CPAC'S CALM AND QUIET STRENGTH

Last evening CPAC held their fifth public meeting in Woolwich Council Chambers with neither Chemtura nor the Ontario Ministry of Environment (M.O.E.) present. While it is exhiliarating not having to deal with their neverending deceit and obfuscations, obviously they are expected by the public to be present to present their versions of reality and to respond to questions and comments.

Besides public input via my Delegation at the start of the meeting there was also via Public Forum at the end, comments made by Lisa MacDonald, Richard Clausi and myself. CPAC members debated a number of issues arising from the extraordinarily bad behaviour of Woolwich Township over the last six months. These included the Township's wish to use Peter Gray of MTE Consultants to represent themselves in private by invitation only meetings with Chemtura, Conestoga Rovers and the M.O.E.. CPAC again made it very clear that in no way imaginable was Peter Gray attending these private meetings representing CPAC. They also made it clear that while Peter's expertise and reports were vital last October and this spring nevertheless Peter, on his own, was outgunned and overmatched when sitting down with multiple hydrogeologists who had spent over twenty years specifically on the Chemtura file. The opportunities for them to bullshit and bafflegab him with data that he has not seen nor reviewed are endless.

Another issue discussed and debated by CPAC was Woolwich CAO, David Brenneman's e-mail to CPAC advising that Woolwich Council had decided to extend CPAC's term of office by another three months until September 1, 2015. While his phone call to CPAC Chair Dr. Dan Holt appeared to be requesting that CPAC continue on, his e-mail simply advised of Council's decision. Debate was vigorous as the brass and gall of Woolwich Council, in the light of six months of a reprehensible smear campaign by one Woolwich Councillor plus Mayor, was beyond belief. Normally when an elected body or any group in authority request an extension of a term of office it is construed as a vote of confidence in the group they wish to carry on. CPAC's quiet strength and determination has been evidenced by their fortitude during this period of both verbal and written attack (April 9/15 "meeting minutes") by Councillor Bauman and Mayor Shantz.

CPAC member Ron Campbell expressed it best when he stated that CPAC should advise Woolwich Council that they believed according to their Terms of Reference as well as the Woolwich Procedural By-Laws that they CPAC were already into their second term and expected to complete this second four year term as per the specific terms in these accepted and agreed upon documents. The overall response was that CPAC would carry on despite the failure of Council to formally reappoint them in a timely manner. Sebastian Seibel-Achenbach was very clear in his condemnation of Woolwich Council's grotesquely disrespectful behaviour towards the Woolwich citizens volunteering their time on this committee. He and others were frankly skeptical of Council's intentions and motivations regarding this three month extension.

Supposedly Mark Bauman was restored yesterday to Council via Justice Grant Campbell of Superior Court in Kitchener. Of course I have to ask the obvious question namely how do you get restored when the Township allegedly never removed him in the first place? Secondly as previously mentioned here the document (Notice of Default) given to Mark and presumably Justice Campbell appeared on the surface to be flawed as it was missing the penalty of immediate forfeiture of office. Compounding these bizarre goings on is yesterdays late evening e-mail to CPAC by Mark Bauman, resigning from CPAC due to a bad /sour taste in his mouth from the last eight days. Possibly Mark noticed the underwhelming support from CPAC for his predicament or is this just another part of the Township's game plan? Time will very soon tell the tale.

Graham Chevreau gave an astounding presentation last evening. He had prepared a report with overhead slides and pictures regarding a grossly contaminated site in St. Louis Michigan formally known as the Velsicol plant among other names. This chemical factory producing DDT as well as brominated flame retardants is located alongside the Pine River which flows into lake Huron. Graham highlighted both the amazing similarities with our very own Chemtura Canada plant as well as the astounding differences in the remediation of the two sites. The Velsicol plant has had extensive source removal, in situ treatment (both thermal and chemical oxidation) and hydraulic containment. Their Dense Non Aqueous Phase Liquids (DNAPL) have been vigorously delineated and removed to all extents possible.

The differences and extent of remediation at the U.S. plant are a stark reality check to the excuses and deception Elmira citizens have received here from Chemtura, Conestoga Rovers and the Ontario M.O.E..