenda and Council package which I did. It turns out that Woolwich Staff expressed some concerns with drinking water quality in West Montrose and possibly Conestogo and or Maryhill. They have a right to be so concerned.

I also received a phone call this morning from a Woolwich citizen concerned with issues in both Breslau and Conestogo. Apparently last evening Council exercised their discretion by refusing a Delegation who had not pre-registered for last evening's meeting. My understanding is that usually Council are quite flexible on these matters but last night chose not to hear from this resident regarding concerns about the development plans (school) in Breslau.

Back to my Delegation. I gave everybody a brief rundown about tomorrow night's 9 pm. CBC "Doc Zone" television show. I warned them that their will be at least a brief few seconds of photos of children born with birth defects courtesy of Agent Orange, Uniroyal Chemical and other manufacturers. I also advised that I will be a small part of that Documentary.

I also gave a rundown on the subverted Delphi Technique which is a method of manipulating groups of mostly uninformed people in order to come to predetermined outcomes. This is the primary purpose of Mayor Shantz's alleged "stakeholders" meeting scheduled for April 9, 2015.

Lastly getting back to the drinking water concerns in the Townships especially West Montrose. I presented documentation and concerns to Councillors Bauman and Bonnie Bryant a full year ago or more. Now suddenly Woolwich Staff are going to be presenting to Council in April their report dealing with my concerns and the Region of Waterloo and Ministry of Environment's responses a year later. I find this strange and sent off an e-mail this morning to Councillor Bauman and CAO David Brenneman asking if I was going to be informed about this ahead of time, or not.

MAYOR SHANTZ TAKE YOUR STUPID MEETING & SHOVE IT! CHEMTURA TAKE YOUR STUPID SOIL INVESTIGATION & SHOVE IT!

Well Councillor Bauman certainly undermined Mayor Shantz's position nicely last evening. Or did he? CPAC appropriately will not attend the Mayor's ingenious solution to a non existent problem ie. the "stakeholders" meeting. Sandy and Mark have both claimed that CPAC is the problem because Chemtura and the Ontario M.O.E. are boycotting public meetings. Last evening in a public meeting, Mark Bauman in front of both CPAC & SWAT advised that he is pushing the Mayor to permit all six CPAC members to attend AND to open the meeting to the public.

Until now Mayor Shantz had the public support of a five term Councillor who has been and still is a sitting CPAC member. That most likely will carry significant weight with the three new Councillors. Support that is for the meeting in the first place. That much is still to the shame of Mark Bauman. Apparently however he is smart enough to realize that making the meeting private and exclusionary is setting off alarms. The only reason Chemtura and the M.O.E. want this meeting is to set the stage, for not in the public interest reforms at CPAC. Councillor Bauman and Mayor Shantz are still on board with that.

Chemtura and their consultants, Conestoga Rovers, have a generally pathetic surficial soil sampling investigation plan for the east side of their property. Last evening CPAC's consultant, Peter Gray of MTE Consultants, further elaborated on his concerns with CRA's plan. It is my understanding that these concerns will be presented in detail at the April 30, public CPAC meeting. Some have already been elaborated here in prior postings.

Keep in mind that the above title is my attitude towards both the proposed meeting and the proposed soil investigation, not necessarily CPAC's or SWAT's. Both those groups while honest and informed, still have more patience than I or any other honest person having spent twenty-five non-stop years dealing with professional liars such as Chemtura and the Ministry of the Environment.

CHEMTURA ANNUAL MONITORING REPORT 2014

Well I'm just getting into this two volume annual report and already thre are problems. As usual the second volume (Appendices) is a shadow of its' former self. That said Appendix C while apparently still on a downward trend in number of wells tested and number of parameters tested for; still has a few shocks. The parameters mostly are NDMA, Chlorobenzene and Ammonia however there are a few wells with other ubiquitous Uniroyal/Chemtura chemicals in them. This would include petroleum hydrocarbons contrary to Jeff Merriman's claims as well as benzene in still surprising amounts. DDT is still present as are its' breakdown components.

NDMA has a few readings off-site in the 100 - 300 ppb range. That's right 100 - 300 parts per billion. The drinking water standard is .009 ppb so do the math and figure how many thousands of times higher than the drinking water standards NDMA still is in parts of the aquifer. Chlorobenzene has at least one off-site well with over 4,000 ppb. Coincidentally that's on the Yara (Nutrite) property where Wilf Ruland and Jaimie Connelly (M.O.E.) initially claimed there was free phase DNAPL only to later recant. Seems likely that they were right the first time around.

The Executive Summary at the start makes the statement that they are considering shutting down the E7 pumping well at the south end of Elmira. Well that's par for the course with this company and this corrupt Ministry of the Environment. I've sent the page to CPAC & SWAT and then on to Woolwich Council primarily the latter to remove plausible deniability. If those buggers are going to come to Chemtura's/M.O.E.'s rescue then they are not going to be able to say they didn't have adequate information on the neverending lies and scams of that pair.

Well E7 has pumped approximately 50% or more of the off-site pumping since 1998. Chemtura claimed in November 2012 that they were going to triple the off-site pumping in order to meet the 2028 cleanup deadline. Those f...ing liars have increased W5A/B and W3 while decreasing pumping at W4 and now they want to shut down E7. What a joke their credibility is. What a joke their "cleanup" is.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR OF THE WATERLOO REGION RECORD

Today's Waterloo Region Record carrys a letter To The Editor written by Richard Clausi, a member of SWAT which is a sub-committee of CPAC. While we knew that SWAT offends Chemtura's sense of being in control we did not know how much they offend the new Council. Apparently all SWAT members are personna non grata at the secret discussions of the Mayor's proposed "stakeholders" meeting. These members include multiple professionals in the environmental field such as David Marks, Dr. Henry Regier, Ken Jensen and more. Seems kind of obvious doesn't it that this "stakeholders" meeting is intentionally excluding the best informed people.

Richard's Letter tells it like it is and corrects some misinformation made for example by Councillor Mark Bauman. Mark made his usual bleating noises about inappropriate "personal attacks" earlier in the Record. Any such suggestion aimed at CPAC members is a damned lie courtesy of a damned liar. Richard clarifys that the issue is Chemtura and the M.O.E.'s refusal to attend public CPAC meetings and answer honest serious questions about their east side leakage of contaminants including Dioxins and Agent Orange.

Richard also clarifys the nonsensical meeting being proposed by Mayor Shantz. This meeting is mere window dressing to allow Chemtura & the M.O.E., via their friends on Council, to make changes in the CPAC processes, membership and procedures.

Finally Richard spells out the strength of the current CPAC. This CPAC has put all before it to shame with their investigative abilities and honesty and strength of character. Shame on Mayor Shantz and Councillor Bauman for their support of Chemtura and the M.O.E..

IF ONE OR MORE PUTATIVE "STAKEHOLDERS" HAVE MADE IT A CONDITION THAT ONE OR MORE MEMBERS OF SWAT NOT PARTICIPATE IN THE MEETING, THEN IN CONCURRING WITH THIS DEMAND, SANDY HAS ALREADY BEEN CO-OPTED BY THEM" - A SWAT MEMBER

UPCOMING EVENTS IN THE LIFE & DEATH BATTLE FOR AN HONEST CPAC

Richard Clausi has sent in a letter To The Editor and has been assurred that it will be published. Richard is a member of SWAT (soil, water, air & technical), a sub-committee of CPAC. Since retiring and since this CPAC have held their public meetings in the evening versus daytime meetings favoured by former CPACs, Richaed has attended CPAC meetings regularily. Richard's Letter To... is excellent and asks Mayor Shantz some difficult questions.

Yours truly is the first Delegate at this Tuesday's Committee of the Whole meeting (6 pm.) in Council Chambers. My topic will be the proposed, pretend stakeholders meeting that is being arranged by Mayor Shantz. I will be advising Council, the media and the public as to the specific techniques used by politicians in their neverending, self serving manipulation of the public.

This coming Thursday at 9 pm. on CBC "Doc Zone" will be a documentary titled "Vietnam: Canada's Shadow War". This documentary will explore Canada's role in the war from accepting draft dodgers to profiting from the sale of war materials to the U.S. military. The latter is not something Canada should be proud of as this war produced incredible sufferring by civilians, men, women and children. It included chemical warfare, courtesy of Agent Orange, which to this day still produces civilain casualties. I will be speaking, however briefly or not, to the production here in Elmira, of agent Orange.

"THE GOAL OF THE TECHNIQUE IS TO LEAD A TARGETED GROUP OF PEOPLE TO A PREDETERMINED OUTCOME, WHILE GIVING THE ILLUSION OF TAKING PUBLIC INPUT AND UNDER THE PRETEXT OF BEING ACCOUNTABLE TO THE PUBLIC. FOR THE TECHNIQUE TO WORK, IT IS CRITICAL THAT THE TARGETED GROUP BE KEPT AWAY FROM KNOWLEDGABLE PEOPLE WHO COULD LEAD THEM AWAY FROM THE PREDETERMINED OUTCOME."

OUR NEW WOOLWICH COUNCIL HAVE GIVEN CHEMTURA & THE M.O.E. A SIX MONTH REPRIEVE

Well done Sandy and Mark. There won't be any coal in your Christmas stockings this year. Your "leadership" in promoting Chemtura and the Ontario M.O.E.'s interests with the new Council members has allowed them to boycott public consultation and public meetings since the end of last October. Your stated plans for a pretend stakeholders, by invitation only, private and secret discussion in early April will give Chemtura/M.O.E. about a six month reprieve while you trot out your already written conclusions that you will present to the rest of Council.

The alleged results of discussions by woefully uninformed and or biased individuals and groups on behalf of Chemtura will be massaged if necessary including simply ignoring any statements or comments that don't suit Chemtura/M.O.E. purposes. This is the joy of being able to hide from honest, informed public scrutiny. The reality is that the most informed are being intentionally avoided and discriminated against. Or as per Dr. Henry Regier if the participants have explicitly denied CPAC their most technical members including SWAT, even being in attendance in the gallery as public participants, then the process is co-opted. Shame on you Mayor Shantz.

"I THINK THAT WE ALL KNOW THAT THE ENTIRE CHARADE IS TO ATTEMPT TO DISTRACT THE PUBLIC'S ATTENTION FROM THE EXISTENCE OF UNIDENTIFIED FREAKY OOZE (UFO's) ON THE EAST AND SOUTH BOUNDARY OF THE SITE." - A CPAC Member

STATE A LIE THEN REPEAT EVERY DAY FOR A MONTH

That is the prescription for a politician trying to get their own way, inappropriately. By the way I love what a hypocrite Councillor Mark Bauman is. In one breath he tells CPAC in Working Session meetings of CPAC that "he isn't into the blame game" and then he turns around and helps lead the charge of blaming CPAC for the Chemtura/M.O.E. boycott.

Yesterday I posted here that except for his comment about personal attacks at meetings that were inappropriate; the rest of the article wasn't too bad. That said I've noticed something bizarre. The original title of the Record article was ""Dysfunction" on Elmira committee". That "dysfunction" was then defined by Councillor Bauman as people not talking because they weren't attending. Then later in the day, on-line, and presumably in the later edition of the paper the title had changed to ""Dysfunction" paralyzing Elmira cleanup committee: councillor". That headline is a blatant lie. Yes it's more difficult but CPAC are not remotely paralysed. CPAC have been attending and working on business consistently. Chemtura and the M.O.E. are the ones who have buggered off.

Mark Bauman's comment is either a blatant lie ("personal attacks") or it is a subtle attempt at blaming CPAC for personal attacks. CPAC have done no such thing and anyone, including Mayor Shantz, who says otherwise is a liar. While CPAC have always behaved professionally I have certainly publicly stated that both Chemtura and the Ontario M.O.E. are corrupt. Even that however is not a personal attack. I have never at a CPAC meeting stated for example that Jeff Merriman or Dwighte Este are f...... liars. Nor have I said the same thing about specific, identifiable M.O.E. personnel. Many times I've called them on their dishonest, misleading answers. Again however I am not CPAC and I get called to the carpet immediately by Chair Dr. Dan Holt if I cross the line. At the last CPAC meeting in late February I used the word "shit" and Dr. Dan immediately stopped me until I promised not to repeat the word.

Sandy & Mark's game plan is to state the lie and then keep repeating it publicly and privately. They have drunk deeply of the Kool-Aid being poured by Chemtura and the M.O.E.. Neither has the courage or honesty to tell the public that they are firmly in bed with the destroyer of Elmira's drinking water.

CPAC'S "MANUFACTURED CRISIS" MAKES THE K-W RECORD

First off the Waterloo Region Record owes CPAC an apology. The staff reporter who wrote the article in today's Record titled ""Dysfunction" on Elmira committee" should have interviewed CPAC's Chair, Dr. Dan Holt. Indeed she contacted him twice over a week ago and my understanding is that he was ready, able and willing to speak to her. She mangaged to procrastinate long enough that he finally was gone for holidays last weekend and part of this week. Then she speaks to a know nothing Ministry of the Environment "spokesperson" and to Councillor Mark Bauman. Mark does NOT speak on behalf of CPAC. If he speaks for anyone other than himself it is for Woolwich Council and in my opinion sometimes Chemtura's interests.

That said Mark could have done incredible damage to the truth with inaccurate comments. Overall I believe that short of his comments about inappropriate personal attacks he actually wasn't as bad as I feared from the way the article started out. Mark appears to be calling for a third party review of the method of the investigation and results. The devil of course is in the details. When the smoke clears lets hear what his position is then.

I will also moderate my criticism of reporter Paige Desmond in that she did point out that the 2028 deadline to cleanup Elmira's Aquifers is not on track. She also referenced a professional report (MTE Consultants) that there was a high potential for contamination to have spread south and east of the Chemtura property. Finally she also referenced the October 7, 1991 Settlement Agreement aka "Sweetheart Deal" between Chemtura and the Ont. M.O.E.. Hmm, I'm wondering something here. Did she get that info from e-mails she's received, from Mark Bauman (unlikely) or did she at the last minute talk to Dr. Dan Holt and simply not mention it here in her article? Very strange.

Reporter Paige Desmond refers to a CPAC membership shakeup. Mayor Shantz, Chemtura and the M.O.E. want to defang CPAC in a manner that doesn't appear authoritarian or dictatorial. The alleged "stakeholders" meeting is part of that plan. Unfortunately for the Mayor her political skills of manipulation, while subtle, have been unsucessful in fooling CPAC into compliance. They have politely said no thanks to her entreaties that originally one, now two members attend. CPAC are holding out for six members (all) attending plus it be a public meeting. Even with six members they will be grossly outnumbered at the table.

Part of the Mayor's plan has been to tarnish CPAC with my blunt disapproval of Chemtura, the M.O.E. and their fellow travellors on Woolwich Council. I have repeatedly over the last few months both verbally and in writing made it clear that I do not speak on behalf of CPAC. While I was a member of the sub-committee of CPAC called SWAT (soil, water, air & technical) from approximately 2012 through 2014 I determined that my aggressive defence of CPAC and SWAT here, at Council meetings as a Delegate and via e-mails would be used by dishonest persons as an opening to tarnish CPAC and SWAT. Therefore weeks and months ago I offerred my resignation in writing to Dr. Dan. This written resignation is signed and dated by yours truly. Both CPAC and SWAT members (less 1) know this which is exactly why they have not felt compelled to respond to stupid references that they are somehow responsible for my words. That said we are indeed friends and colleagues and that will not change.

As CPAC appointed persons to SWAT without any input from Council, they certainly don't need any input from or notice to them regarding changes in SWAT membership. There are actually several SWAT members that Council are unaware of. Council and Mark Bauman, should have read more carefully how I signed my Delegations to Council. They should have paid attention when I told them point blank that I did not represent CPAC. They should have noticed that I did not have my name on last week's Letter To The Editor signed by CPAC members and two SWAT members. Perhaps they've been too darn busy looking for minor openings with which to attack CPAC.

TELL THE TRUTH SANDY

Look if Mayor Shantz and a colleague or two on the new Woolwich Council want to rescue Chemtura, save their reputation and several millions of dollars; feel free, go ahead. If Chemtura are privately threatening to leave Elmira without Woolwich Township intervention to hobble the current Chemtura Public Advisory Committee, again fine , so be it. But what you must stop doing Mayor Sandy Shantz is lying to CPAC and the public. If you want to crush, weaken, water down, threaten or intimidate CPAC into submission you will do so honestly and openly. No more lies!

For those of us in the know locally, your agenda has become blatant. Chemtura and the Ministry of Environment have manufactured a crisis by boycotting the last three public CPAC meetings. They have done this on your watch with your blessing. Your response has been to promote a private, secret discussion between pretend stakeholders. Any real discussion and meeting on the 2028 cleanup deadline for the Elmira Aquifers and on the ongoing discharges of Dioxins (2,3,7,8 TCDD)and DDT off the east side of Chemtura and then down the Canagagigue Creek must include six CPAC members and be public.

You have appointed two local residents to your pretend stakeholders meeting who have the appearance of a conflict of interest. It is most likely that they are the very same pair who along with the current CPAC members reapplied for appointment last Novemeber. To date you have refused to admit that. I have sent you and the rest of Council further evidence this weekend indicating that one of them has worked with, "assisted", or collaborated with Chemtura's long time consultants Conestoga Rovers (CRA) on their E:DAT project (3-D groundwater modelling). This evidence includes at least half a dozen honest witnesses to that specific conversation between Steve Quigley of CRA and Susan Bryant at the November 29, 2012 public CPAC meeting. Other evidence includes hand written notes from that meeting plus a formal posting here and publicly available on the Elmira Advocate since the next morning ie. November 30/12. Lastly all public CPAC meetings are recorded. This public conversation was recorded and with the date and time available can easily be checked. These recordings however are solely under the control of Woolwich Township. Rest assurred Mayor Sandy and her CAO will never voluntarily release them and substantiate that those who deny this conversation regarding collaboration, are lying.

The second plant on this pretend stakeholders meeting is past Woolwich Councillor Pat McLean. She has been jetting across North America on the Chemical Industry's dime for at least a decade including secretly while the Chair of a citizens public advisory committee (CPAC). She was appointed to the National Advisory Panel of the Chemical Industry Association of Canada (CIAC). Her technical, chemical and scientific skills are literally nil. This appointment was due to her Chairmanship of CPAC plus most likely a recommendation from Chemtura. Her "secret" membership plus perks came to light via the Internet. Her name and photograph indicate different venues and meetings across the continent she has attended on an all expenses paid basis. I was a voting CPAC member from 2000 until 2008 and never was I told or informed as to what she was doing on behalf of the chemical industry.

Woolwich Council no longer have plausible deniability. They have been informed and must do the right thing. That means, that pair, off of both the "stakeholders" meeting where they allegedly are representing the public interest and they must not be appointed to the incoming CPAC for the same reason. Anything less and Woolwich council are complicit in this fraud being perpetrated upon the public. I repeat Sandy you can have your way but you will tell the public exactly the truth and what you are doing. The deception must stop.

FURTHER DETAILS ON DR. DAN HOLT'S LETTER TO THE EDITOR

I posted two days ago about the CPAC Chair's Letter To The Editor that was published last Thursday in the Elmira Independent. Here are some specifics.

CPAC has been functioning extremely well for the last four years contrary to the Mayor's assertion otherwise . This is specifically why Chemtura and the Ontario M.O.E. are running for cover beneath the Woolwich Township umbrella. Those two parties want and expect a tame, pretend public consultation at which they can present their glossy version without serious questions or criticisms.

The current major issue is the east side discharge of Dioxins and DDT into the natural environment via the Stroh property and Drain. The 2028 non-cleanup of the Elmira Aquifers is another hugely serious problem.

Mayor Shantz's claims that her proposed private meeting and secret discussions are O.K. because it is a "Working Meeting" is just typical, political doublespeak and nonsense. As far as the meeting being sidetracked by being public and inclusive of all five CPAC members is further nonsense. Dr. Dan has indicated the professional credentials of the CPAC members. More likely it is Chemtura and the M.O.E. who will sidetrack things.

Mayor Shantz's nonsense about CPAC not participating in the process is simply both rude and woefully ignorant. They've been participating while she's been at home sitting on her butt for the last four years. Such bullshit Sandy!

The M.O.E. are the problem. They are comprimised and have long been working on behalf of the polluter rather than in the public interest. Blaming CPAC while allowing Chemtura and the M.O.E. a six month respite from answering hard questions about the east side of their property is disgraceful. It is in my learned opinion that this is typical of Woolwich Township's behaviour over most of the last twenty-five years.

THE ENVIRONMENTAL DEMISE OF PAT & SUSAN

Last Saturday I posted here that I had sent a two page Document to Woolwich Council and the media among others titled "Both the Appearance and Reality of a Conflict of Interest". That document was replied to and sent to the parties yesterday by Susan Bryant. I have already, paragraph by paragraph, commented on her confirmations of my data as well as two of her denials. Furthermore she has somewhat added to the fire by indicating meals (Swiss Chalet) being provided to various meetings. If nothing more this would indicate to me that Chemtura treat their supporters much more courteously and respectfully than their critics.

Susan also confirms a single plane trip for citizen volunteers to a CRA cleanup site. There are no details such as who specifically went (likely Pat Mclean), where the location was (likely U.S.) or how long the trip lasted. Interestingly it just crossed my wee mind that I believe Pat Mclean was a Woolwich Councillor at the time. Hmm could that be a double conflict of interest? You know Mayor Shantz and Councillor Bauman that your support for Pat & Susan is starting to blow up in your faces? Mark Bauman tried unsucessfully to get Susan put back on CPAC a year and a half ago. Meanwhile the Mayor has appointed both Pat & Susan to the phoney "stakeholders" meeting scheduled for April 9/15.

Currently Woolwich Township by association with former Mayor Cowan are in the news for his alleged breech of trust, fraud etc.. While I'm no lawyer my allegations have at most been about the appearance of Pat & Susan having a conflict of interest. I simply can't see how they can pretend to be solely motivated by the public interest versus their own when they have both personally benefited by their association with Chemtura Canada and the Chemtura Public Advisory Committee (CPAC).

Lastly today's Woolwich Observer carrys an article and photograph about Bob Burtt's book which came out last fall. This book was affectionately referred to as "The Saga of Susan" by my friend and colleague Dr. Henry Regier. That said not a single mention of Susan in the Observer's writeup this morning. Well, well, well. Interestingly part owner of the Observer is Councillor Patrick Merlihan. The title of today's Observer article is "Officials not safeguarding Elmira's groundwater, says author of new book".

CPAC GOES PUBLIC

Today's Elmira Independent carrys this Letter To The Editor titled "Meeting with MOECC and Chemtura should be public". The letter is written and signed by Dr. Dan Holt, CPAC Chair. It was written on behalf of and with prior agreement to the contents by all six CPAC members and two SWAT team members. The other three SWAT team members are not as involved on a day to day basis as Dr. Henry Regier and Richard Clausi. Voting Chemtura Public Advisory Committee (CPAC) members consist of Dr. Dan, Sebastian Seibel-Achenbach, Vivienne Delaney, Ron Campbell, Graham Chevreau and Councillor Mark Bauman. Soil, Water, Air, Technical (SWAT) are a sub-committee of CPAC appointed by them hence going around certain Woolwich Council biases and personalities. Chemtura totally despise the acronym SWAT as it signifies to them an emergency situation. They and their pet regulator, the MOE, prefer to pretend that everything is under control.

Councillor Mark Bauman in my opinion is a world class SBS expert. This stands for sucking and blowing simultaneously. He and he alone could have and should have stood up to the new Mayor based upon his five terms on Council and his last three years as a CPAC member. I do not believe for one second that her immediate CPAC crisis promotion was not supported by Mark Bauman. Indeed at the start of the January CPAC meeting he spoke with her making asinine claims that CPAC's disrespectful behaviour was at the root of Chemtura's and the M.O.E.'s non appearance. That was a blatant lie. Yet here he is signing a Letter To The editor which essentially is condemning Mayor Shantz's earlier Elmira Independent interview. What a guy.

Dr. Dan speaks honestly and accurately and dispels many of the misconceptions and intentional misleading in Mayor Shantz's comments. The only reason to have this meeting in private is so that Chemtura and the Ministry of the Environment (M.O.E.) can do what they do best which is lie and preferably without getting caught publicly doing it.

A MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR OF CPAC

Following is the text of a statement given by Dr. Dan Holt, CPAC Chair, at the last public CPAC meeting on February 26, 2015. It is extraordinary for its' detailed and forthright explanation of both the environmental and political situation here in Elmira, Ontario regarding Chemtura Canada (formerly Uniroyal Chemical).

One note: The initial proposed suspension of further meetings was discussed and it was decided not to proceed with that.


"Since Chemtura and MOECC have not shown up for the February meeting I propose we have a motion to suspend all future meetings until May 2015 or until they are ready to act like grownups and return. They have shown disrespect for CPAC, Council, and the people of Elmira by their actions and lack of actions for the past several years. Respect is a two way street and being purposely deceptive and pretending to take actions to remediate the aquifer over the years when in fact they are not doing what would actually help is not respectful.

The Mayor has met with both Chemtura and the MOECC and not knowing what she has promised the MOECC and Chemtura they still have not shown up for meetings. It is apparent that they are not interested in truly working together. I propose that CPAC suspend all future meetings until Chemtura and the MOECC are ready to respect all parties involved and return ready to actually work toward a goal of real remediation of the aquifer.

Chemtura and the MOECC pretend that they are the victims in all of this. The Council and Mayor are being deceived based on their attendance at one or two CPAC meetings in four years. The real victims are the residents of Elmira who had their clean fresh water stolen by Chemtura over 30 years ago which in turn is costing the residents higher water bills.

Chemtura deceived this committee and the people of Elmira when they, for a year or more, declared that they would meet the 2028 deadline by their current methods and pumping rates while they had the data all along, that they would later reveal, which indicated that they would not reach the 2028 goal without increasing the pumping rates by 300%. And after two years they still have not increased the rates but in some cases reduced the pumping rates.

The MOECC is not living up to its responsibilities under the Environmental Protection Act (EPA). They have the authority and responsibility to go on property with or without permission to investigate contamination and possible hazards to human health, animal life, and the environment and they steadfastly refuse to carry out their duty. They are continuing to spend over $600,000/year that we know of, of taxpayer's money, without accomplishing a true claenup of the aquifer. Instead of supporting the efforts of CPAC, the representatives of the people, the MOECC consistently support the inaction of Chemtura.

Chemtura has a history of this type of avoidance of cleaning up their messes in other locations (Red Hook Park in Brooklyn for one) and that indicates to me that they are playing a game of delay and obfuscation at the expense of the residents. I personally have been publicly attacked and called a liar at a Council meeting when I had no way to defend my honour or myself. Of course, the Chemtura representative who defamed me in public later apologized in private and said he didn't want to do that, but the corporate higher ups forced him. Why is that nor part of this discussion of work place harassment? Steve Quigley has many times insulted this committee. George Karlos has insulted this committee. Josef Olejarz has been disrespectful. Why is all this blame heaped on CPAC (for the other two parties not showing up)?

We should entertain shutting down all of it and save the taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars per year. The aquifer is not going to be cleaned up under the current process...the MOECC won't even give us a definition of what "cleaned up according to the ODWS" means. It has now been over a year since we requested that definition from the MOECC. Eric Hodgins, of the Region, has told us that the aquifer will have to rest after the declaration of "clean" is made anyway so why not now?

I for one am tired of being taken for granted, disrespected and bullied. My time, effort, and talents are worrth a lot more than I'm getting for this endeavour. respect is a two way street, nothing is being accomplished, so let's shut it down.

If we don't do this then it is time to bring in the big guns from outside to spread the word via the media. Ron is right...the 1991 Settlement Agreement is the guiding factor in all this and that means that Council, the people and CPAC have no real chance to make any difference in this anyway. That deal was struck to protect Chemtura from ever having to really spend the money to clean up the aquifer and surrounding contamination. The MOECC will always protect Chemtura because they are afraid of more legal action.

I want to take this opportunity to express my appreciation and admiration for those who have fought this battle for the past 25 years. Too many to name and I don't even know them all, but I do know Henry, Rich and Alan. Thank you for having the determination, knowledge and willingness to put up with all the nonsense that has been thrown at you over the years. The residents don't even know what you've done for them and continue to do to right a wrong perpetrated on the population of Elmira and the environment we all share."

AWAITING THE INDEPENDENT & OBSERVER WRITEUPS

I am awaiting this week's Elmira Independent and Woolwich Observer's editions to come out on Thursday and Friday respectively. Both papers did not write up three Delegations which took place at last Tuesday's March 3 Committee of the Whole 6 pm. meeting. These Delegations were from Dr. Henry Regier, Lisa Macdonald and myself. Considering the significance of all three Delegations I would be quite surprised if they were not covered in each paper this week.

Dr. Regier's (Henry) paper as well as mine were in regard to local, long standing environmental problems. Henry's focused somewhat on the bigger picture of the Grand River valley and basin whereas mine was focused on Chemtura and the Canagagigue Creek . I also commented on the ongoing gamesmanship by Chemtura, the Ontario M.O.E. and their fellow travellors on Woolich Council. Mark Bauman did some minor complaining after my Delegation regarding the definition of "favours" which I stated Chemtura had called in from recently re-elected Councillors.

Lisa MacDonald's Delegation was extremely interesting and as I indicated earlier focused on returning Councillor Murray Martin. While clearly not of the Pamela Wallin/Mike Duffy category nevertheless I await further developments. I would further suggest that Councillor Martin's alleged impropriety's are not of the Todd Cowan variety either. I'm trying to be careful here because truth be told while I think I understand the allegations I personally have not seen the evidence nor necessarily would I immediately understand it if it was available to me.

There should also be an excellent letter To The Editor in this week's Elmira Independent. I have read it and found it to be extraordinarily clear and accurate and should set a few things straight. Woolwich Council and Mayor Shantz, it's time to give your heads a serious shake.

THE VIETNAM WAR - CANADA'S "SHADOW WAR"

The CBC "Doc Zone" have an upcoming documentary variously titled "Canada's Shadow War", "The 40th Anniversary of the Fall Of Saigon" and or "Canada's Secret War - Vietnam". This documentary will be shown on the "Doc Zone" program on Thursday March 26, 2015 at 9 pm. It is on the CBC channel #5.

Yours truly was honoured to have been picked by the filmakers to be interviewed and to assist in whatever way possible both prior to and during the filming in Elmira last year. Apparently there are both literary and biblical references to individuals who are treated shabbily at home while appropriately honoured by those at a distance. It is indeed strange to me how good my reputation is outside of Elmira. Apparently decades of local liars, professional and amateur, have done their best work behind the scenes, whispering.

I was chosen after a brief interview to determine my technical competence as well as my historical knowledge. These attributes unfortunately are not in demand by the numerous guilty parties here in Woolwich Township and especially in Elmira. Those guilty parties include all Woolwich Councils from 1989 to the present with one notable exception and that was the 2010-2014 Council. That Council despite the flameout of their Mayor supported the citizen volunteers on the Chemtura Public Advisory Committee (CPAC) rather than supporting Chemtura Canada (formerly Uniroyal Chemical).

There is a promotional video on-line for this upcoming documentary. I googled last night "CBC Doc Zone Canada's Shadow War". I then picked the one listing mentioning a PROMO. Sure enough there is a 1 1/2 minute promotional video showing interesting parts of the upcoming documentary. Yours truly is seen and heard discussing Uniroyal Chemical, Elmira, Agent Orange that was produced here and its' accompanying birth defects. Therefore as I'm in the promotional video on-line as well as recently already on television promoting this documentary; I am curious as to how much of my interview and later filming will be involved.

From the promotional video there will also be information regarding the Canadian - U.S. political situation at the time including draft dodgers given sanctuary here. Whether other Canadian corporate, financial benefactors of the Vietnam War will also be included I do not know.

HAD ENOUGH TIME TO REFLECT WOOLWICH COUNCIL?

Fair enough it is early Saturday morning however I am already noticing on-line activity from some SWAT and two CPAC members. First off nice Deflection there Patrick. My two page letter last evening to Council was titled "Both the Appearance and Reality of a Conflict of Interest". It gave specific times and incidents in which two past CPAC members were the beneficiaries of food, travel, accomodation and income as a direct result of their so called volunteer activism on behalf of Woolwich Township. I emphasized how appearances were just as important (or more) as the reality when it comes to conflicts of interest. Your one page response was somewhat schizophrenic as you flipped from praising me to condemning and or criticizing me and CPAC. You neatly avoided discussing the years long glaring conflicts of interest that past Woolwich Councils embraced to ensure the status quo (and Chemtura) remained.

I have a little confession here. I have been poking and prodding in order to draw out the attitudes of Woolwich Council. My main hope lay with Patrick Merlihan, Scott Hahn and Larry Shantz. That hope is fading although to date not from any comments by Larry. Fading but not totally gone yet. Therefore I hope that even the three former Councillors all with a history of supporting Chemtura in the crunch will take note that their two former CPAC friends are no longer tenable candidates. Pat and Susan, even in the very best light possible, can be seen by the average person as having comprimised their claims to be solely representing the public interest. Those who have strongly supported or advocated in either Pat or Susan's favour need to step back. The cat is out of the bag and further support either way will be counter productive.

Woolwich Council are hiding behind make me believe consultation with make believe "stakeholders". Tell me Sandy and Mark do you think I have learned nothing from watching the political machinations by Woolwich Councilors over the last twenty-five years? Yes I absolutely was naive back in 1990. I took everyone at face value. I got lied to, bullshitted, lied about and libelled and slandered in both low and high places. Patrick your e-mail late last night is a revelation. Call me paranoid??? Can you possibly as a co-owner of a paper which routinely exposes corruption at the municipal, provincial, federal and international level actually be so naive? That corruption allegedly includes Woolwich's last Mayor and while I have no use for liars in general, Todd Cowan is not the exception in Woolwich politics.

CANADA & THE VIETNAM / WOOLWICH WAR

The above title is perhaps a little weird. Last night while watching the "Doc Zone" on CBC (ch.#5) there was an ad for an upcoming documentary in three weeks. The original title I was told was "The 40th Anniversary of the Fall of Saigon". Last night if I heard correctly the title now is "Canada and the Vietnam War". Hmm. That's an interesting difference. I might assume that that means they will be focusing on Canadian industries who contributed to the war effort. I had been previously advised that Elmira (& Uniroyal) would have about five minutes of the one hour documentary but now I'm wondering. Therefore March 26/15 at 9 pm. CBC channel # 5.

Yesterday's Elmira Independent article about CPAC rejecting the invitation to the stakeholders' meeting carried the usual suspect information from Mayor Shantz. Particularily disingenuous were her comments that "I think it's very difficult for them to give good advice, if they don't participate in the process.'. Such absolute trollop. While she was sitting on her ass for four years, CPAC & SWAT were engaging and participating on a weekly and monthly basis. Some of us even on a daily basis. She couldn't even be bothered to attend a single public CPAC meeting in that time frame.

MAYORAL MANIPULATION REVEALED ?

Today's Elmira Independent carrys the following article titled "CPAC rejects invitation to participate in "stakeholders" meeting". To date CPAC & SWAT have been asking and both Councillor Bauman (he of two hats) and Mayor Shantz have been sitting on the answers regarding details around what Mayor Shantz is now calling a "working meeting". Questions have been specific such as what is the agenda, what issues will be discussed, when and where and most importantly who exactly are the participants. To put it bluntly if you were a Christian missionary invited to a dinner and you found out that the rest of the invitees are cannibals, might you reflect a little longer on your decision to accept or not? Pat Mclean, Susan Bryant and other former CPAC members invited a couple of the current CPAC folks to attend a meeting at the Elmira library in the summer of 2011 and then viciously ganged up on them when they attended. Shame on Sandra Bair, Susan and Pat and others who took out their resentment at not being appointed to the new CPAC on those that were appointed and had no knowledge of that resentment or reasons for it.

We are advised in Gail Martin's article that the results of this alleged "stakeholders" meeting will be presented to Council for their final Decision. First off these aren't "stakeholders". I personally am a 25 year "stakeholder" and notice that I'm sure as hell not invited. Meanwhile the GRCA who don't know dick about Elmira's contaminated groundwater or about the contaminated Chemtura site, allegedly are "stakeholders". This meeting is a setup of friends and colleagues of Mayor Shantz and other municipalities who will simply give her the direction that she and Chemtura/M.O.E. ask them for. This direction will be given to Woolwich Council with the aura of "consultation" behind it. It is a typical Woolwich Township sham and exactly why twenty-five plus years later we still are at first base at cleaning up from the Uniroyal disaster.

The final point in Gail Martin's article deals with the cowardice of Chemtura and the M.O.E. as well. They still have not advised CPAC as to what their issues are. They simply send an e-mail, in the case of the M.O.E. literally a few hours prior to the meeting, saying they won't attend. Meanwhile Councillor Bauman and Mayor Shantz have the unmitigated gall and nerve to suggest that CPAC have been disrespectful. Those two are biased and in bed with Chemtura. Shame on them.

THREE WOOLWICH COUNCILLORS TAKE A THUMPING LAST EVENING

The three "Councillors" are Murray Martin, Mark Bauman and Mayor Sandy Shantz whom I presume can also technically be called a Councillor? I took a round out of Councillor Bauman and Mayor Shantz while Lisa MacDonald of Conestogo clearly is unhappy with Councillor Murray Martin. Last evening was the first time that I put a face to the name Lisa Macdonald. She seemed organized and factual and repeatedly indicated that the books of the Conestoga Recreation Association backed her financial claims. She made claims that she clearly feels are substantiated regarding work for hire that Murray Martin has done in the park in Conestogo. That said I don't know Murray that well although I've not been overly enamoured with what I have seen as his pro Chemtura stance as a past Councillor. Therefore at this time I think it is a little premature to go into any allegations about him that were made last evening in Council. Whether either the Woolwich Observer or Elmira Independent will publish the details this Thursday and Friday, I simply have no idea.

Dr. Henry Regier spoke as a Delegate last evening and as typical by the way Councillor Bauman shook his hand immediately after his Delegation and praised him; you could be forgiven for thinking that Henry had praised Woolwich Councils, past and present. He did no such thing but in his typical Henry fashion presented his Delegation titled "The Mire Of Elmira". Henry went into detail about how chemical plants can externalize their costs by simply dumping their toxic wastes into the air, ground and nearby surface water. He did it in such a fashion that as I have seen before his targets cheerfully overlook his major point in their relief that he hasn't explicitly called them liars and deceivers. Hence Mark's over exuberance afterwards. This could also be Mark in his subtle fashion of sending the message that see Alan you can be critical without being personal. Henry did a great job and for the unbiased his meassage clearly was that all levels of governance share the blame including the feds, the province through the M.O.E., the GRCA and most definitely local Woolwich Councils.

I shared the history regarding the last time Chemtura boycotted UPAC (Uniroyal Public Advisory Committee) back in 1999. My two biggest points were that the current three meeting boycott is a manufactured crisis by Mayor Shantz and Mark Bauman that timing wise is exactly concurrent with the new Council. The second point was that Mark and Sandy's "plan" is ridiculous. A private meeting with secret discussions amongst non-involved "stakeholders" is patently a sham. I asked Council at the end of my Delegation whether they agreed with secret discussions on public matters. These matters include more than CPAC such as the 2028 cleanup deadline of which the GRCA and other participants are woefully uninformed.

TONITE'S WOOLWICH COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE 6 PM. PUBLIC MEETING

There are five Delegations at Woolwich Council Chambers this evening. Number three is Dr. Henry Regier and he will be discussing the political history around various Great lakes binational agreements as well as Canada-Ontario agreements dealing with various river basins which empty into Lake Huron, Erie and Ontario. These river basins include the Grand River Basin which runs from Dundalk in the north, southwards towards Dunnville and Lake Erie.

Yours truly is also a Delegate this evening and I will be discussing the lack of clear communication skills by Woolwich Township. They are planning some kind of meeting, packing it with ill informed political appointees as well as Staff persons knowledgable in their narrow fields but uninformed regarding Chemtura contamination issues and Elmira's groundwater remediation. Furthermore I will be putting Chemtura's recent behaviour in perspective as they have abandoned public consultation before when they were under pressure from citizens.

Woolwich Township Councils have a sordid history regarding their willingness to both tolerate grotesque chemical pollution and in fact to come to Uniroyal/Chemtura's defence when called upon. The last Council did not behave in that fashion much to the anguish of both Chemtura and the Ontario Ministry of the Environment (M.O.E.). Currently there is a counter revolution underway led by Councillor Mark Bauman and Mayor Sandy Shantz. While Woolwich electors clearly reacted to the excesses of former Mayor Cowan they did not give recently re-elected former Councillors (Sandy Shantz, Bauman and M. Martin) free rein to throw out the best Chemtura Public Advisory Committee (CPAC) they've ever had. Bauman and S. Shantz are doing this through backdoor secret discussions with Chemtura, M.O.E., Grand River Conservation and the Region of Waterloo. The GRCA haven't attended CPAC meetings in close to fifteen years and the Region quit coming maybe eight to ten years ago.

CPAC are a team of six members who have two excellent professionally qualified technical individuals. They combined with their SWAT sub-committee are a technical and historical force to be reckoned with. Precisely because of this they are prohibited from this meeting while CPAC's administrative and organizational Chairman alone is invited to the secret meeting. Chairman Dr. Dan Holt will be outnumbered and intentionally outgunned approximately fourteen to one. Even if he is able to accurately describe this travesty of a meeting, which is set up to let Chemtura and the M.O.E. have their way, his observations can be muted or even blatantly denied by the other fourteen or more individuals.

This folks is precisely how dishonest politicians play the system. They set up the meetings, the location, the time, the agenda and the participants. They abhor both honest debate and transparency. They pervert democracy at every opportunity while always talking motherhood and apple pie. They are professional liars without conscience, in order to get their way.

THERE ARE TWO TRUTH DENIERS ON WOOLWICH COUNCIL

Those two truth deniers are Councillor Mark Bauman and Mayor Sandy Shantz. Thay have been advised numerous times by numerous, if not all CPAC members as to what the facts are. Nevertheless they continue to deflect the issues and ignore the facts. They are coming to the inappropriate aid of Chemtura Canada who have walked away from public consultation with the previously Council appointed body named CPAC (Chemtura Public Advisory Committee). The issue is the environmental ongoing disaster on Chemtura's east side and neighbour; it is not some red herring brought about by Chemtura's premeditated boycott of CPAC. Their boycott is simply a tactic to manufacture a different crisis. This false crisis has been embraced by Mayor Shantz and Councillor Bauman and they are selling it to the other most likely currently overwhelmed new Councillors.

Eight different CPAC and SWAT members know and have verbally and in writing expressed their outrage to Mayor Shantz and Councillor Bauman. These eight have uncovered a previously unknown environmental disaster on the east side and with a professional third party consultant taken their information to the last Council. The last Council paid attention and fully supported CPAC and SWAT. This Council instead are attacking CPAC and SWAT.

Mark and Sandy refuse to solve the environmental crisis. They are intent on solving a political crisis which is how to get rid of the current CPAC while selling the lie also to the public that CPAC are the bad guys. Sandy and Mark are taking both Council and the public for a ride. Hence they are both truth deniers and deceivers. They are shameless.