A HALF CENTURY POLITICAL COVERUP OF THE UNIROYAL CHEMICAL ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTER

The Canagagigue Creek was devoid of all life in the late 1950s and most of the 60s. No fish not even carp or suckers could survive. Invertebrates, sediment dwellers were also extinct in the creek. Burrowing animals that lived downstream near the creek were no longer trapped for their furs because of the chemical smell attached to them. Persistent Toxic Substances such as DDT and Dioxins/Furans were being flushed constantly (and still are) down the creek as suspended sediments and as eroded creekbanks.

In 1965 the Elmira Sewage Treatment Plant was commissioned. It was a joint financial project of the Township and of Uniroyal Chemical. In 1972 the Woolwich Dam was built in order to have stored water available to flush and dilute the creek's toxins during the drier summer months. In 1992 the major aquifer on the Uniroyal/Chemtura site was hydraulically contained (partially) to stop the ongoing flow of grossly contaminated groundwater into the rest of the Elmira Aquifers which had caused the drinking wells to be shut down in 1989. In 1997 the shallow aquifer (UA1) was also hydraulically contained over 1/4 of the site (South-east) to reduce the ongoing discharges to the Canagagigue. In 1998 the first off-site pumping wells were commissioned to begin the pump and treat "cleanup" of the Elmira Aquifers. It was proven inadequate in the spring of 2012 by the new CPAC and SWAT citizen groups against the clamor of Chemtura and the Ontario Ministry of the Environment. They have since come around along with the rest of the political players including the Region of Waterloo, M.O.E. and Woolwich Township. In 2014 CPAC, then known as the Chemtura Public Advisory Committee and now truly independent and known as the Citizens Public Advisory Committee, advised Council and the M.O.E. that the Chemtura site was not contained on the east side and had in fact been leaking, leaching and flowing overland for decades onto the active farm sharing their property line. This information was backed up by a litany of thirty year old technical reports combined with a new one in late 2014 by MTE Consultants, commissioned by CPAC.

These discoveries earned CPAC & SWAT, now combined together due to not having to kiss Woolwich Council's ass any longer; the enmity, fear and loathing of Chemtura, M.O.E. and certain members of the new Woolwich Council. Together they colluded in order to relieve Chemtura and the M.O.E. of the intense pressure the citizens, sure as hell not the politicians, had them under. CPAC was vilified and dismissed as a committee of Council primarily due to the lying and disinformation of mayor Shantz and Councillor Mark Bauman.

CPAC's information and discoveries have been proven correct yet again. The recently released "East Side Surficial Soil & Groundwater Investigation" by GHD, as flawed as it is, nevertheless substantiates CPAC's public claims. Chemtura and the M.O.E. with able assistance from corrupt Woolwich Councillors desperately are trying to avoid further revelations. They do not want the public to learn that there was a very good reason for their not hydraulically containing the east side of the creek the same way they hydraulically contained the west side (south-west at least). They do not want the public to know that their $3-4 million cleanup of GP1 & 2 was a sham. They do not want the public to know the real purpose of the Stroh Drain running parallel to their south-east property line. In all this Woolwich Council continue to assist them. Most recently Council advised me at a public Council meeting that the appropriate place for Delegations dealing with Chemtura are at TAG (Technical Advisory Committee) meetings. Strange but TAG do not accept public Delegations. RAC (Remediation Advisory Committee) do but so what? There have been public Delegations to Woolwich Council meetings regarding Uniroyal/Chemtura literally for the last fifty years including the last twenty-five years when UPAC & CPAC were in existence. These Delegations to Council will continue and Council can misinterpret laws and make up as many new rules as they want; Uniroyal/Chemtura will always be a valid and legitmate subject for the Council Chambers located a whole five blocks away from their plant.