LYING, CHEATING , DOUBLE DEALING GOVERNMENT AGENCIES

I've often told my wife that while there are indeed very rare, once in a lifetime screwballs out there (Olsen, Wortman, Dahmer, Manson etc.) the real threat is government murder, mayhem and incompetence. Thalidomide, DDT, Agent Orange, Vietnam, Iraq, Chile, aboriginal genocide, state sanctioned police violence and brutality against Blacks, rubber industry cancer clusters ignored by provincial governments, asbestos mining and use, government sanctioned Rawandan massacres, Serbia, Hitler's Germany (Jewish "solution"), Syrian and Egyptian attacks on citizens, etc. etc. etc.. .................................................................................................................. A few years back I was shocked to learn of 2,4,-D & 2,4,5,-T (i.e. Agent Orange) use in Gagetown, New Brunswick, and in Ontario along power lines, railroad right of ways and highways even in southern Ontario. It all made zero sense as our authorities were well aware of scientific evidence indicating the lethality of those two chemicals to so much more than broadleaf weeds. Aquatic ecosystems, wildlife, domestic animals, crops and human beings were devastated by their indiscriminate use. .................................................................................................... Well I have just learned about what a sham democracy has been for decades in our southern neighbour, the United States. This is not to remotely suggest that Canadian democracy is anything to brag about because it isn't. Our Canadian politicians do not respond to honesty, scientific facts or simply doing the right thing. Oh no, they pause, look around carefully, smell the prevailing winds and calculate who will be offended by their doing the right thing. What lobby, what powerful vested interests might lose a little to end injustice or sufferring to many that they are causing. Then our gutless wonder politicians will stand up on their hind legs for a moment and mouth platitudes that sound good but accomplish nothing because the status quo is the way it is for the specific benefit of the priveleged in our society. The very same priveleged who both donate to parties (Liberal & Conservative) and also lobby them for self-serving reasons. .................................................................................................................... The U.S. Forestry Service in the late 1970s desperately needed their senior management to spend some quality time in jails. Oh no the U.S. justice system was hell on wheels for jailing dope and drug users and dealers, especially if they were coloured, but actually jailing government bureaucrats following orders from the very same government authorities just couldn't happen. So what if those government authorizations made people sick. So what if those government authorizations killed both wildlife and domestic farm animals. So what if human beings sufferred permanent health damage including cancers from U.S. Forestry actions. Most importantly the wealthy and influential Forestry companies were not negatively affected for five minutes while other citizens, their families including children and the local environments were devastrated all in the name of maintaining profits. That's what matterred to those a..holes first, last and always. ................................................................................................. From the mid 1970s on the U.S. Forestry Service sprayed rural and heavily forested Oregon with 2,4,-D and 2,4,5-T. This included farms, ranches, residential homes, barns, domestic animals, men, women, children, streams and rivers. Fish, frogs, crayfish, ducks, deer, chickens, dogs, and most likely human beings as well died. So as the U.S. authorities already knew of the effects of the dioxin in Agent Orange killing and maiming in Vietnam, did they immediately stop spraying when advised of the disasters in Oregon? Hell no, the forestry companies wouldn't hear of it. Money was at stake. It took literally years of legal action by the victims and others to even put a dent in the spraying. The politicians as usual, followed suit, in their usual ways. They banned this and prohibited that, all subject to a myriad of conditions including rights to appeal by chemical companies that allowed still more spraying for even more years while the lawyers got rich winding it all through the courts for even longer. ................................................................................................. Yes folks money talks and people die, even in democracies, while the money talks.

MORE RISK ASSESSMENT B/S COURTESY OF LANXESS & GHD

LANXESS have responded to a Ministry of Environment letter dated April 9, 2020 regarding COPC's, CSM and 2020 sampling program. That stands for Contaminants of Potential Concern and Conceptual Site Model. Page 2 in the report by Lanxess references upstream Uniroyal Chemical industrial wastes in the Bolender Park Landfill. Lanxess are quoting an old report which states that some of Uniroyal's wastes were put in this landfill including filter cloths. It does not say ONLY filter cloths it says including filter cloths. And what else could Uniroyal have possibly put in the Bolender Park Landfill? Let's see now how about dioxins, resins and absolutely everything else that they put in M2 in barrels and more. .................................................................................................. The Stroh Drain sediments are going to be sampled in the fall. Wow that only took that pack of slobs what, six years, to do the obvious? For them and the MECP that's pretty good. The MECP still say that the shovel method of collecting sediment samples is inappropriate but rest assurred they'll roll over in time not to slow down Lanxess's mickey mouse Risk Assessment. ................................................................................................... Turns out that there was a Lindane release in 2000. Refresh my memory please with the details about that particular release among hundreds. ............................................................................................................... On page 6 it looks to me as if GHD were caught by the MECP gilding the lily somewhat. This was in regards to a screening limit regarding frequency of detection (5%) of compounds. Never fear, polluter lovers, there are no penalties for creative fibbing in hydrogeology. ............................................................................................................... On page 10 Lanxess claim that they only have info on Uniroyal industrial deposits into the Bolender Landfill from two old reports. Are they conveniently forgetting the CRA reports done in the 1980s describing Elmira's (i.e. Uniroyal's) industrial desposits into the landfills? ................................................................................................................. On page 13 there is discussion of ongoing subsurface toluene as an LNAPL assisting the transport of DDT and dioxins into the creek. Tsk Tsk! This could have and should have been cleaned up twenty-five yuears ago. Back to haunt you and no surprise. .................................................................................................. Page 14 mentions ten different Uniroyal chemicals that are greater than their groundwater criteria on site. They include benzene, toluene, chlorobenzene, TCE, 1,2 dichlorobenzene, chlorophenol, 1,4 dichlorobenzene, 2,4,5-T, ethylbenzene and DDT. Oddly very few of these made Lanxess's COPC list. How odd. ...................................................................................................................... On page 15 Lanxess is refusing to consider additional parameters be analysed in the sediment. Oh Oh Lanxess. The MECP might publicly call you out and beg you to do more. Lastly the MECP believe that historic (past) creek bed locations should be sampled. Of course they should but come on now, you've already raised your voice once. You don't want to hurt the company and their consultant's feelings do you?

HAVE WE REACHED THE TIPPING POINT IN NORTH AMERICA? THESE ARE BOTH SHOCKING & AMAZING TIMES

For many years I have written on my other blog the "Waterloo Region Advocate" (www.waterlooregionadvocate.blogspot.com) about social issues including incompetent and biased courts as well as police violence and stupidity albeit primarily in Ontario and Waterloo Region. Make no mistake while we are not as bad as the U.S. we too have serious problems with the training and management of our police officers. The real problem is their management and that comes from our regional councillors. They generally have a sweetheart arrangement with senior police officers which means hands off and no criticism of each group by the other. What a way to run a railroad! Both budgets and behaviour are out of control. We also have the old style biases and us against them mindset. A young man (Beau ?) was shot repeatedly and to death on the front step of his apartment building on Brybeck Cres. several years ago. He was having a mental health crisis. Just recently a certain darling of the police force thought it was just a dandy idea to shoot repeatedly at the back of a fleeing burglary suspect. That's right a burglary suspect who was unarmed at the time and NOT threatening police ot the public with physical harm. Multiple shots later and he dropped the suspect with a single bullet to the back of his leg. A local genius judge (Skarica) praised the darling officer and a local prosecutor declined to prosecute multiple charges laid by the Ontario Special Investigations Unit (SIU). Yes reform is badly needed here. .................................................................................................................. Currently professional sports are in a hiatus as basketball, baseball, soccer and hockey players have all decided that enough is enough. American police clearly have the training and political support to literally demand instant obedience to their orders upon pain of death. It doesn't matter how serious or how minor the alleged infractions, if the suspect is black and unarmed, and non-threatening that does not matter. If a police officer (likely white) orders the black suspect to jump, then the suspect either jumps or asks how high. Any other response is grounds for shooting him and as the police have gotten away with that behaviour for decades it has continued. Our authorities, courts, senior police management and most importantly politicians at the local and state levels have all been complicit. Shame on them all. Under those circumstances protests both peaceful and violent are incredibly restrained considering that police murders of black citizens are in my opinion a form of genocide. The absolutely only time that lethal force may be used is when an officer is facing imminent, serious threat of death or severe bodily harm. Everything else is the police becoming judge, jury and executioner. I sure as hell never gave my police or anybody else's that authority and neither have American citizens of whatever skin colour. ......................................................................................................... American authorities are on notice by the citizens that they rule. End police violence and brutality immediately or face the consequences.

CLEARLY TAG ARE "OWNED" BY LANXESS, MECP & WOOLWICH TOWNSHIP

Sad but hardly surprising. I've known since the deaprture of Dr. Richard Jackson and the start of the tenure of Ms. Svensson as TAG Chair on January 2017 that Sandy Shantz and her fellow travellors on Woolwich Council were unlikely to make the same mistake again and hire someone as TAG Chair that could not be kept in check. This is not to suggest that Ms. Svensson is not a good person or that she is unqualified. Far from it. Unfortunately unlike Dr. Jackson who was at the end of an illustrious professional career, Ms. Svensson apparently is willing to take orders from self-serving idiots paying her wages. I'm sure there are readers who would applaud her for being loyal to her employers, be they the Township or Lanxess Canada. I'm not one of them however I will not condemn her for so doing. Just disappointed as she's been Chair long enough to see what's going on. ........................................................................................................ Two weeks ago today (Aug. 13/20) I advised readers that Ms. Svensson had sent me a response to my initial August 8/20 e-mail insisting that if I was going to the time and trouble to present a written, detailed and well researched Delegation to TAG, then I certainly expected a specific justification for her and TAG's refusal to accept the basis of my Delegation. A reason, a rationale or even some contrdictory evidence that would explain their bizarre, to me, refusal to accept that water flows downhill to the lowest lying elevation of ground. Since then NOTHING. ....................................................................................................... O.K. so be it. TAG does not have a reason other than they've been "told". Fine. End of the line. No more written Delegations from me and certainly a hell of a lot less respect if you can't respond appropriately, whether so ordered or not. Show some backbone.

AUTHORITIES & POLLUTERS USE THE SAME PLAYBOOK ACROSS CANADA & THE U.S.

I've been comparing notes with other activists including one formerly in Gagetown and now in B.C. Also I've had the pleasure of speaking with and e-mailing back and forth with a gentleman who lived in Elmira, Ontario for the first twenty years of Uniroyal Chemical's presence in town. His recollections and history of the time are fascinating and hopefully will eventually be shared with us all. ........................................................................................................ The person now in B.C. has certainly been disabused of confidence in our authorities; it appears at all levels. Early in my "activist" career even when faced with gross and blatant lying and deceit from the Ontario Ministry of Environment (MOE then, MECP now); I would have hesitated to broaden the "corruption" tag to all or even other government ministries or agencies. No longer. The corruption is systemic. Whether or not it involves brown paper bags of cash as with one of our former Prime Ministers (Mulroney), neverhteless when our authorities conspire with private corporations (polluters) to lie and deceive the general public for private gain; then indeed it is corruption. Varnicolor Chemical in Elmira opened my eyes; Uniroyal Chemical and its' successors opened my mind to the ongoing extent of government deceit and lying. ..................................................................................................... This is why while I don't agree with all the Covid-19 conspiracies currently circulating, I can certainly understand them. When you've been lied to often enough from our "authorities", how on earth can you ever trust their word and credibility again?

MORE INTERESTING REPORTS REGARDING DDT, AND PCBs (Dioxin like compounds)

There was a scandal at the Centre For Disease Control (CDC) in the U.S. that was exposed at a Congressional hearing looking into why a study of health risks posed by Agent Orange had been cancelled. The allegations were that either the CDC had botched the study or that there was political interference from the Reagan White House to shut it down. Not that the American chemical industry had a long and blemished record of attempting to manipulate either chemical research or politicians to reflect their wishes. Heavens no, nobody expected a for profit powerful lobby to behave exactly like saints and they have not been disappointed. ............................................................................................................. The CDC halted the study in 1987 claiming that militarty records were inadequate to determine which soldiers were exposed to Agent Orange. The director of the study at the time Dr. Houk denied the charges. Unfortunately several other scientists all testified that indeed they had excellent military records showing exactly where Agent Orange was sprayed , by whom, and which miltary units were in the vicinity. These researchers also testified that CDC administartors changed the design of studies regularly and even switched variables so frequently that the results were meaningless. They accused their superiors of essentially sabataging the study and further indicated that they were forced to do bad science as a result. ...................................................................................................................... The Congressional hearing was written up in the Wasgington Post by Paula Yost on July 12, 1989. More to come later.

THEY ALL LIE - PAT POTTER

More good news is coming out of the success of "Toxic Time Bomb" produced by Ron Harpelle and Kelly Saxberg. I've been put in touch with a number of individuals from the U.S., Vietnam and British Columbia who all have different experiences and knowledge regarding dioxins/furans and also DDT, the infamous insecticide which destroyed mosquitoes and so much more (birds, animals, fish etc.). ............................................................................................................. I have as a result been receiving various published scientific papers dealing with dioxins and DDT. One of them is in regards to a study of porpoises and seals living in the Bay of Fundy. This study was done by researchers from our neighbour, the University of Guelph. One of the most interesting items is that all testing of tissues was the exact opposite of what Lanxess Canada and the Ontario MOE/MECP are currently doing here in Elmira. Fish tissue testing from the Canagagigue Creek has all been done on lean tissues. That's right lean tissues which do not accumulate either dioxins or DDT as readily as fatty tissues. In this U. of Guelph study the focus was on testing fatty tissues (i.e. blubber) precisely because DDT and dioxins tend to deposit and accumulate in fatty tissues. Once again our local polluter and his fellow travellors are masters of minimizing environmental problems and issues. ...................................................................................................................... The second report concerns the massive spraying of New Brunswick forests with DDT from 1952 until 1968 to combat the spruce budworm. Indeed to assist the local forest industry, essentially lakes, rivers, soils and wildlife sufferred and continue to suffer the effects of that spraying. Of a number of conclusions including that DDT persists in the natural environment far longer than originally believed, the one sticks out for me is that studies are showing the movement of DDT and its breakdown products from the aquatic food webs to the terrestial food webs. In other words simple text references in the upcoming Risk Assessments to land animals and birds uptaking DDT and dioxins from fish, frogs, etc. is not adequate. This is a solid and ongoing migration of toxic chemicals from sediments and the benthic community up through aquatic lifeforms to their many land based predators such as raccoons, foxes, coyotes, herons, hawks etc. Serious research and references are necessary to determine the extent of that migration and hence how much cleanup in and around the creek is required. Not to mention stopping the source areas both on the Lanxess site and off their site (Stroh & likely Martin property).

TIMING & GOOD FORTUNE SOMETIMES COMBINE

In crokinole we call them Grandpa shots. These are shots taken on the crokinole board even by an experienced and formerly pretty good crokinole player, that go astry. They go astray and hit one post, knock your man off the board and then hit a second post before scoring the shooter twenty points by ending up in the centre hole on the board. Pure unadulterated luck. They are the bane of very good players who analyse each and every shot ahead of time to determine where the opponent's button will go after being hit and where their own button will end up after hitting the opponent's. .................................................................................................................... Sometimes environmentally you get a grandpa shot. In fact unless you have big time money and resources eventually that's all you have left is Grandpa shots. You study all the reports, you examine maps, you listen at public meetings that pretend to be honest public consultation, you pass on news to local newspapers in Elmira who ignore it 99% of the time, and once or twice a year you give a verbal Delegation to the Remediation Advisory Committee (RAC) which asks no questions or requests any clarification because fundamentally they a) are going through the motions and b) they don't give a crap. Afterall as far as they are concerned it's all been a done deal since the October and November 1991 sweetheart deals between Uniroyal Chemical and the Ministry of the Environment (MOE/MECP). .................................................................................................................. We've gotten a Grandpa shot recently. A couple of years back I received a phone call from Dr. Ron Harpelle from Thunder Bay. He wanted to do a Documentary about Uniroyal Chemical and Elmira and was I interested. I of course said yes. Interviews were organized including my recommending Dr. Sebastian Seibel-Achenbach, Susan Rupert and Dr. Henry Regier to Ron Harpelle. Henry attended an interview and commented but he preferred to stay out of the limelight. Time seemed to drag on but nevertheless it turns out that the effort expended by the film producers and by the participants has been extraordinarily worth while. For the record I absolutely did not recommend or solicit Darrol and Susan Bryant's particiaption in the project. Presumably Ron Harpelle contacted them on his own. ................................................................................................ The film premiered in Paris France on Agent Orange Day. Local radio and newspapers in Kitchener, Waterloo and hallelujah even in Elmira have stepped up and done their public service by informing their readers. People do care and sometimes the media think that it always has to be about something brand new. Or they have been intimidated by local power brokers. Regardless here in Elmira we've scored a Grandpa shot and all the status quo of silence, wealth, power and influence have had to cringe beneath it. Every dog has his day and those in charge better not forget it.

WHO SAYS THAT WE DON'T HAVE DIOXINS OR DDT IN OUR GROUNDWATER IN ELMIRA?

Well let's see now: Uniroyal, Crompton, Chemtura and likely Lanxess say that we don't. Apparently Jeff Merriman, a now retired environmental engineer for the polluter, said that we don't. I believe that even our illustrious Ontario Ministry of Environment (MOE/MECP) have stated the same. CRA and GHD, consultants to Uniroyal/Crompton/Chemtura and Lanxess likely all deny that there is either DDT of dioxins/furans in Elmira's groundwater. ............................................................................................................ Do I believe them? No I do not. They are neither nuetral nor unbiased. All of them are in a conflict of interest position regarding the question. It is in their best interests, both credibility wise and financially wise to state thusly. ................................................................................................ They all claim that DDT and especially dioxins/furans are insoluble. They have stated that they are "hydrophobic". They prefer to attach/bond themselves to soil particles and if they are found in surface water it is as a suspended sediment not dissolved into the water. Hmm. .......................................................................................................... There are two main technical reasons why I believe that those parties are being less than forthright. One please look up either the (Ontario) Safe Drinking Water Act (2002) or else just google Ontario Drinking Water Standards (ODWS). Guess what? There are values and criteria stated for both DDT concentrations in our drinking water and for dioxins in our drinking water. They are 30 parts per billion (ug/l) also known as .03 mg/l or parts per million (ppm) for DDT and 15 parts per quadrillion (ppq) or .000000015 mg/l or parts per million (ppm) for dioxins/furans. Soooooo please tell me if these two compounds are insoluble in water then why does Ontario have a specific health based maximum concentration for them in drinking water??????? ..................................................................................................... Secondly please google both DDT and dioxins or even TCDD which stands for Tetra Chloro Dibenzo p Dioxin. Specifically I googled DDT Wikipedia and then TCDD Wikipedia and up they came. These pages show various chemical properties of these compounds such as chemical formula, density, boiling point, vapour pressure and SOLUBILITY! Yes! Well guess what? I checked the solubility readings for DDT, TCDD and also for NDMA. As expected NDMA is very soluble and indeed has by far the highest solubilty reading of 290 mg/l. Next is DDT at 25 ug/l and yes with the lowest solubility of the three is TCDD at .2 ug/l. But guess what? None of these three compounds are described as insoluble. ................................................................................................. Now lets just compare each compounds solubility with its drinking water standard. If in fact a compound's ability to dissolve in water (i.e. solubility) is less than its drinking water standard then there might be an argument that the compound can not pollute the water enough to make it unsafe. That would still somewhat beg the question as to why the province bothered then to set a drinking water standard for it. NDMA solubility is 290 mg/l (parts per million) and its' standard is .009 parts per billion or .000009 parts per million (ppm). Clearly an issue. DDT solubility is 25 ug/l (parts per billion) and its' standard is 30 parts per billion. Well now that is interesting. There is an argument to be made here not for DDT being insoluble but that it's solubility in water is just barely below its' drinking water standard. TCDD solubility is .2 ug/l (parts per billion) and its' standard is .000000015 parts per million or .000015 parts per billion. Also clearly an issue! .......................................................................................................... So DDT possibly may not be a drinking water issue in pristine groundwater which of course Elmira's is not. The question for me is whether the other compounds and solvents in Elmira's groundwater increase the solubility of DDT or decrease it. That is worth examining but don't count on our authorities having any interest in so doing. NDMA we already know is a huge issue in our groundwater but now more than ever I am convinced that we should have been testing for dioxins in our groundwater for at least the last three decades and have not been. Or let me clarify. Perhaps Uniroyal/Lanxess and the MOE/MECP have been doing that testing and simply not sharing the bad news with us.

"TOXIC TIME BOMB" IS CREATING SOME BUZZ

The Waterloo Region Record last Monday carried a photograph of the old Uniroyal Chemical site in Elmira as well as a detailed article about the production of Agent Orange and its use and misuse in Vietnam. In today's Record there is an Opinion piece by Susan Koswan accurately describing the Documentary film as well as mentioning comments by Susan Rupert, Sebastian Seibel-Achenbach (i.e. "funny" tasting water), and by yours truly. Oh and I've forgotten the name of one other but as today's Woolwich Observer seemed unable to remember the names of any of the other local activists (Sebastian and I) or the now out of town activist Susan Rupert then turn around is fair play. The Observer show a nice picture of the here unamed activist albeit nobody mentions that she also no longer lives in Elmira. Strange. Now who helped fund the startup of the Observer again way back in 1995 possibly in order to get better coverage for local industrialists? ................................................................................................ Susan Koswan quotes my comments about it being cheaper for Uniroyal and successors' to hire lawyers than to clean up their mess both on and off their property. She also mentions that the delay, delay and more delay is partially at least to wait for local activists to die off. Fuch em I'm going to live to be a hundred soley to spite the buggers. ................................................................................................. The Observer article is titled "New film documents Elmira contamination issue". There are several very flattering quotes from the film's producer Ron Harpelle. He advises that we the public should be proud of the local activists and that we should be celebrated. Very nice and thank you. Unfortunately the unamed activist once again plays into Uniroyal/Lanxess's game plan by repeating the nonsense that there are two or three "hot spots" in the creek. Bullfritters! Every place they tested had major exceedances of DDT and dioxin/furan criteria and they would have had even more exceedances if they'd done proper testing with appropriate lab Method Detection Limits and if they used proper sample testing of sediments procedures. They did not by using shovel sampling instead of the proper core sampling. Lastly they should have tested far more for many other toxic chemicals discharged by Uniroyal over the decades. ........................................................................................................... All in all these two articles are very helpful and I can advise that there has been feedback and requests for information across North America.

UNIROYAL/LANXESS SHAMEFUL PUMP & TREAT FAILURES OF THE ELMIRA AQUIFERS CONTINUE

All parties including Lanxess and the MECP now admit that they will not achieve the mandated cleanup of the Elmira Aquifers to drinking water standards by 2028. The reasons are both numerous and obvious but ignoring the researched and competent advice of both experts and local citizens for source removal of hot spots both on and off the Uniroyal/Lanxess site is a major reason. Of course none of these experts were bought and paid for consultants hired by Uniroyal/Lanxess. What a pathetic game allowed by our authorities and decision makers. The next obvious reason is Uniroyal's/Lanxess's failures to even be able to pump and treat the volume of water that they declared that they could. Their pumping failures both on and off site although mostly off site have been going on for decades. Their most recent Progress Report (July 2020) is more of the same. On site pumping has an inadequate Target pumping rate of 4.7 litres per second (l/s). Jeff Merriman many years ago promised us at a public CPAC meeting that they would pump 6.0 l/s. It's never happened. Similarily off site pumping was promised by Chemtura (Uniroyal) in November 2012 to be TRIPLED. They later reduced that to be DOUBLED. It's never happened. The total of all off site pumping wells last month was just about even with the admitted inadequate pumping rate of 53 l/s back in 2012. Lots of excuses though, as always. ............................................................................................................. Lanxess have been promised a new Control Order by the Ontario Ministry of Environment (MOE/MECP) that will reflect the reality of their 2028 failure. They are also initiating a conversation/dialogue among themselves and their "stakeholders" to decide if perhaps they should change the location of their goalposts. CPAC pressed the MOE/MECP for clarification way back in 2012/2013 as to exactly what the definition of "cleanup" was. The MOE/MECP did what they and Lanxess do best which was to bafflegab and delay and simply not give an intelligent answer to a reasoned and reasonable question from the appointed stakeholders. Now Lanxess want to redefine cleanup to mean that if part of the Elmira Aquifers near pumping wells are "clean" then that is good enough. Afterall the Region of Waterloo have been "managing" industrially contaminated aquifers (TCE, benzene etc.) in Kitchener, Waterloo and Cambridge for decades so why not do the same in Elmira? Once again quoting the late, great Pat Potter ("They all lie").

YET ANOTHER POLICE SHAME ON CANADIAN HISTORY

The article in today's Waterloo Region Record is titled "Toronto police board agrees to $16.5 million settlement over mass arrests at 2010 G20". Ten years of court proceedings and negotiations with the Toronto Police Services Board have resulted in the settlement of a class action lawsuit against the Toronto Police Service and the Police Board. In my opinion, in a truly free and democratic society, every senior police officer making disgusting decisions at the Toronto G20 summit and each and every Police Services Board member would spend some quality time behind bars. Then and only then might those filth begin to understand what it's like to be arbitraily thrown in jail based upon at a maximum peacefully protesting and at a minimum simply living and working in downtown Toronto and being in the wrong place at the wrong time. ..................................................................................................... The mass arrests of over 1100 people were the largest and nastiest in Canadian history. Citizens were surrounded (kettled) and held by riot police spme for four hours during a freezing downpour only to eventually be arrested, and thrown into third world detention facilities lacking food, water, bathrooms and heat. Some citizens were attacked and beaten by police. The fact that both the Police Services Board and the Toronto police spent taxpayers money for ten years fighting the class action lawsuit instead of owning up to their contemtible, illegal behaviour is a testament to their lack of ethics and morals. ..................................................................................................................... This behaviour by Toronto police was repugnant but far too typical of attitudes fostered by bad training and decades of minimal transparency and accountability. Even here in Waterloo Region, senior police officers are far too willing to throw people in jail for peaceful protest if there is a political aspect to it. This especially includes our school boards (WRDSB) and their incestuous and inappropriate relationship with senior Waterloo Region Police management. The legal system (police & courts) are seriously in bed with local taxpayer funded power brokers (i.e. biased) and it needs to end.

WOOLWICH TOWNSHIP, TAG, LANXESS, NEWSPAPERS & FILM

Today's Waterloo Region Record carries (pg. A3) the following article by Leah Gerber titled "Film looks back on Elmira's toxic past". It "stars" the following honest, local environmentalists namely Sebastian Seibel-Achenbach, Susan Rupert and yours truly Alan Marshall. There is also a newspaper photo of the departed Esther Thur who was a long standing member of the Elmira Environmental Hazards Team along with myself, Rich Clausi and Dr. Henry Regier. Finally there are two other people in it who are neither local residents nor citizens. ................................................................................................................ The article advises that Uniroyal Chemical in Elmira produced Agent Orange, a powerful herbicide containing dioxin that was sprayed in Vietnam (as well as in Ontario and New Brunswick). Both Elmira's aquifers and the Canagagigue Creek were poisoned courtesy of Uniroyal's (now Lanxess) production of NDMA, pesticides, herbicides, fungicides and more. The article praises local activists and their dedication. "Everyone should celebrate them for their work". Furthermore in interviewing Ron Harpelle, one of the two filmakers from Thunder Bay, Leah Gerber writes "The filmakers hope it brings attention to a past wrong that still hasn't been made right: Cleanup of Canagagigue Creek and the aquifer is still ongoing.". ................................................................................................................ Dioxins have "...been linked to increased birth defects, particularly spina bifida, that continue today in Vietnam.". I will add that the medical effects from dioxins are actually much more damaging and extensive than mentioned in this article.

WATER STILL FLOWS DOWNHILL ...I'M TRYING TO ARRANGE A MEETING BETWEEN LANXESS, MOE/MECP & ISAAC NEWTON

If it works for Donald Trump then it certainly is good enough for our Ontario Ministry of Environment, Lanxess Canada, GHD, Woolwich Township and TAG. What works for Mr. Trump is bald faced, blatant untruths with either no backup or else with made up "facts" and made up "evidence" to support his position. Mr. Trump has certainly espoused the look them in the eye and double down on the prevarications when challenged. Former Mayor of Woolwich Township,Todd Cowan, liked to make up self-serving fibs including when he lied to his own council and told them (likely with the CAO's support) that I had promised not to write about CPAC issues in my Blog (i.e. this one). I of course had flatly refused that request from Todd and David prior to my appointment to CPAC. I only learned about how Todd via lying had convinced Woolwich Council to turf me from CPAC at the end of the term of council from one of the councillors. .............................................................................................................. Along those lines I am giving the majority of TAG members the benefit of the doubt by considering that they too have been manipulated by either the current mayor or other authority figure. I saw Susan and Pat behaving like that with CPAC over the years. Manipulating part time volunteers, even smart ones, is not that difficult if you are the Chair, the mayor or even simply a credentialed individual with little or no moral quallms about prevaricating to get your way. Honest, decent people, even the smart ones, find it difficult to believe that others, especially in positions of authority, are so willing to lie at the drop of a hat. Volunteers rarely will challenge those who have appointed them. They want to believe that they are working (for free) for the good guys. The last thing they want to do is get sidetracked by demanding full transparency and full, public disclosure of awkward or difficult situations. ..................................................................................................... Isaac Newton of course is the long departed renowned physicist who espoused the theory of gravity after allegedly being hit on the head by a falling apple. His theory has stood the test of time but Lanxess and friends via the methods of delay, deny and deflect have managed to keep the high probability of overland flow of liquid toxic wastes onto and past (i.e. eastwards) the current location of the Stroh Drain, Ditch & Berm (SDDB) off the agenda. The highly suspicious and self-serving artificial relocation of GP-1 they have also kept off the public agenda. They have not even verified, denied or confirmed their own ground surface elevation contour lines on their property and on Stroh's. Like Donald Trump, either don't talk about it or else lie like dogs, it's all in a days work. Unfortunately for them the facts (contour lines) are out there. Maybe just like Todd Cowan's lies they don't have to survive forever. Just for now.

OOPS I LEFT SOMETHING OUT OF YESTERDAY'S POST

In the second paragraph of yesterday's post I suggested in the second e-mail I sent the TAG Chair (Ms. Svensson) that there were a couple of new facts. I then proceeded to describe one, lost my train of thought regarding the second and continued on with the post. Here is the second "new" fact although frankly I discovered it a few years back and did present it publicly at that time. As with the vast majority of new facts discovered however that present either new challenges, require attention including money or that do not support the polluter and his bought and paid for consultants narrative, they are dropped like hot potatoes. They are ignored, they are not responded to if at all possible and they are buried hopefully never to be seen or heard from again. This behaviour can only succeed if you are a polluter in Canada with lots of money, brass and chutzpah. It also helps incredibly if you have your regulator wrapped around your fingers. ...................................................................................................................................... The second fact is that the position of GP-1 (gravel pit one) is in dispute. Now this point I have not vigorously persued within the incredibly stifling process that passes for public consultation here in Woolwich Township. I have not persued it because even though it probably was not an accidental slip up, I felt that the narrative presented by the "professionals" and the "experts" was flimsy at best anyways. That said I should know by now never to count out the power of credentialism and the power of men in suits, no matter how odourous the story they are selling. I mean simply look around at our politicians. There is hardly a government, provincial or federal that hasn't been caught red handed lying, trying to lie and then covering up those very same lies. Scandals, big and small are the norm. Lying is the norm. ................................................................................................................ The two maps, prior to Conestoga Rovers & Assoc. (CRA) current location, which show GP-1 east of its current location were produced initially by the Ontario Ministry of Environment (MOE) and the Grand River Conservation Authority (GRCA) in 1985 and finally by CH2MHILL, engineering consultants on behalf of the Region of Waterloo (approx 1992). My suspicion is that CRA felt that by shifting the location of GP-1 slightly westwards and away from the Stroh farm that they could sell their narrative to less diligent stakeholders. In fact as most of their "stakeholders" would better be called "fellow travellors", it really didn't require much of a sales pitch. If in fact GP-1 is located on the east side of the high ridge of ground that runs diagonally from north-west to south-east in Uniroyal/Lanxess's south-east corner; then in fact it is a harder sell to honest stakeholders that the overflowing east side pits (RPE 1-5) did not run directly over to the Stroh farm prior to the construction of the Stroh Drain, Ditch & Berm (SDDB) in 1983. For the dishonest stakeholders, any story at all will suffice.

I'VE RECEIVED A RESPONSE FROM THE TAG CHAIR

I posted here last Saturday August 8 about my e-mail earlier that day to TAG (Technical Advisory Group) Chair Tiffany Svensson. She responded with a brief e-mail back on Monday (Aug. 10). Her e-mail was polite, respectful, courteous and I might even suggest appreciative of my efforts to provide information and help to TAG. So far so good. She also suggested in her last paragraph that her e-mail "...is not likely as a robust a response as you would like,...". Well Ms. Svensson certainly hit the nail on the head with that point. My first read of that sentence left me wondering if she was inferring that there would be another more detailed response/explanation still coming. Second and third reads have not left me with that understanding. ............................................................................................................... Therefore the next day (Tues. Aug. 11/20) I sent Tiffany a second e-mail pointing out that my basic, bottom-line request for an explanation of TAG's complete rejection of my written Delegation presented to them last February had not been responded to other than her saying that she recognized that her response was unlikely to be satisfactory. The second e-mail while similar to the first did have a couple of new facts included such as the increased amount of liquid wastes overland surface flow both during high water table season (i.e. rain/spring) as well as during the winter when the ground was frozen and less likely to absorb overflowing surface liquid wastes. I also rather bluntly suggested that if TAG were unprepared to publicly advise the reason/rationale or evidence for their decision not to accept that overflowing liquid wastes ended up in the lower lying area to the immediate east of the Stroh Drain, Ditch & Berm (SDDB) then clearly they had zero respect or appreciation for citizen stakeholders preparing Delegations for them AND that this whole "public consultation" exercise was a mere facade , a sham. I went so far as to suggest that the sham was both for the financial and credibility benefit of Lanxess and the Ontario Ministry of Environment as well as to simply fool the general public. ................................................................................................................. If there is any technical evidence or reason to doubt gravity flow of liquid wastes to the lowest lying area (sort of bowl shaped) then it is way past time to present it. Unfortunately the history of both the company (& predecessors) and the MOE/MECP is to simply say "trust us, we know best". No, what you know best is what is good for your interests not what is good for the public interest.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM

My first comment is that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. That of course is a very old saying likely more in relation to political systems, parties and leaders. It is also true. I believe that in fact it is relevant to most of our modern day boards, agencies, government ministries, tribunals, municipal politicians, and even unfortunately our police, our school boards and our judicial systems. Without checks and balances, human beings begin to believe that they are omnipotent. J. Edgar Hoover was a prime example. As head of the U.S. FBI and without any controls on him, his corruption and perverse behaviour became legendary. .................................................................................................................. Four days ago the Waterloo Region Record carried a story titled "Louisana veteran serving life sentence for $30 drug sale set to be freed". Boy I'll bet you there were times during his past nine years in jail when he asked himself why on earth he would while in uniform carry a gun and put his life at risk for such an asshole of a country that the U.S. either is or has become. Now in fact the gentleman involved did more than sell $30 worth of marijuana, sort of. He had prior convictions for non-violent offences such as theft and drug issues. Because of that Louisana prosecuters and their infinite capacity to be assholes without checks on their authority, invoked the habitual offender law and applied it to the Black veteran, Mr. Derek Harris. It appears that this habitual offender law was at the discretion of prosecuters but not judges hence the judge claimed he had no choice but to give Mr. Harris a 30 year jail sentence after convicting him of a $30 marijuana sale. Good God but we humans (with authority) are such completely insensitve ignoramuses when we have the weight of the law behind us. Indeed it is questionable that prosecuters would have done the same thing with a white defendant in Luisana. ......................................................................................................................... Nine years later and Mr. Harris was given a new hearing and sentenced to the nine years that he had already served. Dear God but Canadaian authorities at all levels can be such twits and idiots but hopefully we aren't as bad as our southern neighbours.

WATERLOO REGION & THE GRAND RIVER ARE NOT IMMUNE TO MICROPLASTIC POLLUTION

Yesterday's Waterloo Region Record carried the following article titled "Microplastics found in Grand River mussels". A University of Guelph professor and a colleague have recently published the first study of microplastics in the Grand River. It is not good as 71% of the mussels sampled contained small amounts of microplastics. Mussels and other aquatic biota are filter feeders and if they are unable to expel the microplastics they and absorbed toxic chemicals from the river will build up and cause further damage. .............................................................................................................. Freshwater mussels help clean river water by taking in dozens of litres of water a day and filtering out algae and bacteria including E. Coli bacteria. Fresh water mussels have been dramatically decreased in the Great Lakes due to both pollution and to zebra mussels. River systems feeding into the Great Lakes are the last bastian for native freshwater mussels and they are thriving in many of those rivers.

CPAC MEMBERS ARE STEPPING UP & SHOWING SUPPORT

My initial post here in the Advocate regarding the last very disappointing (virtual) TAG meeting was on Friday July 31/20. Since then I have posted a couple of times more with other details regarding that TAG meeting. At that meeting Ramin Ansari incredibly, boastfully?, stupidly? (highly unlikely) suggested either that the Lanxess site tour in April 2019 "put the issue to rest" or "put it to bed" in regards to off-site flow from Uniroyal Chemical south and eastwards into and past the Stroh Drain . My God the arrogance of the man. It did absolutely no such thing. Clearly he has been peddling that drivel and wishful thinking to listeners for a while. ......................................................................................................... What has become more and more obvious is that discussions whether so called "technical experts meetings", private in person meetings, or even private virtual meetings are now the norm. There was a lot going on behind CPAC's back when Susan Bryant and Pat McLean were running the show (2000-2010) but it's just as bad or worse now. TAG are being kept in the dark as are local citizen stakeholders and the public. Our local media have been almost useless in either attending or reporting on Lanxess, TAG, RAC, "public" meetings or otherwise. ........................................................................................................... Besides my posts here I have sent a lengthy e-mail to the TAG (Technical Advisory Group) Chair expressing my strong discontent with the obvious private, behind the scenes decision making going on. I have made it clear that no member of the public, whether an extremely well informed, lomg time stakeholder such as myself or any other community resident will tolerate following the extremely undemocratic, public consultation sham of only being permitted written Delegations to TAG and then having their written Delegation bluntly, factually denied in its entirety without so much as the courtesy of a reason, a rationale or an explanation. The basis of my written Delegation which encompassed detailed maps, including from Conestoga Rovers & Assoc. showing ground surface elevation contour lines, was that massive volumes (175,000 gallons) of liquid wastes discharged daily then GRAVITY flowed from the east pits past the current Stroh Drain and settled to the immediate east of it in an even lower elevation area. Hence the simple basis of my Delegation was that "water" (i.e. toxic liquid wastes) flow downhill. ............................................................................................................. Apparently Lanxess, Ramin, GHD, the Ministry of Environment and even TAG do not accept that. I see three options here. One all parties are CORRUPT and beyond any hope of redemption. For self-serving reasons ($$$$$) they will look you in the eye and even deny gravity.Two some of these parties (TAG?) simply are either stupid or uninformed. Discussion and debate has been private and likely all TAG members were not present but don't want to rock the boat. Three, there is some sort of reasonable explanation but all parties don't want to share it with either well informed stakeholders or the general public. This option seems the least likely to me. ............................................................................................................. CPAC (Citizens Public Advisory Committee) members have been phoning and e-mailing me their congratulations and support for my lengthy e-mail sent to the TAG Chair. I await her response.

FIFTY YEARS LATER- OTTAWA ST. LANDFILL

Oh for the good old days when politicians could site municipal landfills just about anywhere they wanted. Well those shortsighted decisions live on for many decades. A mere $13 million dollars in cleanup costs did it for the property across Ottawa St. from the former (but still leaking ) landfill. The city of Kitchener had a holding provision on the property until the developer could obtain a Record of Site Condition from the Ontario Ministry of Environment. 1,334 cubic metres of contaminated soil was removed and replaced with clean fill. Also a clay barrier wall was built "...to seal off wastes coming from the former landfill on the other side of Ottawa St.". Presumably these are liquid wastes which have been moving in the groundwater for a very long time. ............................................................................................................ The title of the story in today's Waterloo Region Record is "Construction could soon start on major development near Mclennan Park". In the old days no consideration was given to either methane production and transport in the subsurface nor to chemicals getting into the groundwater and moving off site. The biggest apparent problems were odours and paper s being blown around and off-site. Oh our politicians were so naive. Do you really think that all these landfill problems had not been experienced and overcome in Europe long before they became problems here? ...................................................................................................... The site is now being redeveloped for combined residential-commercial purposes.

CONSERVATIVES DO WHAT CONSERVATIVES DO

Yesterday's K-W Record carries the following story titled "Environmental protection degraded as ominous omnibus bill passes". It is written by Susan Koswan and describes two omnibus bills just passed in the Ontario legislature by the majority Conservative government. They are bills 195 and 197 and they continue the cuts to democratic oversight that omnibus bills in the past have done. Multiple environmental organizations commented about the severity and failures of the environmental aspects of these bills. Ecojustice, the Canadian Environmental Law Assoc., Ontario Nature and the Grand River Environmrnatl Network all submitted their concerns about the changes to environmental assessments. They were ignored by our Conservative provincial government. .................................................................................................................... Ms. Koswan suggests that perhaps legal action and the courts are the way to go. Wow..well I guess if you are desperate and don't mind burning money then have at it. Just don't forget who appoints those judges in the first place (yup-politicians). I wish them luck but the cards are and always have been stacked against environmental justice and they've been that way intentionally. Politicians are both funded and then lobbied, less for radical change and more to maintain the status quo, because that is exactly how the wealthy and powerful like it. Tyrannies are maintained by fear whereas democracies are maintained by the ignorance of their citizens.

INTERESTING TIMING FOR REGION TO BEGIN TO ADMIT TO THEIR "MANAGEMENT'" TECHNIQUES FOR DRINKING WATER

Quoting environmentalist Pat Potter's T-shirt years ago "They all lie". They also all back each other up. Business, industry, governmental environmental agencies, and local and provincial politicians. Sometimes politicians have to step back from their support for polluters publicly, but behind the scenes they reassure their industrial constituents that they've got their backs and they surely do. Each and every strict Control Order issued by the Ontario Ministry of Environment (MOE/MECP) against Uniroyal Chemical in Elmira, Ontario has eventually been rescinded, amended or replaced. By the MOE/MECP. ................................................................................................................ The August 1/20 Waterloo Region Record published the following story titled "New modelling expands groundwater protection areas". Ostensibly the article is about an expansion of the area from which regional wells draw their water. This is based allegedly upon improved modelling. Maybe that's true and maybe it isn't. What I find most interesting is 1) an admission as to how serious the salt problem is in our drinking water and 2) how inadequate and pathetic to date the Region's actions have been to mitigate it. ..................................................................................................................... What's next? Will the Region begin to admit to residents that their "solution to pollution is dilution" and has been exactly that for decades? This article admits that thusly: "The Region's current solution is to mix water from saltier wells with less salty well water to provide drinkable water." That is followed with "But that's not a long-term solution...". Dunh do you think? The Region of Waterloo have also been doing this for decades with toxic chemicals in our drinking water such as trichloroethylene (TCE) mostly but not solely in Cambridge and in Waterloo. At what point will all the "management" actions surrounding our drinking water be made public? I expect that will happen simultaneously with the announcement of the next big "legacy" project of our regional politicians. A long while back, the proposed water pipeline to Lake Erie was shelved. Notice I say "shelved" not scrapped. Undoubtedly we the unwashed masses will be solemnly advised that our groundwater is no longer the best (cost-effecient) source for drinking water. Decades of industrial contamination has not been adequately cleaned up by "natural attenuation" as some of the more naive, uninformed and just plain dumb politicians had hoped. Treating contaminated ground and surface water is hugely expensive. Look out for a pipeline near you.

ODE TO THE DUMBASSES - YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE

Lanxess shut down a wonderful effort by Michael Heitmann and Bonita Wagler to distribute a Documentary that they had woked on for years. The problem with their Documentary was that they produced a balanced film giving equal opportunity to both sides in the dispute to have their say. Chemtura (Lanxess's predecessor) had Jeff Merriman as their spokesperson and he did a superb job of spinning facts to make the company if not look good at least to look half way reasonable. Not good enough for Lanxess Canada. They had also given Michael and Bonita permission to film on their property as well as interview Jeff Merriman. After the film was done Lanxess rescinded their permission and threatened legal action if Michael and Bonita went ahead and distributed their film. ....................................................................................................................... Well now I have exactly zero sympathy for Lanxess, the MOE/MECP, GHD and as well local Woolwich councillors. You have all played a game for the last thirty years and maybe, just maybe the chickens are coming home to roost. The newest Documentary is titled Toxic Time Bomb and it has been prepared without an iota of input from the polluter/corporate successors, the MOE/MECP, local politicians or other well known bed fellows of the company. ...................................................................................................................... I am pleased to say that this film will be distributed in Europe starting next week. It does not put either Lanxess or Elmira (environmentally) in a good light. It is an appropriate condemnation of the horrors of Agent Orange and its production in Elmira, Ontario and elsewhere as well as of its use in Vietnam and elsewhere. It is a long overdue slap in the face to those who put corporate sales and profits ahead of human beings. .......................................................................................................................... Maybe next time Lanxess and friends might consider honesty and ethics as being part of the equation when they pretend to clean up their messes.

MORE DRIBS & DRABS FROM LAST THURSDAY"S TAG MEETING

The MOE/MECP will be collecting and sampling fish tissues again this fall. My experienced take on that is that the last fish tissue results were much too high and they are hoping to get lower results this time. They might do this via sampling in different locations, or different species or possibly even by sampling at a different time of year. Rest assurred that if Lanxess didn't want it to happen, it probably wouldn't. As with the last sampling the tissues sampled will not be the fattier areas that more readily accumulate toxins including the liver. .............................................................................................................. Many excuses were given regarding the delay of years in getting off-site pumping well W9 up an running hopefully by either the end of this year or no later than January/February 2021. Ramin Ansari did to his credit at one point suggest that in hindsight they should not have gone down the peroxide treatment route as they are now going back to the tried and true activated carbon route. What a total and complete shmozzle. ........................................................................................................................ Lanxess and Ramin stated that the original 30 year Remediation Target was a mistake. Yes it was albeit a very self-serving one. He also stated regarding the 2028 date that "...we're not going to meet that." He also astoundingly claimed that the Elmia Aquifers are "actually drinkable today." My response is go ahead. We've been drinking contzaminated water for decades so have at it. ....................................................................................................... One piece of good news is that thirty years later Lanxess and the MOE/MECP are actually discussing a bond or financial assurance to guarantee further cleanup if Lanxess depart the properrty. Hmm? ........................................................................................................ Sandy Shantz and Scott McMillan both publicly promised "community discussion" regarding the proposed crap known as "Flux Based Approach" to clean up of the Elmira Aquifers. Mr. McMillan also sugested that it would be a "generational" decision. Hmm again. We'll see if that happens and in what form. ............................................................................................................ Regarding the recent Supplemental East Side Groundwater Report, TAG member Dustin Martin critiqued it. He felt that the claim by Lanxess's consultants (GHD) that there is no risk from the Stroh property is not well supported by their own report. Also their claim that there is significant attenuation of NDMA is "just not true.". He even referred to the natural attenuation discussion within the report as being "misleading". Finally Dustin suggested that while lateral delineation of contaminants on the Stroh property is O.K., vertical delibneation absolutely is not. Also decommissioning of all wells on the Stroh property is `premature`according to Dustin. This is just one more unacceptable technical report by Lanxess`s consultants amidst thirty years of unacceptable, misleading reports in my well informed opinion. .......................................................................................................... Sebastian pushed hard for more sampling and wells further south on the Stroh property. He pointed out that the highly contaminated GP-1 actually ran eastwards all the way to the Stroh property which surprised Dustin and had him reconsidering further sampling southwards. ............................................................................................................... Thus ended a very disappointing TAG meeting with only a couple of exceptions. TAG members need to notice carefully the poor science and exaggerated self-serving conclusions constantly put forth by Lanxess and their consultants. TAG are not dealing with honest brokers.

OUR INHERENTLY CORRUPT POLITICAL SYSTEM CONTINUES NOT TO PROTECT OUR ENVIRONMENT AND THE ELMIRA AQUIFERS

Truly astounding chutzpah! Brass balls beyond all belief. For thirty years Uniroyal/Crompton/Chemtura and Lanxess have fought tooth and nail to minimize, minimize and minimize the extent of the contamination, their liability, their guilt, and most importantly their costs. They have sacrificed their honour, their credibility, their humanity in so doing. They have hidden behind their corporate veil while spouting blatant "factual inaccuracies" and cheerfully having their consultants produce junk science to back it up. ..................................................................................................... Now thirty years later, after they have ignored, minimized, obfuscated, deflected the advice and hard work of appointed citizens to the various public advisory committees (UPAC, CPAC etc.) and the general public, they should be reaping the results of their dirty deeds. Their hostility to persistent and informed questioning was shameful. Their refusal to even acknowledge the legitimate and accurate statements of their critics and expert opinions presented at public meetings was beyond dogmatic. Their solicitation of citizens on the advisory committees and their planting or removal of others was Machiaevellian. All of this they could not have achieved without the assistance of corrupt people in positions of authority. ............................................................................................ Against all independent advice from citizens, academics, environmental experts, and activists they refused to open mindedly consider anything but PUMP & DUMP. Oops that in their terminolgy is PUMP & TREAT. Way back in the early 1990's a hydrogeologist (Belanger) on behalf of the Region of Waterloo referred to the proposed partial hydraulic containment of the Upper Aquifer as the least expensive and least effective "solution". Citizens and experts together advised that Source Removal of "hot spots" both on and off the Uniroyal site could speed up the cleanup process. Mostly they were ignored with some exceptions. ........................................................................ Uniroyal/Crompton/Chemtura/Lanxess fully own the failure to clean up the Elmira Aquifers to drinking water standards. They fully own the DDT, PAHs, herbicides, dioxin & furans, mercury and PCBs in the Canagagigue Creek ("Gig"), its fish and other lifeforms. They own any and all damages to terrestial wildlife caused by their still ongoing leakage of contamination to the creek. They own human environmental damages within the farm communities downstream in the "Gig". And neither they nor our local and provincial politicians give a damn about any of that. They just want this public embarassment to go away. They want to be able to declare a victory. ...................................................................................................... Lanxess are proposing a "Flux Based Approach". This approach drastically lessens their financial input into cleaning the Elmira Aquifers. Our local authorities will pretend to require public input on the idea while lobbying for it behind the scenes. Various "experts" and "personalities" will be recruited to bolster the plan. A Flux based approach is the natural extension to a thirty year failed cleanup plan. Our favourite local polluter and its syncophants are both trying to save face and to prematurely end their cleanup of the Elmira Aquifers. The Region of waterloo have been drawing drinking water from contaminated aquifers in Kitchener, Waterloo and Cambridge for decades. The "Flux Based Approach is simply an attempt to make a virtue out of a sin. It is contrary to the principles espoused at the Walkerton Inquiry and should not be permitted. Lanxess and various politicians are relying on the public's apathy and lack of attention to pull this off.