CITIZENS & STAKEHOLDERS WILL HAVE THEIR SAY

The following letter has been sent this morning to CPAC (Citizens Public Advisory Committee) by yours truly. It is in response to the most recent attempt by Lanxess at rewriting history and avoiding the truth. It is polluter/regulator revisionism at its' best/worst. All guilty parties including some politicians have admitted that they can not achieve the promised cleanup of the Elmira Aquifers by 2028. Therefore this is an attempt to seize victory from the jaws of defeat. Defeat and failure is exactly what it is. Failure to clean up the Elmira Aquifers with the polluter constantly in control of that cleanup including having client driven consultants doing their bidding. Decades ago a hydrogeologist by the name of Dave Belanger advised that Uniroyal's proposed shallow aquifer remediation "...was the cheapest, least effective solution.". That process has continued to its' final conclusion: failure. That failure is totally the responsibility of Uniroyal/Crompton/Chemtura and Lanxess with able assistance from their impotent regulator now known as the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks (MECP). ...................................................................................................... ............................................................................................ ................. MAKING A VIRTUE OUT OF A VICE ........ Oct. 1/20 ....................................................................................................................... Lanxess Canada would like TAG to advise them (and the MECP) as to what the new “goal” should be. In other words as the old goal, which is still nearly eight years away (August 2028), will likely not be met it should allegedly therefore be changed or abandoned . Says who? Anybody honest, honourable or credible? ................................................................................................ The question possibly could be “Should we change our goal?” Where the hell did the leap to yes we will change it and now let’s discuss that change come from? Go back to the last sentence in the first paragraph. The old “goal’” of restoring the Elmira Aquifers to drinking water standards was given to Elmira residents way back in the very early 1990s. It was also mandated by the Ontario Ministry of Environment in a Control Order which now is also up for discussion. Without what now appears to be lies back then, perhaps Elmira residents might have gotten a public inquiry into the failures, deception and collusion that allowed an American chemical company to destroy Elmira’s air, groundwater and surface water in the Canagagigue all while ostensibly being supervised by the Ontario MOE. ................................................................................................ Many years ago CPAC asked for clarification from both the MOE and Chemtura as to what the details of what drinking water standards would look like. We wanted to know whether that meant drinking water standards in all aquifers (Municipal Upper, Municipal Lower & Bedrock) and whether it also meant drinking water standards had to be met at each and every groundwater well in Elmira. We were met with silence and obfuscation despite consistently pressing them on the issue. ............................................................................................................ Back in 2012 it was CPAC who first advised Woolwich Township, the MOE and Chemtura that the path they were on absolutely would not result in achieving the cleanup of the Elmira Aquifers to drinking water standards by 2028. CPAC were met by howls of outrage from Chemtura (Josef Olejarz) and the MOE. Woolwich Township endorsed CPAC’s position and demanded improvements in the cleanup plans. .............................................................................................................. Lo and behold suddenly in November 2012, Chemtura and Conestoga Rovers claimed that they independently had just done a five year review and gosh and golly they weren’t going to make their promised and mandated 2028 deadline for cleanup. Jeff Merriman and other Chemtura representatives then promised a new cleanup plan. It consisted of both a TRIPLING of the off-site groundwater pumping AND the use of ISCO or In Situ Chemical Oxidation at hot spots in the Elmira Aquifers. Josef, Chemtura Jeff and the MOE all stated categorically that they stood behind their promises and cleanup and that whatever it took, they would achieve cleanup of the Elmira Aquifers by 2028. Still no commitment however as to what that final cleanup actually entailed. .................................................................................................................. Later that promised TRIPLING of off-site pumping became a promised DOUBLING of the off-site pumping with no explanation of the change. Then in 2015 after a totally new change in Woolwich Council, less Mr. Flip Flop (Bauman), CPAC were on the chopping block due to a manufactured crisis by both Sandy Shantz and Mark Bauman. CPAC were suddenly the bad guys because we had held Chemtura’s and the MOE’s feet to the fire and insisted upon less verbal drivel and more honesty in their dealings with us. Those two parties boycotted CPAC meetings while all the while refusing to tell CPAC what was going on. That was left to Sandy and Mark who piously advised that CPAC members were too hostile, aggressive and loud for the tender sensitivities of big, burly MOE bureaucrats. Keep in mind that many of these CPAC members were senior citizens with and without doctorate degrees. Others were professionals in the environmental field. Throughout these actions and after Sandy replaced CPAC with RAC and TAG (Sept. 2015) Chemtura and the MOE kept on insisting that they would do whatever was necessary to achieve drinking water standards in the Elmira Aquifers by 2028. Until they suddenly didn’t. Now oddly they have never even come close to DOUBLING the volume of off-site pumping in the Elmira Aquifers. Also they have never come close to implementing ISCO as promised. Dr. Richard Jackson, TAG Chair, took them to task publicly at TAG meetings for their amateurish attempts at doing a pilot test of ISCO and their subsequent failure. He advised them to obtain competent professional help. It wasn’t by far his only criticism of the efforts of Conestoga Rovers. .................................................................................................................... Chemtura and Lanxess’s efforts have been pathetic regarding increasing (often regarding even maintaining) the volume of pumping and treating of the groundwater in the Elmira Aquifers. At times I have felt that it was intentional, almost as if they had a different agenda than the public were being told. Now it seems that they do. They want a gimme, a mulligan, a free pass. Now suddenly it’s just all too difficult for them. Eight years to go and they’ve thrown in the towel and they would like Elmira residents and TAG members to give them a break. Both the company and the MOE/MECP have resisted all citizen efforts at Source Removal, both off and on their own site. The company have reneged on almost every promise they’ve made. And they want us to reward them for their dishonesty and failures. They would also like us to be a part of their dishonesty and failures by helping with a new goal. ............................................................................................................... I say that we tell them, the MOE/MECP and Woolwich Township that the old goals still stand. I say that we call them out loudly and publicly for their decades of deception and dishonesty. We must not reward them for their nasty and pathetic behaviour. We do not agree to pretending that their vices have suddenly become virtues. Either stand by their public promises or don’t but we must not be a part of this latest scam in any way. .................................................................................................................... Alan Marshall CPAC and EH-Team member