HANDLING OF METHANE CONCERNS TO DATE HAS BEEN INADEQUATE

Last Monday here in the Advocate I posted that there had been some good news from Woolwich Township regarding efforts and actions in response to my five Delegations to Council last fall. I had immediately responded with a thank you to the individual responsible for sending the news along to me. I also advised that I would receive a copy of a Staff Report which is a response to my list of 40 questions given to Woolwich staff, Council and as well a copy to the ministry of Environment last mid November. This staff report is to be supplied to me a week before Council discusses it at the March 6, 2018 Council meeting.

The good news I received was that work was being undertaken in regards to the Bolender Park landfill. I was concerned because I knew that there was a stalemate going on as far as either monitoring current gas probes on the #86 Auto Recycling property or as far as constructing a new passive gas collection system on the site. My hope was that the work underway might be in regards to putting many new probes off the #86 Auto recycling site but around the approximate perimeter of the Landfill and or either doing test pits again off the #86 Auto Recycling site either southwards into the Bolender Park itself or possibly eastwards in and around the homes on High St..

Well despite my quick thanks for the e-mail I received, a more detailed examination was disturbing. Three of the five items staff are working on essentially stated that staff are continuing to work with 86 Auto to obtain either access or permission to the site. Items four and five start with "We plan to install a probe...". These two probes are 1) just north of the Landfill near Elmira Pet Products and 2) just south of the #86 Auto Recycling property within Bolender Park itself. So in other words no actual physical work in and around the Bolender Park Landfill has started yet. Make no mistake however in that I applaud the decision to look both north and south of the Landfill as I have strongly suggested. My only question is as you don't need any permission from anyone to install these probes, then what have you been waiting for? You literally had months prior to frost getting into the ground last December when this could have been done.

Hence the March 6 Staff report will allegedly be answers to "some" of my questions. After this many months there is no reason except embarrassment and hopefully shame that all of my questions couldn't be answered straightforwardly and honestly.