LANXESS SITE TOUR YESTERDAY

Well, well, well. It was fun. It was informative. It was enlightening. It was most likely a mistake for the company. The good news is that nobody broke a leg in the groundhog holes or on the slopes or semi-rough terrain. Nobody got too upset. That said kudos go to Joe Kelly and Sebastian Seibel-Achenbach. Dang if I'm on the kudo binge then a couple have to go to Susan B. and Pat M. They verbally spoke up to Lanxess during the tour and agreed with me that the Stroh Drain sediments needed to be tested. That was just about the very last thing on earth that Jason Rice of the MOE (MECP) apparently wanted to hear. He got a little snotty and hostile when I asked him a couple of further questions about the Stroh Drain. Very, very defensive. You know sometimes I prefer honest hostility and antagonism to smiles and phony love ins.

Joe had some kind of device with him that registered elevation. He kept checking which way the ground was sloping with it. Sort of like your own topographical map while your walking. Tiffany Svensson, TAG Chair, brought a colour aerial photograph with her of the south-east corner of Lanxess where we were walking. That too was helpful.

Back to Joe and Sebastian. Well Joe wandered off just after we got into the woods as some sh.. disturber may have pointed out to him exactly where the northern end of the Stroh Drain with its galvanized sub-surface pipe poked out of the ground (horizontally). Joe just kind of casually wandered over sort of checking his elevation device. A few of us then wandered over to the property line fence on our left (east) and noted the existence of the Drain as well as how close it was to the property line fence. Sebastian, bless him, managed from the southern end of the property on the fence line where it runs across the high diagonal ridge from north-west to south-east, to step over the downed fence and then walk northwards along the fence definitely on one side of the property line or the other. He may have gotten his east/west directions confused due to the rather circuitous route that we were guided on. I do recall clearly though that the Lanxess/GHD folks were very clear that we were to stay on the Lanxess property exclusively.

Coming back from the high ground of the diagonal ridge in the south-east corner we all descended north and east as we headed towards the "Gap" area. Once there in the "Gap" area it became obvious to me that my estimates of the distance of the Stroh Drain from the Lanxess property line have been too conservative over the last five years. I've been suggesting twenty metres when in fact without undergrowth and leaves on the trees it is clear that the Stroh Drain, which runs parallel to the property line for approximately 150 metres, is in fact only ten metres away from the property line. Oh my! Twenty-five years of hiding this incredible topographical feature and both ground and surface water drain from the general public as well from the volunteer citizens on UPAC and CPAC (Uniroyal/Chemtura Public Advisory Committee).

To say that Lanxess and their consultants GHD do not and have not wanted to investigate and test both the "Gap" area and the Stroh Drain is an understatement. It is my opinion that they are terrified to do so. Their partner in pollution the Ontario MOE (MECP) are in the same boat with them furiously bailing water and providing cover for Lanxess to hide behind. It is pathetic although I believe their behaviour is opening eyes and minds among the TAG members with only three and a half years experience.

The company appear to be willfully obtuse on the entire issue of overland flow from the east side pits having followed the slope of the land southwards and then flowed south-east onto the Stroh property. It really is quite obvious whether from their own topographical maps, from the site tour yesterday or even from the obvious fact that the Stroh Drain was constructed in the lowest lying area between the properties where it could drain both ground water and surface water further southwards into the Canagagigue Creek. One of the issues is whether solvents, PAHs, lindane, dioxins/furans and DDT compounds among others are in the soils and sediments of this Drain. Not looking pretty much guarantees they won't ever be found. Shame on the Ontario MOE for ignoring the public interest, the environment and human health by continuing to provide cover to this corporation.