YET ANOTHER ATTEMPT AT WHITE/GREEN WASHING?

You know when you read a document that is supposed to be a reference document outlining the form and function as well as the duties, responsibilities and authority of two advisory groups that instead focuses on the conduct of different parties, then you know you've got a problem on your hands. A problem that can not be resolved through unenforceable rules or sugar coated platitudes. It is my opinion that these most recent Terms of Reference (May 2019) for RAC and TAG are just another attempt to greenwash the failures of ALL our political and bureaucratic authorities. News flash: we are not going to achieve the 2028 cleanup of the Elmira Aquifers and this has been admitted to by everybody albeit belatedly. From Dr. Richard Jackson, Dr. Neil Thompson, CPAC & me (first), Chemtura, Lanxess and the MOE (MECP) all have so confirmed. Of course this stupid document says otherwise but it was mostly written by David Brenneman CAO for Woolwich Township at the direction of the mayor. David always does what mayors tell him to do even when they are wrong. He thinks that is his job.

As I read this piece of fluff, the impression I believe that it gives is that darn all the delays and holdups and failures are simply because we can't all get along together. Hold hands and sing Kumbya and Elmira residents will magically transform the hearts and souls of our world class local polluter. The problem is that Uniroyal/Crompton/Chemtura and Lanxess do not have hearts and souls. They are a corporation whose sole focus is shareholder earnings and stock value.

Further to this is the fact that you can not build a successful organization on a foundation of lies and deceit. That describes the entire second paragraph of these Terms of Reference. The "previous consultation process" was no more than a PRIVATE bitch session of long past stakeholders who knew next to nothing about the most recent four to eight year history of the Chemtura Public Advisory Committee. Hence they listened to two co-opted, noses out of joint, shills of Chemtura along with the self-serving fictions of both Chemtura and the Ministry of Environment (MOE).Even then the MOE reps weren't the same ones who regularly attended PUBLIC CPAC meetings. Only one of the regularly attending CPAC and SWAT citizens was invited to this April 9, 2015 closed and private meeting at the Woolwich Township administrative building. The Chair of CPAC, Dr. Holt, appropriately insisted that the meeting had to be open and that he have other CPAC members present. This was refused so he did not attend what was a setup to scapegoat CPAC for the failures, lies and deceptions of both Chemtura and the MOE.

The Minutes of this April 9, 2015 bitch session are nothing but lies and filth propagated by yellow cowards who didn't even have the courage to reference their names with specific comments made. Can you believe that? Personal attacks suggesting physical intimidation of big burly middle aged MOE officers by senior citizens on CPAC and SWAT. According to that document Dr. Holt and I plus all the other CPAC and SWAT members including several doctors, a retired ICU nurse, a retired teacher, a registered chemist and a current environmental professional are the devils incarnate. No wonder Sandy and her uninformed buddies combined with the truly guilty parties (Chemtura & MOE) didn't want other CPAC members present or this meeting held in public. The amateur and professional liars emboldened by the privacy and among fellow travellors would have been at least partially constrained to either the truth or to at least less egregious and blatant lying.

The crux of the matter is that Uniroyal and all their successors have been hiding behind a long co-opted and corrupt Ministry of Environment. This is an MOE who hold meetings with the public while negotiating deals privately with polluters as they have always done. Partly this is due to the fact that successive provincial governments will not give them the budget or authority to do what needs to be done with corporate polluters who save millions by downloading their waste treatment costs on to the public via air, soil and water discharges whenever possible. The other crux is that both the MOE and the polluter feel absolutely zero need to tell the truth to citizen advisory panels. Lying and employing intellectual prostitutes (i.e. consultants) is the name of the game. Small wonder citizens get exasperated with them yet it is the polluter who ran for their mommy (Sandy) when the going got tough in public meetings. CPAC (2010-2015) no longer tolerated long winded fairy tales and insisted upon facts, reports and honest answers to their questions. For the second time (first in 1999) Uniroyal/Chemtura bailed on the public advisory committee but this time they in conjunction with the MOE and new Woolwich mayor manufactured a crisis in order to attempt to justify CPAC's removal. The Woolwich Observer were not fooled and lambasted Woolwich Council repeatedly for their removal of real polluter accountability.

These Terms of Reference for RAC and TAG are simply another pathetic attempt to rewrite history. They are no more than political revisionism at its worst.