GROUNDHOG DAY AND ANTI B.... PILLS REQUIRED

Finally after nearly two decades of sitting and listening to the lies and crap coming from Chemtura (Uniroyal) and the Ontario Ministry of Environment; CPAC starting in 2011 and progressing with experience and time, laid down the law. We would not smile and nod when Chemtura or the M.O.E. refused to answer our questions. We would not sit there and listen to hours of unadulterated propaganda and bullshit from those two parties. They were put on notice that their nonsense, lying and gamesmanship would be called out and called out publicly. CPAC were replaced after the howls of outrage and anger from Chemtura and the M.O.E. fell upon the sympathetic and ignorant ears of the new Council in 2015. Lo and behold TAG under the Chairmanship of Dr. Richard Jackson publicly tore strips off the M.O.E. over and over again. It was absolutely a thing of beauty watching him take the senior M.O.E. liar to task and to school. Guess what? Dr. Jackson resigned or so we are told. Now we have another new Chair of TAG (Technical Advisory Group). Last evening was her first meeting and it went well. That said can you see the pattern? Tiffany Svensson is competent and professional. This is her area of expertise. That said she is essentially starting from zero on the Chemtura file as did many of her TAG colleagues sixteen months ago. We all recall the movie with Bill Murray titled "Groundhog Day". Has this become the fate of Elmira and Woolwich residents?

Two new TAG members were assigned to represent TAG along with the Chair at RAC (Remediation Advisory Committee) for the next year. They would be Dr. Sebastian Seibel-Achenbach and David Hofbauer. These are good choices. Ms. Svensson spent some time introducing a Dashboard which lays out the Short, Medium and Longterm Workplan if you will. It is an attempt to organize various areas and ongoing issues such as on-Site remediation, Off-site Aquifer remediation, downstream Canagagigue Creek restoration etc..

Upcoming reports include the Ecological Risk Assessment (ERA) from the M.O.E. due the end of this month. Also Dr. Neil Thompson will be presenting an updated Conceptual Site Model (CSM) to Chemtura, an "experts" meeting, RAC and eventually TAG. Apparently Conestoga Rovers couldn't get it right even after 25 years of effort.

The raw data for the ERA was sent out to TAG members at the end of December. I asked the Chair if copies were available to the public or perhaps on the Township's website. Lisa Schaefer, RAC & TAG Support Person, advised that it was not on the Township's website but was available upon request. I publicly requested a copy (including a please) in front of a dozen people. Her response was that requests need to be in writing. Classy Lisa as always.