MAJOR GOOF AT TAG (Technical Advisory Group) MEETING LAST EVENING

Well I guess it was inevitable. The still relatively new TAG members are trying hard and they mean well. The most sincere who also has five years prior experience on CPAC, Sebastian Seibel-Achenbach, stepped up and spoke the truth. The other TAG members including the Chair, a certified hydrogeologist, just didn't get it. As a result they passed a terrible Motion endorsing the recommendation to proceed with removal of contaminated soil on the Stroh property to a depth of six inches. That's right six inches. Oh and about a total of ten feet wide and a length of a few hundred metres. This is at best a token cleanup. Par for the course.

A comment on yesterday's post here suggested that I would set TAG straight last evening if they missed something major. Well normally over the last twenty-seven years I would have done exactly that. However when our idiot mayor totally bans the public from speaking at PUBLIC TAG meetings, that is difficult. As a direct result I sat there last night in disbelief as TAG totally missed the point of the 2014 MTE Consulting Report written by Peter Gray on behalf of CPAC. His report by the way was accepted by the then current Woolwich Council and passed along to the Ontario Ministry of Environment for action.

First off Peter Gray advised that Uniroyal contaminants likely had flowed both eastwards onto the Stroh property as well as southwards onto the Martin property. This whole exercise both in 2015 and 2017 has focused on eastwards only. Yes there were three composite, extremely shallow soil samples taken solely on the Chemtura site along their southern border. Unfortunately this location is at the edge of former gravel pit GP2 and was capped with clean fill in 2013. Nice testing you dishonest jerks.

Secondly as Sebastian pointed out last evening there has been zero testing on the Stroh property anywhere near the Stroh Drain. Peter Gray of MTE at his CPAC presentation made it clear that not only the sediments in the bottom of the Drain should be tested but also the water flowing in it and the soils around it. None of this has occurred. And the "public consultation" allowing myself or other CPAC members who initiated this entire investigation is somewhat stilted Sandy when we are prohibited from speaking at these meetings. Sebastian also pointed out that the two, three year belated surficial soil samples (SS20 & SS21) done on the Chemtura property should not rule out soil testing both surficial and deeper further east on the Stroh property.

David Hofbauer answered a very good question from Susan Bryant. She pointed out that while the surficial soil samples on the Stroh property just east of Chemtura were above the provincial criteria they were nowhere nearly as high as the results just a few metres away on the Chemtura property. David suggested that there were several reasons including south-east flow of either surface water or ground water versus due east onto the Stroh property. He also suggested that Mr. Stroh who plants corn and soybeans right there is therefore tilling his land once or twice a year. This would reduce concentrations and speed up breakdown of contaminants likely by much greater exposure to sun, wind and rain. I would think that wind alone would move regularly tilled soil further away from the Chemtura property line. David also suggested that the composite sampling was also the culprit in reducing contaminant concentrations. I would suggest there is yet another reason and that is contaminant uptake by Mr. Stroh's crops. Literally decades of corn and soybeans whose roots are in this soil would likely uptake a significant quantity of the contaminants in the soil. Afterall phytoremediation is the study of plants and trees actually being used for that purpose.

Yesterday morning I sent three maps to three different TAG members via e-mail. Joe Kelly was away much of the day and didn't see his prior to the meeting. The other two clearly did not put two and two together and understand that the high concentrations of DDT and Dioxins found at depth (1-2 metres) in the 2013 GP1 excavation was a damning condemnation of CRA/GHD's claims that these two chemicals would only be found in the top six inches (15 cm.) of the soil.

Both Sebastian and Joe Kelly also brought up the inconvenient fact of contamination consisting of black staining and chemical odours in both test pit TPOW36-5-R -A as well as in well OW185-5 on the Stroh property. This contamination is at depth (4.5 metres) in OW 185-5 and at 2 metres below ground surface in the test pit. Neither of these known contaminated locations will be excavated with this sham cleanup. Sebastian advised that TAG should want to connect the dots. Both these locations are right beside the most notorious and heavily contaminated Burial Area 1 (BAE-1) as well as Reburied Drums (RB-1 & 2) on the Chemtura property. Allegedly neither the test pit nor the well contained Dioxins or DDT at high concentrations. Isn't that convenient. There are literally hundreds of other toxic chemicals on the Chemtura property and clearly they have moved onto the Stroh property. Remove them you buggers!

As a direct result of the political decision made by Sandy and Mark Bauman three years ago to remove me and most of the CPAC members from the process, public consultation has suffered. This is despite the best efforts of several very good people on TAG who simply were not involved as recently as three years ago. Chemtura and the Ontario M.O.E. cried to the new Woolwich council after the 2014 election for help from the mean and terrifying seniors and others on CPAC who had been appointed by the previous council. Mark and Sandy stepped up to protect the defenceless and timid corporate polluter in our midst.