BACK TO PROVINCIAL OFFENCES COURT

Today in Courtroom #101 we had a grand total of three Woolwich residents present including myself. Scott Hahn had a lawyer present who managed to mumble his name although one of my colleagues thinks that she recognized him. Oops we had a reporter from the woolwich Observer present and perhaps she might be a fourth Woolwich resident.

There weren't too many surprises as we have an Adjournment to Monday September 26/16 at 9 am. in the same courtroom. Crown prosecuter Alex Andres was professional and courteous as usual and we had a brief discussion both prior to and after the court appearance. I do know that many weeks ago when I filed my Affidavit of Service at the Provincial Offences Court the lady asked if I had a copy of the Information (charges) and the Summons (to Scott). Indeed I did and while she didn't need them herself immediately she did mention that they hadn't gotten to Provincial Offences Court yet.

Today therefore unless I misunderstood, it seemed as if possibly there had been a communications breakdown between Superior Court (Intake Court?) and Provincial Offences Court. Yes the Crown, Mr. Andres, was aware that Mr. Hahn had been charged under the Municipal Elections Act (MEA) but it appeared as if he hadn't received all the necessary and relevant information. I did have additional copies of documents with me and so provided. Mr. Andres gave me his card again and hence I likely will be e-mailing him further relevant documentation.

Quite frankly I believe this process should be a slam dunk based upon the evidence including the $12,000 Forensic Audit paid for by Woolwich Township. That said I was hardly impressed or amused with the behaviour of the out of town Prosecuter, Mr. Fraser Kelly in the Sandy Shantz case. I still believe I was set up and a detective was present for my interview with Mr. Kelly to see if they could charge me with an offence due to my having my own copy of a taperecorded MECAC meeting (Municipal Elections Compliance Audit Committee). That was disgusting and contemptible behaviour. Keep in mind the MECAC meeting was a public meeting, in Council Chambers and already being recorded by the Township.

JUSTICE - DOES IT APPLY TO OUR POLITICIANS OR NOT?

I'm off to Provincial Offences Court for 9 am. this morning. Based on experience my expectations are very low. Based upon case law however judges do seem to take the Municipal Elections Act seriously when it gets that far. I will likely post here later today regarding this morning's activities in court.

CHEMTURA PROGRESS REPORT - JULY 2016

Technically Chemtura had two off-site pumping wells in July which failed to achieve their monthly Target Average. That said both wells, namely W4 and W5A, have very low pumping rates to start with and each one only missed by about 1 litre/second. The total off-site pumping rate for the month was 61.1 l/s which is now above the current monthly Target pumping rate. Of course Chemtura have after almost four years still have not begun either their doubling or tripling of off-site pumping as promised in November 2012. Despite this our Woolwich Council and the Ontario M.O.E. foolishly continue to trust their word.

Pumping well E7 at the south end of Elmira still has NDMA in its' raw water albeit at "only" .090 parts per billion. While not high it's still ten times higher than the drinking water standard.

On-site pumping well PW4 still has Chlorobenzene influent at 3,300 parts per billion (ppb). This concentration relative to the lab solubilty of chlorobenzene as well as relative to all the other dissolved solvents in the groundwater is a very strong indicater of free phase DNAPL (dense non-aqueous phase liquid) being present in the Municipal Aquifer on-site. The drinking water standard for chlorobenzene is 80 ppb.

NDMA is around 5 ppb on-site near the two pumping wells (PW4, PW5) which is approximately 500 times higher than the drinking water standard. Toluene, carboxin, ammonia, benzothiazole and many other chemicals are also still on site at varying concentrations in the groundwater. Very high concentrations of MBT, Aniline and Carboxin are routinely found particularily in the shallow groundwater pumping wells.

Low levels of phenolics, NDMA, xylenes, toluene and morpholine are still found in various MISA outlets on the Chemtura site to the Canagagigue Creek. MISA stands for Municipal Industrial Strategy for Abatement. The acronym is of far greater benefit to the M.O.E. than the actual results are to the natural environment.

Surface water in the creek on site has the two usual suspects namely BEHP and Toluene. Toluene still has a slightly higher statistical concentration at the downstream end of the creek on site than the upstream end. BEHP surprisingly is the other way around. Either there is another industrial source upstream or maybe even it's coming from the former Bolender Landfill beside the park on the north side of Church St. (Hwy #86).

All in all twenty-seven years after shutting down our drinking wells Chemtura continues to rely sadly upon pump & treat technology. They still aren't pumping yet at rates that could even remotely begin to make 2028 even close. Dr. Dick Jackson plus a Neil Thompson (U. of Waterloo) are pointing the way but I expect that when push comes to shove Chemtura and their bed partner the Ontario M.O.E. will do exactly as they've always done which is lie, deceive and manipulate. Our local Council will support them right up until the day they cut and run and then express pretend shock that they would be so irresponsible.

UPCOMING DATES & EVENTS

The following scheduled events may be considered by some to be all of an environmental nature and by others not so much. They may be considered positive, progressive steps towards solutions or they may be considered partisan, political posturing at its' worst. Take your pick.


TAG (Technical Advisory Group) Wednesday September 7, 2016 6:30 pm.; Thursday October 13/16 6:30 pm.; Thursday November 17/16 6:30 pm.


RAC (Remediation Advisory Committee) Thursday September 15/16 4 pm.


RAC & TAG both meet in Woolwich Council Chambers .



I have marked on my calendar that Monday September 19/16 is the deadline for submitting objections to the Jigs Hollow Gravel Pit. Unfortunately that's all I have marked. No details as to where etc.


Two days from now, 9 am. in Provincial Court, 77 Queen St. Kitchener. Courtroom # 101 Councillor Scott Hahn (or his rep) have a date with a judge in regards to contraventions of the Municipal Elections Act. These contraventions are not just based upon common sense or primae facie observation but also upon the $12,000 Forensic Audit produced by Froese & Assoc.. That Forensic Audit specifically lists them as "Apparent Contraventions".

JIGS HOLLOW GRAVEL PIT

Acoustical studies, dust studies, hydrogeological studies, traffic studies the list of hoops and loops continues on unabated. The problem of course is that all these studies are paid for by the proponent and it's all a game. Do you want to be a scrupulously accurate, minutely detailed unemployed scientific consultant or would you rather be a little more flexible and realize who exactly has hired you? You aren't being hired to find problems you are being hired if not to ignore them then at least to find very inexpensive ways around them. This is most easily achieved if the "problems" whether noise, dust, traffic, groundwater etc. are determined to be no more than minor at worst.

To date I've looked at only two of the studies that are on the Woolwich Township website. On the right hand side of the home page is "Ongoing Planning Items". Click on that and then you will find the Kuntz Topsoil, Sand & Gravel- Jigs Hollow Pit. Click on that and you will get a long list of studies and reports. The first I looked at was at the bottom of the list namely Environmental Site Assessment - February 8, 2008. The second was Hydrogeological Study - September 3, 2008.

In my not so humble opinion neither of these reports is as advertised. I do not feel that the first one mentioned, the ESA - Feb. 2008, comes even close to being an environmental assessment. The second also is one heck of a limited HydroG study. A grand total of four monitoring wells appear to have been sampled once for groundwater levels. O.K. I mean really we already probably had a pretty good idea that the shallow groundwater was discharging into the Grand River at this location. These two reports at least are neither comprehensive nor are they much more than lip service to conditions imposed probably by Woolwich Township or by the Ministry of Environment.

The more one looks into contoversial projects with both human and environmental negative aspects the more one begins to understand how the system and process are all rigged in favour of the proponent. Afterall isn't that what we pay our politicians for and why developers and proponents lobby and donate to them in the first place?

"WE'RE SUCKING WITHIN GOVERNMENT GUIDELINES"

The above title is the caption on page 8 of today's Waterloo Region Record political cartoon. It is in my opinion the best political hot potato cartoon I've seen in a very long time. It shows a Nestle Bottled Water plant situtaed beside the Province of Ontario with a hose going from the factory down into a very deep hole in the middle of the province. This hole exemplifies the drawdown and incredible lowering of the water table throughout the province allegedly caused by water bottling companies. It is both hilarious and visually graphic. Well done by the author and well done by the Record in publishing it.

Also in today's Record is a story titled "Changes coming for bottled water companies?". While I read it I realized how similar it was to a story published in the Record this past Monday and to which I commented here on Tuesday. Indeed at the end of the story there is a "Note to readers:" which advises that today's story is a corrected version from the original which stated that Nestle Canada and Nestle Waters Canada were extracting significantly larger quantities of water than today's story stated. While a correction is a good thing I find it strange that the Record felt the need to rewrite a completed corrected version versus simply a simple correction published in today's record. I'm simply guessing here but is this an example of corporate power run amok? Did Nestle's threaten a lawsuit unless they got a whole new story?

Regardless there are a couple of new quotes including ones from Premier Kathleen Wynne. She is in agreement that the $3.71 charge per million litres of groundwater is ridiculous. As a skeptic I have to wonder how much Nestle and other bottled water companies have donated to the Liberal coffers over the years. I also wonder how much their groundwater extraction will be curtailed and how much per million litres they will be paying in the future.

NEW OMBUDSMAN NOT MUCH HELP

Thank You Paul Dube, our new provincial Ombudsman. You have managed to give incompetent and corrupt municipal Councils across Ontario a blueprint for avoiding the rules regarding in camera meetings. In your decision to let Woolwich Township escape accountability for their behaviour last March 22/16 you have set out frankly ridiculous criteria and loopholes such that as long as Councils pretend that their in camera meeting is over they can discuss anything in private meetings, make decisions and overall flaunt the Municipal Act yet again.

The issue concerned citizen Dr. Dan Holt appearing before Council as a registered Delegation to speak about the "Downstream Canagagigue Creek". Council led by Murray Martin and strongly supported by Sandy Shantz behaved like unaccountable autocrats. Fortunately Dr. Holt has an I.Q. double that of the entire Council combined and he simply and quickly reduced them to blithering idiots. The issue was that Council and Chair Martin had already decided privately that they weren't going to let Dr. Dan speak. This they did in the in camera session prior to the public Council session. Their Agenda however indicated an in camera session dealing with Heritage Committee appointments only. They simply and illegally piggybacked their discsusion to drop Dr. Holt along with that. The Municipal Act clearly states that all topics of the in camera session must be written down and availble to the public so they know the subject matter of what is being discussed in private.

Our new Ombudsman stickhandled around the law by suggesting that despite there being a quorum of Councillors present and that some of them both commented and discussed Murray Martin's plan to dump Dr. Holt as a Delegate; nevertheless it wasn't a real discussion or a real meeting. It was "individual discussions" not group discussions. Really? So apparently the Ombudsman believes that if only some members of a Council speak versus all and if they speak "individually" rather than all at once then it doesn't qualify as an in camera meeting. There was a quorum present and Councillors were still sitting at the same table out of sight and hearing of the public. Rubbish on top of rubbish.

The final stupidity is the Ombudsman's claim that no decision was made in the in camera meeting. Bullshit! Murray Martin didn't engage Dr. Holt in a discussion or debate he simply ordered him not to speak! Murray Martin claimed that Dr. Holt's Delegation was a "technical" one and that that was against the mythical rules of Woolwich Township. Sandy Shantz came to Murray's defence after Dr. Holt ignored the direction from Murray not to speak. Dr. Holt engaged Council (or at least the stupid ones arguing the indefensible) and made them look like monkeys. Our Ombudsman then in the course of his investigation made no attempt to intervew either myself or other citizens involved including Dr. Dan Holt. If he had he would have learned that Council had indeed made their decision in their in camera meeting and they did it contrary to the Municpal Act.

Woolwich Council unfortunately consist of a group of incompetent and ignorant individuals who routinely break rules and laws, essentially with impunity. I am doing my best to make them accountable for their behaviour. This is for the benefit of all Woolwich citizens. When our elected Councillors behave like that it certainly is not for our benefit but for theirs.

JIGS HOLLOW PIT BELOW GROUNDWATER EXCAVATION

Last evening at Woolwich Council Lynne Hare of West Montrose spoke regarding the new Application put forth by Preston Sand & Gravel. After doing some site grading they had to stop as they encountered the water table at a significantly higher elevation than they had previously determined. In fact critics have been advising of that possibility for some time in Woolwich Council Chambers and suggesting that indeed the proponents would be coming back requesting their above water table permit be enhanced to a below water table permit. We were advised last evening by Dan Kennally (Woolwich Twp.) that there have been very few such requests in recent years due to opposition from the Region of Waterloo who have belatedly realized the damage to groundwater and the natural environment caused by these gravel pits.

Currently between new development and gravel pits Waterloo Region are losing on average 2,000 acres of farmland per year. This is in one of the finest agricultural areas throughout Ontario. The loss doesn't just affect farmland but the proliferation of gravel pits along the Grand River results in both warmer and dirtier groundwater discharging into the river. This affects all life in the river including fish species as well as endangered species such as the wavy rayed lampmussel.

There will be a huge lake constructed due to the below water table excavation near the Grand River as the ground and river water infiltrates into the excavation. Lynne Hare showed a brief video of the sight that awaits nearby homeowners as a drag line is used to excavate gravel from the bottom of the lake. She also advised that due to storms and erosion of the possibilty of a breech between the newly constructed lake and the river. In that case silt from the lake would enter the river and most likely cause fish kills.

This area is a shockingly bad location for a gravel pit and totally unecessary. Kudos to Lynne Hare and collegues who have been fighting this pit for years.

WELLINGTON WATER WATCHERS VERSUS NESTLE WATERS

I posted here last Thursday regarding Nestle Waters donating money to the University of Guelph to assist in groundwater studies. My concern (& others) dealt with profit making corporations donating cash to research projects in which they had a huge stake. Exactly what if any are the conditions tied to such research donations?

Yesterday's Waterloo Region Record carried this story titled "Activists oppose permit for water-taking". The Wellington Water Watchers are a Guelph/Wellington County based group of citizens dedicated to "the protection, restoration and conservation of drinking water in Guelph & Wellington County". The provincial permit allowing Nestle to pump water for bottling and sale expired at the end of July yet the Ontario Ministry of Environment allows them to continue pumping from a well in Aberfoyle even in the midst of a severe drought.

This is the reality. The Ontario M.O.E. issue permits literally for pennies allowing corporate interests to extract massive amounts of the public's water for resale at ridiculous prices and for private profit. Mind you this is the same provincial ministry (M.O.E.) who issue permits allowing corporations to pollute our waterways albeit only up to certain limits allegedly. Every once in a blue moon they will prosecute a company for exceeding their pollution limits.

Municipalities, mining companies, golf courses and water bottlers extract 1.4 trillion litres of water per day from Ontario's surface and groundwater supplies. In the case of municipalities it is for human consumption and is at reasonable rates.

Nestle have submitted a renewal application for their Aberfoyle well. Obviously it will be rubberstamped once again by our Ministry of Environment. Such a deal. We pay through the nose for the M.O.E. bureaucracy to give approvals to private companies to extract our public resources for their own profits. Hey this is democracy apparently. In a third world country private companies would have to bribe government bureaucracies to get their permits.

SIGNIFICANT WOOLWICH EVENTS INVOLVING HAZARDOUS MATERIALS

Tomorrow evening at Woolwich Council there will be a Presentation by Dale Martin, Deputy Fire Chief. The title is "Hazard Identification Risk Assessment". Currently his Presentation can be found on-line on the Township's website under Council Meetings. One page of text as well as a couple of pages of photos really caught my eye. The photos include a tanker truck with hazardous contents in the ditch as well a photo of an ongoing fire at Chemtura and finally an aerial photo of Varnicolor Chemical.

The page of text that caught my eye is a listing of Significant Events in Woolwich that involved hazardous materials. Some of these I had not heard of. In 1958 there was an Ammonia leak at the former Nutrite (Read fertilizer). Breslube had an unspecified incident in 1984 which I vaguely recall was probably a fire. Sulco had an Oleum (Sulphuric Acid) spill in 1990 which I definitely do recall. Bridgeland Terminals (BTL) the local (Elmira) trucking company had a Hydrochloric Acid leak which I do not recall. Odd.

In total there are fourteen incidents listed. Varnicolor Chemical is listed as an event in 1992 which was after they were closed but still having leaking barrels being cleaned up and removed. Uniroyal/Chemtura have a total of eight of these fourteen events. Yes that's right eight of the fourteen. They include a Hydrogen explosion (1975), various solvent fires in the late 70s and 80s as well as a potentially life threatening Chlorine leak in 1994. The early 2000s were a bad time for Chemtura with assorted leaks and fires in 2000, 2002, 2004 and 2006. Oddly the 2010 BLE (acetone & diphenylamine) fugitive release into the Elmira atmosphere is not mentioned. In fact there were two of them albeit the second was quite minor just a year or so ago.

All of this begs the question: What has or are Chemtura doing for Woolwich Township or Councils that have insulated them from the ire of Woolwich residents? Above and beyond jobs that is. Are their corporate property taxes particularily significant, or not? Do they donate to some local charities? I believe they do. With a history of fires, explosions, spills, leaks, fugitive air emissions, contaminated groundwater and at one time a totally dead Canagagigue Creek; one has to admire the perseverance of Elmira (particularily) citizens. How long will it last I wonder? What will be the last straw?

WOOLWICH TOWNSHIP / OMBUDSMAN BROMANCE

Interesting! I determined the title just prior to checking on Woolwich Township's website to confirm that I'm on the Agenda for this coming Tuesday's Council meeting. There I spotted a Presentation titled "Rick Russell, Agree Inc.- Waterloo Area Ombudsman Services". Well, well, well. Perhaps this explains the Ombudsman's kind words to Woolwich Township regarding one of their more recent public screw ups. Or in the alternative maybe the Ombudsman's Decision that Woolwich didn't break the law (Municipal Act) this time around is accurate, albeit a technicality. Hard to say.

A while back I had heard that Waterloo Region were considering an alternative to the use of the provincial Ombudsman. As this alternative would be a private service paid for directly by either the Region and or member municipalities it would have to offer something superior to the provincial Ombudsman in order for the cities and townships to be willing to pay for what currently is free to them. The only thing that I can think of that would be superior is if the final Decisions reflected a more flexible, sympathetic approach to municipal sensitivities and concerns. Somewhat secondly the provincial Ombudsman prefers complainants to have gone through municipal internal complaints processes prior to bringing their cases to them. Thus for a small fee municipalities can manage to double up or even triple up on the number of phone calls, e-mails and general coorespondence necessary for a citizen to hold them accountable to the provincial Municipal Act. Hence I would certainly expect less honest and ethical municipal councillors to support this initiative and simply once again pass the extra costs along to the taxpayers. What a great game when politicians can further cover their asses and do it at the taxpayers expense.

THE FOOD WE EAT, THE WATER WE DRINK & THE AIR WE BREATHE

The Waterloo Region Record carried the following story on August 9/16 titled "A chemical departs from fast-food". The sub-title of the story was "Restaurants are quietly ditching the yoga-mat substance". Yes you heard that right: "the yoga mat substance".

The chemical is called azocarbonamide and among its' other uses is as a dough conditioner. It is used in yoga mats, flip flops, packing insulation and unless I'm wrong I believe I've seen its'name on various lists of Chemtura Canada chemicals here in Elmira. Sounds yummy doesn't it?

While the U.S. Food & Drug Administration approves its' use in foods the European Union has banned it and the World Health Organization has linked it to asthma and other organizations suggest a cancer link.

The fast-food industry have used it for a very long time but due to bad publicity are at last removing it. Similar to water testing there has never been the ability to look at synergistic effects of various chemical compounds simultaneously. Hence while a single compound on its' own may be of minimal health concern once it is combined with other "minor" health problems all bets are off. This has long been the elephant in the room allowing multiple dangerous chemicals in low concentrations into our drinking water with virtually no knowledge as to whether together they constitute a serious health threat.

MONEY (& INDUSTRY) CORRUPTS

Today's Waterloo Region Record carrys the following story titled "U of G to conduct groundwater research". The story focuses on a corporate donation ($460,000) from Nestle Waters Canada. Yes this is the same Nestle long known for chocolate milk and who have been mining groundwater from the Guelph-Aberfoyle area for many years. Concerns including protests and marches have been held in regards to their continued high volume pumping from aquifers even during prolonged droughts. I do believe that the comment by Nestle's natural resources manager when he says water sustainability is the company's No. 1 priority. Why wouldn't it be considering bottled water is their No. 1 money maker.

While perhaps a little less famous than the University of Waterloo's Groundwater Research Institute nevertheless U. of Guelph are well known for their groundwater research. Dr. Beth Parker has been a well published, peer reviewed expert in a number of areas of groundwater study for a considerable length of time. Formerly she worked with world renowned Dr. John Cherry at the University of Waterloo. I have met her once and received from her numerous publications that either she or Dr. Cherry together had published in regards to DNAPLS.

I also am not the least surprised that governments are encouraging universities to seek out and obtain research money from industry and business. What is worrying is the motivation of governments and big business. Far too often their interests entwine and rarely is it in the public interest. Money rarely comes without strings attached. The potential for conflicts of interest are huge. While respecting the individual researchers involved I hope their departments and the universities themselves examine this corporate funding aspect very carefully.

ELMIRA'S WATER WAS SICK LONG BEFORE 1989

Stories abound among local oldtimers regarding the bad taste of Elmira water back in the late 70s and early 80s. Concerns regarding Canagagigue Creek deterioration began as early as the 1950s whereas the first concerns regarding the local tap water didn't start until the 1960s. Uniroyal Chemical knew full well that their unlined on-site lagoons and ponds were leaking into the Municipal Aquifer beneath them hence they temporarily emptied them and then lined them with clay in 1969-70 to reduce the volume of toxic liquids entering the natural environment. International water Supply were looking for alternate and or additional sources of water for Elmira from 1965-1968 and found that the Elmira Aquifers were much thicker at the south end of town. Hence the South Wellfield was first drilled in 1970.

In 1981 both the Ministry of Environment and Uniroyal knew that something drastic had to be done. Thus on-site Municipal Aquifer (MU) pumping wells were installed at the north end (PW1) as well as the south-east corner (PW3). Uniroyal later complained that CEAC (Citizens Environmental Advisory Committee) had prevented them from pumping those wells in time to prevent off-site discharges. Nonsense. As early as 1957 pumping from the North Wellfield in the MU caused the grossly contaminated Canagagigue Creek to recharge the Municipal Aquifer beneath it. This was readily accomplished as the Upper Aquitard (UAT) thins to literally nothing in a few areas on the Uniroyal/Chemtura site including beneath the creek. Besides the leaking lagoons this creek water that recharged the MU was being drawn into the North wellfield wells.

The same year (1984) that the M.O.E. laid their first Control Order on Uniroyal well E5A was drilled in the North Wellfield albeit the farthest well from Uniroyal. Uniroyal by 1985 was desperately closing and emptying their on-site lagoons on the west side as they knew that even with clay lining they were leaking downwards into the aquifers. By 1988 although they still had horrendous contamination buried in RPE 4 & 5 on the east side they had done an awful lot to slam the gate after the contamination had bolted. They also still had free phase LNAPLS and DNAPLS on site although they were they hoped out of sight, out of mind.

The Township, the Region and the Province via the M.O.E. knew all of this. What they needed was a face saving excuse to shut down the wells, blame Uniroyal and pretend that they didn't know how long Elmira residents were drinking tap water with industrial chemicals including NDMA in it. The M.O.E.'s "solution" was to test for NDMA allegedly for the first time. Everybody including Uniroyal jumped on board pretending they'd never heard of it before. That turned out to be false as NDMA had beeen found in the air around Uniroyal a decade earlier and concerns were expressed then.

This coverup was only possible with the cooperation of all the guilty parties from corporate to political. The public were and still are being lied to in order to protect those who agreed to sacrifice public health as long as possible in order to protect private profit as well as political influence.

EIGHTEEN YEARS OF PUMPING & TREATING - THIRTEEN YEARS OF FAILURE

OR: Why I'm Confident That Chemtura, GHD & The M.O.E. Haven't a Hope Of Meeting The 2028 Deadline



Unlike various uninformed yet still opinionated friends of polluters, on and off Council, I base my opinions on facts. The facts are clear for those of us who have kept a careful compilation of monthly pumping rates for the past eighteen years. Basically that would be me. I not only have every monthly Progress Report but I keep a running summary of the volume of water pumped per well off-site (and on-site) as compared to the Target Pumping Rates. As indicated yesterday these pumping rates are up and down like a toilet seat.

Here is the big picture! Over the last 211 months starting in January 1999, four months after the July/August 1998 startup of off-site pumping; exactly 61 months achieved their Target Pumping Rates and 150 months did not. That said three of the last four years have been significantly above the eighteen year monthly pumping average. That eighteen year average is 46.8 litres per second. The lowest individual year was 2008 at 31.46 l/s and the highest year was 2010 at 61.3 l/s. The current monthly Target Pumping Rate is 55.1 l/s for the entire off-site pumping regieme which consists of W3, W4, W5A, W5B and E7.

Target Pumping Rates have varied between 49.3 l/s and 64.5 l/s. The 64.5 l/s rate which was in place from 2003 until 2009 was never achieved on an annual basis. The lower rates since have been achieved four of the last seven years. The latest proposed Target Pumping Rates which include two new wells namely W6 and W9 is 106.5 l/sec allegedly starting up sometime this fall. Keep in mind that the geniuses in charge of this cleanup since the 1989 shutdown of our drinking wells have always categorically stated that their Target Pumping Rates will be sufficient to achieve the 2028 cleanup deadline. Which Target Pumping Rates pray tell would that be? Do I have any more faith in this most recent number of 106.5 l/s than I had in the original 49.3 l/s Target Rate? I think not.

All of these numbers are fantasys anyways. The Uniroyal/Chemtura cleanup history is all about talk, puffery, bragging and failure. They are as likely to achieve a real cleanup of the Elmira Aquifers by 2028 as I am to win the Olympic gold medal in the 100 metre dash. Look out Andre de Grasse, this nearly sixty-seven year old is starting training. My mentors are Chemtura and the M.O.E..

LIES, DISTORTIONS & DECEPTION : THE UNIROYAL/CHEMTURA WAY

The off-site Target pumping rate for the Elmira Aquifers has always fluctuated. Including the workhorse pumping well E7 at the south end of Elmira it has varied since the start of off-site pumping in 1998 from 30-35 litres per second (l/s) to a high of 64.5 l/s with a rate of 55.3 l/s for a long time. These pumping wells are W3, W4, W5A, W5B and E7. These changes in Target pumping rates have been both up and down depending upon Conestoga Rovers current feeble understanding of what was needed to reach the 2028 deadline for clean (sort of) drinking water.

To say that CRA have been talking through their hats for the last 27 years is the understatement of the century. Both Chemtura and the Ontario M.O.E. have been hiding behind CRA's credentialed experts as they've vacillated strategies, pumping rates and technical approaches to the cleanup. Any citizen who defends Conestoga Rovers's flip flops would have to be either stupid and incompetent (Pat Mc) or biased and a recipient of CRA's largesse (Susan B.) via editing contracts etc..

A recent major hydrogeological discovery has been that there is a coarse, basal gravel unit at the bottom of the Municipal Aquifers (MU & ML) and that the NDMA and Chlorobenzene plumes are stratified. In other words they are much higher concentrations the deeper they are tested for in the aquifers. This has been discovered via the implementation of VAS or Vertical Aquifer Sampling. Basically there are well screens at different levels within the same aquifer. Yours truly as a Delegation to the old CPAC made a presentation on this methodology many years ago and was as usual ignored by all the guilty parties. For the benefit of Darroll Bryant who has stupidly and with extreme pettiness criticized my 10 minute registered Delegations to the last CPAC in an upcoming Documentary; I would advise that you like Pat haven't a clue. Considering both Pat Mclean and your wife Susan also made a few Delegations to the last (current) CPAC you are also a hypocrite for suggesting that I had no right as a citizen to do the same thing.

The Remedial Action Plan Expansion Design Review completed by GHD (formerly CRA) recommends Scenario 11. It drops proposed wells W7 and W8 and suggests increased pumping in well W3R (R- replacement), continuation of wells W4, W5A/B, E7 and new pumping at wells W6A, W6B and W9A for a total of 106.5 l/s. As you can see this new total is almost double the former
Target pumping rate when it was at 55.3 l/s but is less than double the former pumping rate when it was at 64.5 l/s. Any alleged tripling of the off-site pumping rate as categorically stated by Chemtura shills and hacks back in 2012 was fantasy combined with wishful thinking.

Page 46 of this GHD Report gives some tantalizing information that the mass of Chlorobenzene off-site near the old Varnicolor Chemical plant has been understated over the decades. M.O.E. hydrogeologist Jaimie Connelly erred a few years back when he suggested that if DNAPL had flowed west from Uniroyal it would have left higher concentrations behind due to its' residual trails. In fact those higher concentrations do exist both west on the Nutrite (Yara) site as well as beside the Varnicolor site. This is another elephant in the Chemtura room in that DNAPLS still exist on their site AND they did flow off site to the west and slight south-west.

BOTH VARNICOLOR CHEMICAL SITES CONTRIBUTED TO THE DESTRUCTION OF THE ELMIRA AQUIFERS

The issue is not how much or what percentage was contributed by Varnicolor Chemical versus Uniroyal Chemical. Opinions vary as there is not perfect knowledge either then or now. One of the likely self-serving opinions was stated by Stan Berger, lawyer for the Ontario Ministry of the Environment, back in 1991 or 92. He suggested that Varnicolor's contribution to the Municipal Aquifer was similar to that of a water pistol in a rainstorm. The Environmental Appeal Board however expressed skepticism regarding that opinion and were pressing for more information and evidence because the M.O.E. were attempting to put 100% of the blame on Uniroyal Chemical. Uniroyal for their part whether Wally Ruck or Dr. David Ash suggested that Uniroyal would pay for their fair share of the Elmira Aquifers cleanup but no more. Without naming names they unequivocally stated that there were other sources who had contaminated the Elmira Aquifers. In hindsight they were telling the truth on that matter although to date Nutrite (Yara) are the only well accepted and unequivocally proven other source (Ammonia) to the contaminated aquifers.

The evidence of Varnicolor's unequivocal polluting of both the shallow aquifers and the deeper ones has been a long time in coming and credit for that goes to both Chemtura (Uniroyal) and the Ontario M.O.E.. They have lied, deceived and manipulated the truth since the day they signed their disgusting October 7, 1991 Settlement Agreement. The followup November 4, 1991 Control Order further cemented two and a half decades of lying to the public. Woolwich Township Councils have generally followed in lock step with the deceit and the Region of Waterloo has not been much better. Honourable mention should go however to the Woolwich Council from 2010 to 2014 as well as to Elmira Pump, the folks who took over the old Varnicolor Chemical site. They have been involved with maintaining and running the shallow pump and treat system on that site for a very long time. They also have had professional help courtesy of Peritus Environmental and Keith Metzger. While their efforts have been towards restoring, at a minimum the surface of the site to permit development, their investigations have added tremendous depth to the knowledge base surrounding this site. Furthermore they were willing to share that knowledge with myself and other CPAC members back in May, prior to the public Risk Assessment meeting held in Woolwich Council Chambers.

All of the previous paragraph is in regards to Varnicolor's Union St. site. The Lot 91 site is a totally different animal at least hydrogeologically. The chemicals both spilled and intentionally dumped on this site are the very same chemicals that were spilled and dumped on the Union St. site. The huge difference is in the hydrogeology. Various stratigraphic maps have been produced over the last twenty-five years showing the location and thickness of aquifers and aquitards. Lot 91 is particularily susceptible to deeper contamination as the municipal aquifer is so close to the surface. This is partly because the UAT or Upper Aquitard is very thin under the Lot 91 site. I have soil concentrations of solvents on the Lot 91 site that put to shame both Uniroyal and Varnicolor's soil concentrations. These contaminant concentrations decades ago have moved into the municipal drinking water aquifers and further polluted them and delayed their cleanup. This is all to the everlasting shame of the Ontario M.O.E. who did a less than pathetic job of cleaning up this site. They removed some metal barrels with and without the solvents (& P.C.B.s) in them and then allowed ongoing discharge to Landfill Creek and the Canagagiue Creek. Furthermore they hid behind Uniroyal's well paid off acceptance of full blame for the damages to the drinking water aquifers and the cleanup thereof, half paid by the taxpayers.

For the price the taxpayers have and still are paying they are and were entitled to the truth. They've never received it. That is the issue.

CHEMTURA'S NOV. 2012 MODEL UPDATE & EXPANSION TURNS OUT TO BE A CROCK

Yet again Conestoga Rovers & Assoc. Plans are CRAP. We've long known that the ballyhoo around their proposed initial tripling of off-site pumping & treating plus In Situ Chemical Oxidation (ISCO) was all theatre as they quickly retreated to a mere doubling of their off-site pumping and then announced that oh gosh the ISCO pilot tests failed. Well it gets worse, much worse. It seems that Chemtura and CRA may have been under a tad of pressure from CPAC's May 2012 Resolution endorsed by Woolwich Council stating that Chemtura would not achieve their 2028 deadline. Thus they jumped the gun with their proposed expansion of the Off-Site Containment & Treatment System (Off-Site CTS) allegedly designed to get their cleanup of the Elmira Aquifers back on track.

Quoting (pg. 4) of the September 2015 "Remedial Action Plan Expansion Design Review" written by GHD "...the results of investigations, assessments completed, and operational issues identified in 2013 and 2014 indicate that the full implementation of the off-site CTS pumping regieme recommended in the 2012 Model Update is not feasible.". So they dropped from tripling to doubling the off-site pumping and that's not even feasible. Why not you ask? Well it turns out that both the current wells involved (W3, W4, W5A, W5B) physically cannot support the major pumping increases recommended and neither can some of the new drilled wells assisting them, particularily W8 and W6A/B.

It seems that aquifer conditions including how thick the sand and gravel aquifer is determines the quantity of water available for pumping. Therefore the new W6A and W6B wells will be unable to sustain their proposed pumping rates. Similarily new well W8 is located on the Yara property and the aquifer conditions are such that its' well yield will only be 1.8% of that assumed in the 2012 Model Update.

For the already operating off-site wells there are similar problems. Well W3 it is now determined can not achieve the 2012 recommended pumping rate of 51 litres per second. At best they feel they might now achieve but 25 litres per second. Some form of damage has occurred to wells W5A and W5B and their proposed well yields have also been cut in half.

At risk of kicking Chemtura and CRA when they are done let me also add this: Their claim of achieving the 2028 deadline according to page 2 was based upon the increased pumping rates both at the new wells and the old being up and running by 2014. It has not happened. Not a drop so far.

This folks has been the history of the alleged Elmira Aquifers cleanup since 1989. I personally have told the facts to past Woolwich Councils, the current Council, Ministry of the Environment and the media. UPAC and CPAC were also kept in the loop. All parties other than the current CPAC either ignored what they were told or preferred to listen to the puffery and junk science proliferated by Chemtura and their partners in pollution.

DECADES OF CHEMTURA/CRA INCOMPETENCE - June 29/16 "Experts" Meeting

It appears that we have two experts looking at Chemtura's pathetic and self-serving "cleanup" attempts since shutting down the Elmira wellfields in 1989. That would be Dr. Richard (Dick) Jackson and Neil Thompson (U. of Waterloo). Minimal previous attempts to call upon the unbiased experts at U. of Waterloo including the January 2007 DNAPL meeting were aborted courtesy of vested interests protecting the status quo. This includes Pat and Susan's refusal to bring the experts (Drs. Cherry & Parker) opinions that DNAPL (residual & free phase) needed to be removed from the Chemtura property back to CPAC for their suport. I did so as I attended the meeting and then got bumped from CPAC as a result; albeit the two manipulaters with Council support made up a red herring to justify it.

Citizens at UPAC & CPAC lobbied for changes and improvements for years and were consistently shut down via the self-serving junk science of CRA. I personally advocated VAS or vertical aquifer sampling which just recently has been accepted by Chemtura as a good way to delineate the vertical stratification of contaminants in the aquifer. In other words higher concentrations are found at the bottom of the aquifers than at the top. I also advocated for ISCO or In Situ Chemical Oxidation years ago. I advised that it was used sucessfully in Cambridge to greatly reduce Trichloroethylene concentrations in the groundwater. Other citizens advocated for aquifer reinjection to speed up the process and they were shut down as well with little or no technical explanations provided. Finally all of us from 1990-1991 were requesting that PW4 be activated and then later on that it be pumped harder as it is in the centre of the plume in the south-west. We were again ignored and bullshitted for years by Uniroyal and Conestoga Rovers. Only in recent years have PW4 pumping rates been consistently higher.

The June 29/16 "Technical Experts" meeting hilariously included Pat Mclean who as I've indicated doesn't know the difference between a DNAPL and horse apple. Another interesting point from this meeting is the admission that Uniroyal contaminants started leaving their property as early as the 1950s. Also of interest is that they were worried about off-site contamination in the 1960s and hence temporarily emptied the west side ponds in 1969 in order to clay line them. Again in the 1980s they now admit that there were concerns that Uniroyal contaminants were off-site and in the Municipal Aquifer. Funny the lies that we were all told in 1989 about how it was such a surprise due to "impenetrable" clay aquitards below Uniroyal plus other hydrogeological wishful thinking.

An awful lot of this Experts meeting was excuses from Chemtura and their consultants. CRA were flying by the seat of their pants and never could scientifically back up their remediation plans. No Woolwich Councillors stepped up to demand better, and in fact other than the 2010 Council, actively ran interference for Chemtura and the Ontario M.O.E.C.C..

Dr. Jackson gave a good account of this meeting at the TAG meeting in July. Nevertheless it should have been open to the public and was not. This is one more shameful behaviour by Woolwich Township as well as by regional and provincial attendees. This is the public's water we are talking about and yet the incompetent tails continue to wag the dog. Do I need to go back to the Ombudsman on these private, in camera meetings as well?

REGIONAL WATER SUPPLY O.K.

Yesterday's Waterloo Region Record carried a reassuring story titled "Water supply in good shape in Waterloo Region". Anyone with even the most basic understanding of where our water comes from has to have concerns as we are into our third month in a row of below normal precipitation plus extreme heat over the last six weeks. Apparently the GRCA have the Grand River watershed currently listed at Level 1 low water status although there is an upcoming meeting to debate whether or not to go to Level 2.

Indeed most of the water supply is from wells in Waterloo Region however the Grand river does supply a significant minority to the total supply. Also as indicated deep wells do not respond negatively as quickly as surface water during drought conditions. That said long term reductions in precipitation over a large area of Waterloo Region most certainly will affect both shallow and deeper aquifers. All the water even in Bedrock aquifers originates at the surface and slowly percolates downwards. If lower aquifers are being pumped out faster than groundwater from above is recharging them, then their levels and quantity will decrease.

This is the time of year when water being discharged from dams on the Grand and Conestogo Rivers tends to greatly assist flows in both those rivers. Even that however has a finite amount of water that has simply been held back from spring snow melts and rains. We need rain now both for our own use as well as for crops, trees and wildlife.

FAMILY NAME, INFLUENCE & ENTITLEMENT IN WOOLWICH TOWNSHIP

Todd Cowan beat out Pat Mclean and incumbent Bill Strauss to become mayor in 2010. Both Pat and Todd certainly did not have a recognizable family name that had been in Woolwich Township for decades to centuries. Names like Strauss, Shantz, Bauman, Martin, Hahn, Weber etc. have been involved in the community since the beginning. Are some (many) of our citizens so shallow that they vote primarily based upon last names and historical lineage? The answer is yes although to be fair do you think that electors in other jurisdictions don't vote based upon appearances, gender and other equally frivolous criteria? Of course they do.

I have noticed a brazeness, an arrogance and a sense of entitlement within our current Woolwich Council. These characteristics are not universal on Council nor are all three necessarily exhibited at all times. What I find disturbing is that these characteristics extend way beyond merely local matters and indeed there appears to be a parochial nature to them. In other words certain Councillors seem to believe that they are inherently above any outside powers, laws and authoritys. This really is bizarre when one understands that in the food chain, municipalities are rock bottom beneath regional government, provincial and then federal oversight.

One of the defining moments for me was when our local municipal Clerk advised me quite honestly and I believe without either deception or full understanding of the implications of what she was saying that it was a Woolwich "tradition" not to require councillor Mark Bauman to file a Financial Statement after being acclaimed. In other words Woolwich Township had usurped the authority of the province of Ontario in permitting Mark Bauman to brazenly flout the Municipal Elections Act. That took my breathe away.

Similarily Conflict of Interest rules regarding MECAC membership state that it is both the appearance as well as the reality of such Conflicts that must be avoided. Despite that at least two MECAC members had Conflicts of Interest in fulfilling their duties regarding hearings here in Woolwich Township. I believe that these Conflicts influenced MECAC's multiple poor decisions.

MECAC properly sent Councillor Hahn on for a Forensic Audit. That Forensic Audit was unable to confirm Mr. Hahn's revised and illegally accepted & commissioned, by Woolwich Township, Financial Statement. How we must ask ourselves does Woolwich with very highly paid Staff and CAO manage to keep breaking the law? Mr. Hahn after having his original Financial Statement which he signed under legal oath, challenged by Dr. Holt, then claimed that his family members, not two corporations, paid for his Brochures and Signs. The Auditor was completely unable to verify those claims via legally required documents, receipts, computer files, bank records etc.. The "proof" or "evidence" is all word of mouth and that totally is contrary to the spirit and law of the Municipal Elections Act 1996.

The entire process and intent of the MEA 1996 has been made a mockery of here in Woolwich Township. When will the appropriate authorities step up and say enough? Does the tail actually in effect wag the dog here? Is Woolwich Township sucessfully able to ignore, abuse and avoid the laws of the land which are supposed to apply to everyone equally? To date the answer is yes.

MECAC ARE CORRUPT

One of the definitions of corruption is "riddled with errors". There was a reason I took Sandy to MECAC TWICE. I needed to know/prove that their first incorrect decision not to appoint a Forensic Auditor was not an aberration done out of ignorance. They desperately needed to put themselves even more securely on the hook. Granted they had already done their best to do that with the decision not to send Scott Hahn on to the courts. Thus in fact they have made the wrong decision three out of four times. Their one and only correct decision was to appoint a Forensic Auditor for Scott. In my opinion three out of four wrong decisions equals corruption.

There are several examples of case law regarding the Municipal Elections Act 1996 (MEA) that can be accessed on-line. They include Chapman v. Hamilton (City), Jackson v. Vaughan (City), Lyras v. Heaps etc. These cases and others speak to the lack of discretion Compliance Audit Committees have to refuse to appoint a Forensic Auditor when an elector has "reasonable grounds" to believe that there has been a contravention of the MEA. "Reasonable grounds" are clearly defined and in Sandy Shantz's case that criteria was met and hugely surpassed with her admissions to multiple illegal contraventions of the MEA including failing to include an Audit with her Financial Statement, accepting a corporate overdonation and understating (ie. downwards) her Expenses and Conributions by $2,600. MECAC's decision TWICE was both improper and illegal. Chairman Carl Zehr and company, thus by the defintion above, are corrupt ie. riddled with errors.

The legal cases cited above and others also speak to MECAC's decision not to send Scott Hahn's case on to the Prosecuter. Our MECAC here in Woolwich Township is not the only one to make strange (corrupt) decisions. The City of Toronto appear to lead the way in MEA cases as candidates there make full use and abuse of the courts in order to prove exactly how dirty a business politics really is. Georgi Mammoliti from Toronto as well as a Dickerson fellow out of Pickering have both been convicted and fined for MEA contraventions.

In Scott's case there are principles of administrative law which I believe that MECAC have violated by not sending him on to the prosecuter for judicial examination. These principles include that the decision must not be grossly unreasonable as well as several other criteria. MECAC also participated in in-camera meetings with Woolwich Township's legal counsel that may very well have been contrary to the Municipal Act. Keep in mind that Woolwich have a proven history of indulging in illegal in-camera meetings. It is likely that MECAC received and cheerfully accepted incorrect (corrupt) legal advice from Woolwich's counsel regarding their discretion not to send Scott on to the courts.

MECAC's corruption is the reason that I took Sandy to provincial Court for prosecution under the MEA. Similarily I believe their decision refusing to send Scott to the Prosecuter was corrupt and hence he is on his way (August 31/16) to visit Provincial Court. I am disappointed that the media have not done even half the homework that I have done on these matters. If they had they might even be asking the tough questions as to my MECAC are consistently breaking the law to protect Woolwich politicians.

GLYPHOSATE IN DRINKING WATER & FOODS

Glyphosate is better known as Roundup, a herbicide invented by Monsanto. The more I read about it the more I realize how ubiquitous it has become in our environment. It is in drinking water as well as in cereal crops such as corn, wheat and soybeans. The volumes used in North America residentially and agriculturally are staggering because it does indeed kill weeds. The problem is the residues in food, water and the air we breathe. Amomg numerous negative health effects is the damage it does to beneficial bacteria in our guts.

When exactly did we hand over control of what we eat to business and government? When exactly did we say that corrupt governments can act as a buffer between outraged citizens and profit centred chemical companies? Who agreed that 100% lack of proof of toxicity equalled safety? This is the reality in both our food and water systems.

Over the last two years more and more evidence has been accumulating that Glyphosate contributes to numerous chronic and debilitating diseases in humans. These include autism, Parkinson's, diabetes, cancer and more. The science, exactly like the science surrounding tobacco, has been slow but steady and each new study raises more questions and concerns regarding the damage that glyphosate has done. How many of us are old enough to remember tobacco companies categorically denying any negative health effects from tobacco?

Every year the Region of Waterloo publish their Annual (Drinking) Water Reports for each municiaplity in the region. Glyphosate is normally indicated at a concentration of < 25 ppb or < 25 ug/l. This indicates that Glyphosate is found in our drinking water at less than 25 parts per billion. This is essentially useless information. Firstly they don't tell us what the drinking water standard is although I can advise that it is both ridiculously high and above 25 ppb. Secondly by not telling us hypothetically that the Township's drinking water is at 17 ppb and the City of Kitchener closer to 4 we can not compare the results of agricultural use of Glyphosate and how it may have more dramatically impacted our rural areas than our cities.

The simplest explanation used by some is that cancer is a result of the food we eat, the water we drink and the air we breathe. Perhaps the unfortunate cure for the plague of human beings on planet earth includes both birth and death control. In other words if we can't limit the numbers of new human beings day in and day out then perhaps governments long ago decided to begin to decrease the numbers of us reaching six, seven or eight decades of age. Do the silly buggers somehow think that they (politicians) can somehow avoid these poisons surrounding us?

GRAVEL PITS - DEATH BY A THOUSAND CUTS TO THE GRAND RIVER

The accumulative damage to both ground and surface water caused by gravel pits is difficult to measure. If you fly low over the Grand River from north of Fergus to south of Cambridge you would be shocked. There is a reason both geologically and financially as to why so many both major and minor gravel pits are located beside the Grand River. Courtesy of past ice ages and glaciers, sand and gravel ground up by hundreds of tonnes of moving ice across the surface of the land has produced high qulaity aggregates. Now these same aggregates exist miles away from major rivers but they are not exposed at the surface as they are along our rivers. The overburden including topsoils, silts and clays may only be ten to twenty feet thick but that adds to the cost of extraction. This is money local aggregate producers prefer to pocket and as usual in this country the environmental and social costs are borne by the rest of the population.

Sand and gravel filters out both natural and man-made contaminants preventing them from entering our ground and surface waters. The resulting cleaner groundwater then discharges into surface water streams and rivers and helps the overall qulaity of our waters both for human use as well as wildlife in and around them. Secondly groundwater is colder than exposed to sunlight and warm air surface waters in rivers and streams. Many species simply can not survive in warmer waters including trout. Hence when groundwater is exposed by gravel extraction it warms up and then discharges this warmer water into creeks and rivers. Recently (July 27/16) I posted here about a gravel pit in the Puslinch area causing this problem by warming a currently cold water stream.

Preston Sand and Gravel Co. initially received a license for developing a gravel pit along the Grand River near Winterbourne. The license was for above water table extraction and it was strongly criticized by numerous local residents at Woolwich Council who knew that there wasn't enough gravel available above the water table. Sure enough the water table rose somewhat and now the proponents want to excavate below the water table right beside the Grand River. This assuredly will result in surface ponds and warmer water discharging into the Grand River similar to Bloomingdale as well as the massive Forwell Pit alongside the Grand River in Breslau.

There will be a Public Information Session on September 7/16 in the Lions Club Hall at the St. Jacobs Community Centre. The deadline for formal objections to the Applicant and the Ministry of Natural Resources is September 19/16. Yesterday's Woolwich Observer carrys the Notice of Application and has the addresses and other important information.

KUDOS TO DR. DAN HOLT & THE WOOLWICH OBSERVER

It would have been easy for our local newspaper the Observer, after criticizing my decision to privately charge Councillor Scott Hahn with multiple Municipal Election Act (MEA) charges, to wimp out of publishing Dr. Holt's lengthy Letter to the Editor. Dr. Holt not only supports my decision but he also suggests that a double standard has been in place regarding the coverage and opinions regarding former mayor Todd Cowan versus Scott Hahn. Also I might add the Observer published two (ill-informed) Letters to the Editor last week regarding my MEA charges against Mr. Hahn. Finally not to put to fine a point on it, half the ownership of the Observer, namely Patrick Merlihan, is also a member of Woolwich Council. It is no stretch to suggest that any mud sticking to various Council members can be viewed as sticking to all of them. That is particularily unfortunate in this case as I personally feel that Patrick Merlihan is the best of a poor lot on that Council.

I guess what I'm beating around the bush at is that in theory at least newspapers are supposed to provide balance. They are supposed to interview both sides of an issue and report accurately. They are supposed to publish Letters to the Editor that not only buttress their opinions, Editorials and stories but also, if submitted, Letters expressing contrary opinions. The Woolwich Observer have therefore earned full marks with today's edition.

Kudos to Dr. Holt for his courage. Right about now Todd Cowan's name is mud more based upon the allegations and charges swirling around him for the last two years than the actual recent conviction and sentencing on Breech of Trust involving $140.09 . There I too said it out loud. When I first read Dr. Holt's Letter to the Editor I was biased. I don't like Todd Cowan the same way I don't like professional corporate hacks and liars or government bureaucratic liars (M.O.E.) right along with elected liars. Todd has lied to my face and about me behind my back. Pretty hard to like him under those circumstances.

I've now read Dr. Holt's Letter three times. Quite frankly he's right. Todd Cowan after an intensive investigation and lengthy trial was found Not Guilty of Fraud. The judge whom I believe has no reason to be anything but unbiased did not accept that the Crown had proven Mr. Cowan intentionally attempted to take $2,800 improperly from the taxpayers. Wow! That is not easy for me to say. Despite Todd Cowan's lack of organization, poor bookeeping habits and overall incompetence as a manager he is not a criminal stealing thousands of dollars. That said the Breech of Trust conviction however does seem entirely appropriate. For $140.09 and probably a little bit of ego in front of his girlfriend, he was properly convicted of Breech of Trust. That the Judge gave Mr. Cowan a Conditional Discharge also seems appropriate considering the piddling amount of money involved.

If Dr. Holt's letter was on-line in the Observer right now I would provide a link to it. It is lengthy but well worth reading carefully. Try and read it from an unbiased point of view. I know it's difficult as we all have strong opinions regarding Mr. Cowan but I'm learning to accept that just because Todd has some serious failings and challenges, that doesn't mean he's guilty of every allegation that's been thrown at him.

ARE WILDLIFE PUSHING BACK IN REGARDS TO HABITAT LOSS?

Yesterday's Waterloo Region Record carried an article titled "Guelph trail users warned about coyotes". This of course comes on the heels of sightings of a black bear at the north end of Floradale Rd. which runs northwards on the west side of Elmira. This by the way is not the first such sighting of a black bear in Waterloo region in recent years.

Apparently the two coyotes spotted along a walking trail (Niska Trail) on Guelp's west side ie. the Elmira side behaved aggressively in attacking a dog and attempting to attack a hiker wlking two dogs. Of course this aggression from the coyote's point of view may simply have been people getting in the way of them getting a meal. The on-line Record had a photograph of an alleged "coyote". It was no such thing as a pure breed coyote is a small, skinny critter rarely more than fourty pounds. This animal may well have been a wolf-coyote cross or even a dog-coyote cross and was much taller and stockier probably closer to 75 or 80 pounds.

I'm wondering what exactly is going on. Certainly coyotes in urban areas have multiple sources of food and no natural predators. Normally coyotes are very careful to stay out of sight but when cross-bred with dogs seem much less afraid of human beings. When cross-bred with wolves they are bigger and stronger and more capable of taking down larger game such as deer. If they get the chance as opportunistic hunters they will grab cats or smaller dogs.

WOULD JEFF & CHEMTURA LIKE A PARTICIPATION TROPHY PERHAPS?

Jeff Merriman's Letter to the Editor in today's Waterloo Region Record is vintage wordsmanship, bullshit and overall nonsense. Jeff has spent more than two decades making excuses and spinning reality all in favour of Uniroyal/Chemtura's irresponsible corporate behaviour in Elmira, Ontario.

Yes Chemtura are actively (sort of) participating in a technical experts group at the moment although they have done so with CPAC for the last twenty-five years. During that time they attended meetings and actively ignored all advice that since has proven more credible and intelligent than the self-serving advice their consultants have given them. Chemtura are all about appearances and the Ministry of the Environment have enabled them for decades.

Yes new wells and pipelines have been installed more than four years after CPAC advised them and the public that their current cleanup regieme wasn't adequate. The old Woolwich Council endorsed that Resolution and Chemtura and their consultants pulled up their socks and got to work. Amazing what an honest and intelligent Woolwich Council can do when they are so motivated. All this current Council have done is sold out to Chemtura and the M.O.E..

Chemtura's models have never been "conservative". If they had been, then instead of being years behind schedule they'd be ahead of schedule. They and their consultants have botched the cleanup royally and each and every bad decision they've made has been motivated by money. That and that alone is what Chemtura are all about. The rest is puffery, appearances and lies.

CHEMTURA CANADA "PROGRESS REPORT" FOR JUNE 2016

Strange isn't it that these monthly "progress" Reports haven't been mentioning that the "progress" is about two decades behind schedule? That is the prediction of Dr. Dick Jackson the Chair of the Technical Advisory Group here in Woolwich Township. Dr. Jackson's knowledge and integrity are miles ahead of anybody linked to Chemtura Canada and that certainly includes the Ontario Ministry of the Environment.

What really stands out about CRA/GHD is their ability to ignore facts presented by citizens and other experts that don't coincide with their "story". This includes page 5 where they refuse to acknowledge that the Surficial Aquifer also runs eastwards onto the Stroh farm. Similarily on page 8 they advise that off-site wells W5A, W3 and E7 are containing the NDMA plume in the Bedrock. Really? That is interesting for a number of reasons. Firstly none of those wells are screened in the Bedrock Aquifer. Secondly while W5A is screened right at the bottom of the Municipal Lower Aquifer which is in direct contact with the Bedrock hence I would expect at least some Bedrock Aquifer water being captured, the other two wells have at least some of the Lower Aquitard between their screens and the Bedrock Aquifer. W3 actually has the whole thickness of the Lower Aquitard (LAT) between it's wellscreen and the bedrock aquifer. This appears to be one more example of Chemtura consultants' wishful thinking.

Figure D.1 I would interpret as typical CRA junk science. This Figure purports to indicate groundwater contour lines in Chemtura's north-east corners. Three solid contour lines are drawn showing groundwater flow going south-westwards. The problem is that these three lines are based upon a grand total of four data points ie. monitoring well groundwater elevations none of which are directly on any of the three contour lines and in fact at most there is but one data point nearby for any entire contour line. That is CRAp.

Figure D.11 is purportedly groundwater contour lines throughout Elmira for the Bedrock Aquiofer. Once again the number of data points is shockingly few over a very large area and the contour lines are drawn subjectively to support CRA/GHDs claim that the bedrock Aquifer is hydraulically contained. It might also help if Chemtura's friends would indicate to what depth into the Bedrock that groundwater is flowing.

Figure E.4 indicates the horrific concentrations of both NDMA and Chlorobenzene which have been constantly well above drinking water standards literally for decades on Chemtura's neighbours property on their west side (Well CH47). How can they claim hydraulic containment when their neighbour's properties are still grossly contaminated by their misdeeds?

Speaking of contaminating their neighbours' properties did the Ontario M.O.E. ever receive permission from them to allow Chemtura to use their properties as part of the cleanup process? In other words this whole idea of allowing Chemtura's contamination to intentionally flow off-site westwards to then theoretically be picked up further south in either wells PW4 (back on site) or pumping well W5A (still off-site) is incredible. Future generations will gasp in shock and disgust at what has passed for cleanup strategies here in Elmira, Ontario.