RECORD OF SITE CONDITION (RSC) FOR ELMIRA PUMP?

I will assume that I am not being fibbed to when I am told that the Ontario Ministry of Environment (MECP/MOE) have not yet given Elmira Pump their Record of Site Condition. I believe that the company have been diligently working towards that goal for perhaps nineteen years now. Considering that we were advised by the MOE around 1995 that ten years of shallow pump and treat technology would clean up the site adequately, obviously we were misinformed at that time by the MOE. That does not surprise me in the least. If the MOE told me today that Elmira Pump would receive their RSC within six months I would be skeptical. If however Elmira Pump or their consulting company (Peritus) so advised me, I would believe that.

In May 2016 we seemed to be at a crossroads with the cleanup of the former Varnicolo Chemical site located at the corner of Union St. and Howard Ave. A Risk Assessment was being publicly presented in Council Chambers for the property and the goal was an imminent RSC from the MOE allowing Elmira Pump to build some commercial storage units on the site. While residential development with basements etc. might still be problematic, commercial surface storage units seems to be a perfectly acceptable use of the property. I was promised a copy of the completed Risk Assessment and to this day none has been forthcoming. Repeated requests and questions have been answered with the statement that the MOE have not yet given final approval. That's going on three years ago! What the hell!

This is unconscionable treatment of both a local business who stepped in to assume the final cleanup of a formerly grossly contaminated site as well as of the local citizen who instigated the discovery and eventual cleanup of the site. Nearly three years ago, as expected, we learned that the contamination did go right down to the Municipal Aquifer contrary to the MOE's longstanding claims.