THE BIG PICTURE IN THE GUELPH NEIGHBOURHOOD NEAR YORK & VICTORIA RDs.

The request/demand from "me again" i.e. Barry that I don't post about this neighbourhood and the plethora of environmental risks that they face is refused. Furthermore his whine about "wannabe scientists" and environmental activists is beyond pathetic. Governments and their agencies (MOE/MECP etc.) are far more adept at covering up crises and scandals than they are at either avoiding them or fixing them after the fact.

This neighbourhood has proven soil and groundwater contamination to the north, south and west of their location. To the east (i.e. Victoria Rd.) as per the recent comment from "me again" i.e. Barry there may be Hart/Huntsman/PDI. I personally recall from many years ago (decades?) news articles etc. about environmental issues at Hart Chemical. Huntsman not so much and PDI only recently in regards to plastic pellets discharged into the Eramosa River. I've also seen a followup article praising PDI's cleanup of those plastic particles. Therefore at this time lets hope that the known contamination is "only" to the north, west and south.

North- IMICO West- Site 4 (former landfills & major cleanup done at Chemtura on Huron St.) South- again the Site 4 former landfills on the north side of the Eramosa River.

Many years ago there was an article in the Globe and Mail about PCBs leaving a former General Electric site in Guelph. The plant was opened in 1954 and sold in 1987 although GE retained the responsibility for the contamination. Conestoga Rovers allegedly blew the whistle to the MOE and others when they discovered that the PCB treatment plant they were monitoring had an equipment failure that permitted a discharge of 78 parts per billion PCBs into the Guelph sewer system. Obviously PCBs have been found in the natural environment in and around Guelph before and just as obviously even well after their discovery they were escaping into the natural environment. This speaks to my comment the other day that most toxic contamination whether air, ground/surface water or soil continues to migrate if not removed or contained in a secure container with backup capabilities.

The Menzie, Audrey, Lawrence, Victoria Rd. neighbourhood has soil vapours containing trichloroethylene, vinyl chloride, tetrachloroethylene and dichloroethylene at above provincial health and safety guidelines in some samples. Presuming that the neighbours have not been poring these toxic chemicals into their backyards for decades, one can safely assume that it is nearby industries who unsafely disposed of these toxins on their property and that they have migrated into this neighbourhood over the decades. Hence "me again" demanding that I wait to read "all" the studies and also wait for either the province (MOE/MECP) or the City of Guelph to "complete" their studies and investigations is ludicrous. These local citizens are likely suffering ill effects now and the wait and delay of at least three decades is unconscionable. Vapour intrusion may be a more recently discovered phenomenon ( 30-40 years ago) than say groundwater contamination (late 1800s in Europe) but it is just as deadly or more so. Oh and by the way we don't know the status of soil vapours to the west of say Hayes Avenue because those soils have not as far as I know ever been tested. Also my map appears to show zero testing on Kingsmill Ave. and only one location sampled on Hayes Ave. Maybe the most recent sampling earlier this month has made up for these gaps. Rest assured however that NOT testing is a proven and reliable method of scoping or decreasing the size of environmental calamities.

I agree that most likely I have not been privy to "all" the studies and reports. The MOE/MECP are masters of keeping bad news to themselves. I have been chasing both MOE and consultants' reports about Varnicolor Chemical in Elmira for decades. The reports that I have read concerning this Guelph neighbourhood, just like the ones for decades in Elmira (1965-1988) prior to the Elmira November 1989 "water crisis", are all very clear. This Guelph neighbourhood is bombarded with toxic contamination of multiple kinds (PCBs, VOCs, PAH, PHC, metals etc.) likely from multiple sources and they should have had indoor vapour testing decades ago. Past delay was a heartless political game. Further delay is criminal.