PROVINCIAL M.O.E. INACTION; FEDERAL TALK & INACTION LIKELY

The Ontario Ministry of Environment (M.O.E.) investigated sediments in the Canagagigue Creek in 2012, 2013 and 2014. Their testing was neither comprehensive nor scientifically rigorous. This is one of the reasons Dr. Dick Jackson is requesting a "full" assessment of the sediments because currently the M.O.E. are trying to sell the dishonest notion that there are only a couple of hot spots in the creek. When you only test three locations in the five mile stretch of creek down to the Grand River and two of them are off the charts then stating that there are only two hot spots is disingenuous.

Dr. Henry Regier sent a formal Petition in 2004 to the federal government asking for their assistance in cleaning up the Uniroyal/Crompton site and its' aftereffects. That Petition and the responses from the feds has been sent to Dr. Dick Jackson very recently. Dr. Regier has long been a member of the Elmira Environmental Hazards Team as well as of SWAT. Currently he, Rich Clausi and myself are menbers of CPAC (Citizens Public Advisory Committee). I no longer require the blessing of ignorant Woolwich Councillors to be a formal member of that group.

Dr. Jackson's key Recommendations to the federal government are as follows:
Fully assess the stream bed and suspended sediment contamination to identify where dioxins and furans in the sediment exceed guidelines.
Establish a permanent suspended sediment monitoring station.
Retain Hatfield Consultants (experts on Agent Orange Contamination) to undertake a human-health risk assessment of the sediment quality in the creek based upon results from the strem bed and suspended sediment assessment.
Identify the Canagagigue Creek as an Area of Concern under the 2012 Great Lakes water quality Agreement.

Currently RAC, TAG and Woolwich Townships are esentially a one man show. This is currently not a problem in my opinion when the one man is Dr. Dick Jackson. He has more knowledge in his little finger than all the rest combined. That said there are both honest and dishonest citizen reps with him on TAG. Same thing goes for Woolwich Township. As far as RAC goes they are mostly know nothing bureaucrats. Know nothing as far as Chemtura contamination and Chemtura/M.O.E. dishonesty perhaps.

The only reason the media are on the case is because CPAC members have shone a light upon Woolwich Township over the last year plus. CPAC Delegations to Council talking about the downstream Canagagigue Creek and or the East Side Investigation looking for Dioxin/Furan & DDT "sinks" along with Election expense scandals have piqued the interest of the Region's citizens. Add to this the recent attempted "banning" of Delegations to Council regarding Chemtura Canada and everybody wants to know what stupidity Woolwich are up to next. Let's also not forget the Township's grotesque mishandling of replacing CPAC with their hand picked buddies for TAG (plus one expert).

Will any or all of this get the feds to do their duty? To date they've given nothing but excuses. That is my prediction for the future yet as always I remain optimistic. Perpetual pressure will cause change. It just takes a long time.