WHY DO WOOLWICH FEEL THE NEED TO DECEIVE REGARDING THE BOLENDER PARK LANDFILL??

The plot continues to thicken. Yesterday's Woolwich Observer story was helpful in getting some of the facts out to the public. Woolwich Township were likely either stupid or dishonest in regards to their advice and information to the Rattasid's when they purchased Paleshi's garage and auto recycling yard here in Elmira, Ontario. In my opinion it was likely a little of both.

Back on October 6, 2017 I posted here an article titled "Curiouser & Curiouser: Was The Mayor's Husband Somehow Involved In The Shoddy Methane Collection System At Bolender Park?". I described in that posting the lack of clarity as to who had actually designed and built the methane collection system. While it consisted of eleven gas probes allegedly capable of collecting landfill gas it actually only appears in hindsight to have actually been evacuating landfill gas (methane ) for a couple of years. The probes themselves were exposed to a large variety of failures but the actual pumping of the subsurface methane, out of the ground and into the atmosphere, seems to have only lasted at the most a couple of years. This may explain why the Ontario Ministry of the Environment who were allegedly monitoring through their Certificate of Approval never demanded emissions scrubbers or filters. Methane gas release from landfills is a huge component of greenhouse emissions and landfills with methane collection systems usually require stack scrubbers to reduce methane release into the atmosphere. The readings of methane gas at the pump (blower pad) were all zero (when they were tested) from 1986 through till 1996. After that they weren't tested ever again including when the pumping system was formally decommissioned by the M.O.E. in 2015. What a farce!

I speculated in my October 6, 2017 posting that the construction and design of the collection system might have been an in-house operation. Further evidence has arisen on this matter. The Elmira Independent had a historical article in their February 7, 1994 edition that described part of the bidding process in 1984 around the construction of the Bolender Park Landfill gas collection system. It seems as if the bid from Daly Construction of Cambridge was refused by Woolwich Council because it was $19,000 too high. Hmm in hindsight that may have been a very poor attempt to save a few bucks. The article indicates that the methane gas was moving off-site. If the collection system had worked as planned, likely the bulk of methane would have been relatively safely released by now. Further checking to date has not given me any evidence of another accredited construction firm having won the bid for this work which leads me to more strongly believe that this was an entirely in-house job done by Woolwich Township, possibly including the mayor's husband from the start.

I had earlier on mentioned that Mr. Brian Shantz was mentioned in the August 1994 Conestoga Rovers report on the Bolender Landfill. He was also mentioned in the same Independent article as being the Elmira Arena's rebuilding project manager five years earlier (1989). With his obvious Woolwich connections is it likely that he was involved as well with the Bolender landfill from the start in 1984? I had asked some pointed questions in my October 6/17 posting here regarding who was responsible for the design and construction of the inferior and unworkable methane gas collection system. Those questions need to be answered whether it was a private company, the mayor's husband or Conestoga Rovers. The paying public need to know that errors and mistakes are not being constantly glossed over and the responsible parties rewarded with yet more contracts on the publics' dime.

A final point. I have also unearthed public testimony from a local Elmira resident claimimg that drums were buried in the Bolender PARK area prior to it being developed into a park. This same witness also claims that Uniroyal chemical wastes were likely buried in the Bolender Landfill. The Township's case and credibility continue to head down the drain on these matters. Full and honest disclosure to the public is required. This testimony came at a well attended, public UPAC (Uniroyal Public Advisory Committee) meeting written up in the Elmira Independent on January 24, 1994.