CURIOUSER & CURIOUSER: WAS THE MAYOR'S HUSBAND SOMEHOW INVOLVED IN THE SHODDY METHANE COLLECTION SYSTEM AT BOLENDER PARK?

The ten Conestoga Rovers reports on the Bolender Park Landfill are very detailed in some aspects and glaringly vague in others. We are given pretty detailed Contract Specifications required for the construction of the Active versus Passive landfill gas collection system. We are advised of the different types of gas monitoring and collection systems and their advantages and disadvantages. Right now Woolwich Council are as usual looking at the cheapest, least effective environmental controls on the landfill. They are downgrading from an Active to a Passive system (ie. no pump/blower).

We were advised early on in the reports that the owner of the system is Woolwich Township and the Engineer designated by Woolwich is Conestoga Rovers (CRA). The Engineer is involved in both "...the design and inspection of construction of the landfill gas collection system." Furthermore "The Engineer will represent the interests of the owner during construction. The Engineer has the authority to direct all work to the extent of ensuring the successful completion of the project in fulfillment of the Contract.". Boy this certainly puts CRA firmly on the hook for any deficiencies in the system. That's why I'm convinced there is something odd in the ongoing 34 year relationship between Woolwich Township and CRA.

We now have smoking gun evidence both recently and over the last three years that CRA have screwed up royally the mandated thirty year clean up of the Elmira Aquifers. Not only did they drastically underestimate the back diffusion of NDMA from aquitards (low permeability zones) back into the aquifers (high permeability zones) but they also missed a number of other sources within Elmira which have contributed to the destruction of the drinking water aquifers. These sources include Nutrite/Yara, Varnicolor Chemical and now the latest, a massive contribution of chlorobenzene from a source other than Uniroyal Chemical.

Combined with CRA's deficiencies as exposed via their client Uniroyal/Chemtura/Lanxess we now have smoking gun evidence that they have mismanaged the Bolender Park Landfill for their client. They have miscalculated some obvious criteria in the initial building of the gas system such as the depth to groundwater, both high and low seasonally, and thus the determination as to where the perforations in the gas probe allowing gas to enter the probe should be located. Why are Woolwich Council and staff sticking with this clearly discredited, in my opinion, consulting firm?

Enter Brian Shantz, sort of. I mentioned in the first sentence that the CRA landfill reports were very detailed in some aspects and glaringly vague in others. For example we know most of the details of the construction, who the owner and Engineer are but again oddly no mention of the actual contractor who built the system. Hmm in one sense, in hindsight, I can understand that. It's even possible that there are other reports that were "cleansed" by Woolwich staff before releasing these ten CRA reports to the owners of #86 Auto Recycling. Perhaps these reports describe the bidding process and who won the competition for construction of the system. At least if there was a proper bidding process that is.

While the names of different Woolwich Staff such as Directors of Engineering are mentioned in these reports again no clear insights into who built the system. I had the impression throughout the reports that it was either CRA or Woolwich staff. After rereading the reports twice more I did notice a couple of times that Woolwich backhoes and staff were involved with putting in a ridiculously bad and non-functioning gas probe labelled GP1-95. It was abandoned almost immediately. Also Woolwich staff were involved in locating gas probes ahead of CRA staff coming in and monitoring the gas probes. It really seemed like an in-house operation.

Mr. Brian Shantz, that is the mayor's husband, is the proud owner of a CET designation courtesy of a two or three year course at Conestoga College back in the late 70s. That stands for Certified Engineering Technologist. He's definitely not an Engineer but a technologist. Does that give him, a few years out of college, the experience or training to install a brand spanking new methane gas collection system? I'm skeptical but hey this is Woolwich where it's not always what you know, it's who you know. Also CRA were the Engineer with ultimate responsibility for the system. How much experience did CRA have with methane gas collection systems? Did their on-site engineer have prior experience or was he counting on the contractor/builder?

Lastly while the name Mr. Brian Shantz is stated in the August 1994 CRA report it is mentioned but once. "Conestoga-Rovers & Associates (CRA) was retained by the Township of Woolwich on June 13, 1994 to assess the Bolender Park gas control system. The assessment was conducted in accordance with CRA's letter dated November 2, 1993 to Mr. Brian Shantz.". Two issues remain. Is this name merely coincidence? It's a common Mennonite name in Woolwich Township. Secondly CRA sent a letter to Mr. Brian Shantz seven months before Woolwich Council retained them for an assessment. Wow! Did CRA, the engineer, feel the need to run things by Mr. Shantz well prior to even being retained by Council? Why? Was Mr. Shantz intimately involved with the gas control system from the beginning? Did he actually build it? I've suggested in the past that Woolwich Township have process challenges but something here just doesn't sit right. These questions need to be answered especially now that the incompetence and mismanagement surrounding methane issues in Bolender Park are being publicly scrutinized.