"THE CLEANUP IS A SHAM"

The above title was on a large banner on the roof of my car in Elmira perhaps twenty years ago. Most likely it was parked outside the meeting location of CPAC or UPAC (Crompton/Uniroyal Public Advisory Committee). Another sign on my car that was parked outside the old arena on Snyder Avenue stated "Can Uniroyal mask chemical odours with horse manure?". The second banner was an intentional pun on horse manure. The horse manure could have been literal or it could have been Uniroyal Chemical's ongoing "poo poo del toro" -( Henry Regier) i.e. bull.... . Obviously that second banner was in regards to the plague of disgusting and dangerous odours from Uniroyal that engulfed parts of Elmira from 1998 until 2000. ........................................................................................................... I expect the first banner was in regards to the sham of DNAPL (Dense Non Aqueous Phase Liquids) investigation and cleanup on the Uniroyal site. In hindsight it certainly was prophetic. Twenty years later as we reinvent the wheel over and over again, things have become clearer despite successive new corporate owners of Uniroyal and despite successive new names for the Ontario Ministry of Environment (MOE/MECP). Actions speak louder than words and these actions include blatant lying and changes in direction with no discussion or notice to the various public advisory committees. This would include the November 2012 Chemtura promise to triple the off-site pumping and treating of groundwater in order to achieve the mandated 2028 cleanup of the Elmira Aquifers. It also includes Woolwich Council twice (possibly three times-Todd Cowan) removing excellent and dedicated volunteers from the committee of council monitoring and advising the public and the guilty parties about the cleanup of the aquifers, creek and the site itself. The 2008 and 2015 events occurred with the huge support/demand of Chemtura Canada and the Ontario MOE. Such incredible slimeballs, the pack of them. ....................................................................................................... Yet another action is Lanxess Canada's recent initiative to move the goalposts both further down the road and even to decrease the quality of the cleanup itself. In other words they want to, thirty-one years after the shutdown of the Elmira wellfields, to redefine what cleanup is. They would prefer not to have to achieve Ontario Drinking Water Standards (ODWS) in all Elmira Aquifer wells but only in those that might be located close to any hypothetical new wellfields in Elmira. Currently the Region of Waterloo hasve made it clear that they have absolutely no intentions of using Elmira groundwater as drinking water again at least until 2050 or 2060 and only then after they are convinced that the water quality is permanently restored. .................................................................................................................. Oh and going back to the second paragraph and Woolwich Council's horrendous behaviour with citizen volunteers who had been duly appointed to CPAC by the previous council, let me also mention that the latest "public consultation" reincarnation consisting of TAG and RAC started in September 2015, absolutely prohibits the public and all citizens attending in the gallery from so much as asking a single question. This is a complete turnaround and reversal of the process from January 1992 until September 2015 and was pushed by Chemtura, MOE, Sandy and Mark Bauman to their everlasting shame. ...................................................................................................................... What is the bottom line? The guilty parties (Uniroyal, CRA, MOE, Woolwich Council) never negotiated or discussed anything with the public, UPAC or CPAC in good faith. They made their private deal back in late summer of 1991 and everything since has been lies, dirty lies, obfuscation, deception and delay. The one and only purpose of public consultation was for green washing purposes and public relations. Current CPAC members know this and it should beg the question why for example, Susan Bryant, hasn't so advised the public from her pulpit. Perhaps she has ridden on the coattails of the decades long public consultation sham and benefited personally from it.