LIP SERVICE VERSUS NO SERVICE

Truth be told I'd rather receive no service from our various self-important "authorities" instead of their specialty which is lip service. Each and every crisis, scandal, social injustice that I have "discovered" and exposed over the last 40-50 years, it turns out in hindsight was already known by our authorities. This includes the Ministry of Labour, Ministry of Transportation, Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education etc. etc. Issues and crises include abusive teachers, illegal demands, health and working conditions by employers, Varnicolor Chemical, methane issues in Bolender Park (Elmira), transite pipe (asbestos) in existing Elmira waterlines, City of Waterloo female discrimination, non-union paving crew hazardous conditions, Uniroyal Chemical environmental coverups aided and abetted by the Ministry of Environment (MOE) and on and on. Of course there are lots of other issues/scandals that have become apparent that I've had no dealings or involvement with. The most obvious right now is the scandal of neglect and negligence in our Long Term Care System (LTC). ......................................................................................................... One has to realize that the sole purpose of existing governments is to keep themselves, their colleagues, friends and supporters in power. One might deduce wrongly that this means providing good government. Honestly I sometimes think that half the time, money and effort that governments at all levels spend on coverups would have resolved the problem or scandal in the first place. The problem of course is that most government coverups work. Why wouldn't they? Who's got more money and time to devote to lying, hiding the truth and discrediting whistle blowers than the government? Therefore our governments still believe that spreading a very thin veneer of attention everywhere, even with blatant staff shortages, PPE equipment, personal attention time in LTC, is the route to go. Then if people get injured, sick or die on their watch they will shift into full public relations mode. If grotesque environmental damage is being done by corporations it's all about first denial and only if the public have irrefutable evidence does the Ministry involved shift to excuses and shifting the blame for their alleged lack of knowledge. That lack of knowledge with the MOE is usually about plausible deniability. Voluntary compliance with MOE demands actually means that industry are requested to keep their more egrgious environmental illegalities out of sight. For example nasty and toxic air discharges are best done at night when while they are smelled and gagged upon, at least they can't be seen or photographed. And on and on. Would you believe that at one time the Ministry of Environment were unaffectionately known as the Ministry of Lumps and Colours? This referred to their mandate of stopping visual pollution in rivers and streams and ignoring even more toxic discharges that were not visible to the eye. ......................................................................................................................... Lip Service means delay, delay and more delay. There's always another study, another report on the horizon. There's a constant demand for more vigorous and airtight evidence that quite simply is beyond our current scientific abilities. Budgets are constantly referenced as to why these studies have to be postpones or doled out every few years instead of now. Then when you finally get your study done and the evidence is damning, more studies are needed to determine the a number of remedial options. By the time that is done, the initial study is now five years or more out of date and should be done over again. It's all bulls.it and it's neverending. Elmira is the poster child for environmental delay, bulls.it and obfuscation. Governments thirty-two years after the start of the "Elmira Water Crisis" are now confident enough that the majority of outraged citizens are either dead or senile, that they pick and choose which citizens sit on "INDEPENDENT" public advisory committees. They are confident enough in the passage of time that they don't even feel the need to respond to citizens, residents and taxpayers whom were improperly refused attendance on their public advisory committees. Elmira and eventually most crises progress from LIP SERVICE to NO SERVICE. And as usual the politicians win.

OPEN LETTER TO ALL POLITICIANS & BUREAUCRATS WHO FAILED/REFUSED TO RESPOND TO MY FRIDAY, MAY 14/21 INITIAL LETTER TO TAG MEMBERS

The May 14/21 letter I sent to the TAG Chair and almost all members was then sent on the following day to all Woolwich Councillors and Mayor as well as to all Regional Councillors and Chair. The letter was a listing of very significant criticisms regarding the handling of the Elmira "cleanup" that were publicly expressed, initially at public, in person, TAG meetings by Dr. Richard Jackson. My letter to TAG advised them as to which current members were present during Dr. Jackson's tenure as TAG Chair and that those members might wish to examine both their memories and their notes taken at the time (Sept.2015 - Dec.2016) in order to substantiate the extremely strong and critical position taken by TAG's first Chair. Part of the intent of my open letter to TAG members was to ensure that the members, especially the newer members, fully understand the thirty year background of poor and self-serving decision making made by Uniroyal/Crompton/Chemtura/Lanxess, their consultants and the Ontario Ministry of Environment. Having been present since the late 1980s I believe that Dr. Jackson's experience and knowledge far surpassed all other Chairs (CEAC, UPAC, CPAC, TAG) since the 1980s. Of equal importance was/is Dr. Jackson's integrity and dedication to truth. That was only matched by one or two prior Chairs. ....................................................................................................................... The forwarded copies to Woolwich Council and to the Region of Waterloo each had a brief message for each group. I advised Woolwich Councillors that they had a duty of due diligence to confirm the accuracy of the quotes and statements attributed to Dr. Jackson. I advised them how to do that. Unstated but hopefully clear however was the fact that both past actions and current plans are woefully inadequate and in fact those parties responsible are actually attempting to turn their Elmira Aquifer cleanup failure into a virtue by suggesting that further cleanup is somehow environmentally damaging. Unbelievable. .......................................................................................................................... Similarly I advised Regional Council as to the "...inadequate cleanup decisions of the last 32 years..." and that those decisions were made by "...Uniroyal/Lanxess, Ont. MOE/MECP, Woolwich Township". I did not advise Regional Councillors that at one time the Region of Waterloo had their hydrogeologist, Eric Hodgins, routinely attending UPAC and earlier CPAC meetings. Nor did I remind anyone that prior to Eric's non-attendance at regular CPAC meetings that the Region of Waterloo had advised CPAC that the Region would not continue attending if their well researched advice to CPAC continued to be ignored. I further advised Regional Councillors that it is astounding that the parties who messed up technically, repeatedly over three decades (according to Dr. Jackson) are the same folks now cheerfully suggesting that a reassessment of the mandated 2028 cleanup should be discussed. Perhaps if Adolf Hitler had had the same advisers as Lanxess has, he could have avoided losing the Second World War by reassessing the declarations of war made in 1939. ............................................................................................................................... It is possible that I was not clear enough in my note to Regional Councillors that I expected a response from them. I'll be honest in that I really didn't expect much more than a buck passing response along the lines of "Oh the MECP have responsibility for that." Nevertheless in regards to both Woolwich Council and Regional Council I have a news flash for you. I, current CPAC members, Elmira citizens, Woolwich & Regional taxpayers are all STAKEHOLDERS! We do not need either Woolwich Council's blessing nor certainly that of Uniroyal/Lanxess and their partners in pollution in order to be listened to. Yes it is likely that many of you do not care for me or my bluntness born of thirty-two years of trying to get a proper, appropriate cleanup done here in Elmira. Well guess what? The feeling is mutual. Your likes or dislikes are not important. You will respond to members of the public whether you agree or disagree. That is your job and another news flash is that the people paying your salaries and benefits don't all agree with you. A preferably intelligent, reasoned response to serious concerns sent to you is but one of your duties. The fact that the matter is a public interest matter that affects Elmira and downstream water users (Waterloo, Kitchener, Cambridge etc.) only compounds your required duties. ........................................................................................................................... The only reason that the "cleanup" has not and will not be sucessful is because citizens' voices have been ignored, muted, manipulated and even co-opted. When the polluter has the power to tell (insist) a local municipal council (Woolwich) whom they do and do not want on the public advisory committee, then informed, honest and experienced consultation is weakened. Uniroyal/Crompton/Chemtura/Lanxess with MOE/MECP protection and insulation have always been in full control of the failed cleanup. Citizens repeatedly told the MOE/MECP many (not all) of the same criticisms and suggestions that Dr. Jackson has stated publicly. The failure of Dr. Jackson's pronouncements not being publicly disseminated is a failure of our local media. The closing of the Elmira Independent newspaper in August 2015 was and is a godsend for Lanxess, MECP and Woolwich Township both in order to sell their failed cleanup as a success story and to avoid the proper cleanup that could have and should have been done in Elmira. ..................................................................................................................... Therefore for the record, both Woolwich and Regional councillors, I would like and expect a written response. It is also possible that one is in the works from both of you and I need only wait another couple of days. I and other Elmira citizens have been patiently (sometimes) waiting for the cleanup and the results that we were promised in the late 1980s and early 1990s. So far it's all been a bill of goods and a public relations scam based upon delay, delay and more delay. November 1989 was a long time ago and the net result is "Sorry we can't achieve what we promised you from 1989 until about 2017". Is it any wonder that citizens generally hold politicians, government ministries and corporations in such low regard? Lying to us tends to do that.

MARCH 2021 LANXESS PROGRESS REPORT

While generally the same nonsense over and over again, nevertheless here are the "highlights" from this monthly report. Literally several years have gone by while Lanxess fools around with their major pumping well W9 located behind the former textile factory on Park St., very close to Union St. and to the former municipal landfill known as M-1. So many decades of professional lying from so many "experts" and QPs (Qualified Persons) makes understanding the truth intentionally difficult even when they choose to speak honestly. Regardless we are now advised that the Wigen Technologies have begun fabricating what is known as a "piping tree" and will have it completed by June 2021. Lanxess and GHD alegedly are devloping a detailed construction schedule "...with a focus on limiting off-Site well downtime." How on earth are we supposed to believe that when to date there has been absolutely no focus on them achieving promised off-site pumping rates in the past? ................................................................................................................................ Table A.2 advises us that chlorobenzene is on-site at pumping well PW4 at 2,840 parts per billion (ppb). It is interestingly off-site at pumping well W8 (west side of Nutrite/Yara) at 3,070 ppb. Interestingly chlorobenzene is even after primary treatment (carbon absorption) at 206 ppb still well above the drinking water standard of 80 ppb. Toluene is also at 205 ppb after carbon treatment. NDMA is well above Ontario Drinking Water Standards (ODWS- .009ppb) off-site at pumping well W5A (1.3 ppb), W6B (2.7 ppb) and at well W8 (54.03). So much for ongoing bragging about how low the concentrations of contaminants now are in the Elmira aquifers. ..................................................................................................................................... Table A.5 advises us of the Effluent Limits, among other things, for discharge into the Canagagigue Creek after treatment. Many of these Effluent Limits are far too high including NDMA with a ODWS of .009 ppb having an Effluent level of .140 ppb. 1,1 Dichloroethane and chlorobenzene both have discharge Effluent Limits of 10 ppb with many other chemicals Effluent Limits being between 2 and 7 ppb. ........................................................................................................................ Table A.6 shows various concentrations of contaminants in groundwater on the Uniroyal/Lanxess site and includes Toluene and Aniline with concentrations in the thousands of parts per billion as well as chlorobenzene in the high hundreds of parts per billion. ............................................................................................................................ Table C.2 shows surface water reults in the Canagagigue Creek and compares upstream arithmetic means with downstream arithmetic means. Oddly according to this Table there are eight different chemicals with higher arithmetic means upstream than downstream and three with higher concentrations downstream than upstream. This speaks to both the so called background values upstream not being far enough upstream and as well to upstream sources of these chemicals such as Phenol, Cresol, NMOR, Benzene, Chlorobenzene, Toluene and Trichloroethylene. The three chemicals with arithmetic means higher downstream than upstream are NDMA, Lindane and Toluene. Interesting! ......................................................................................................................................... All in all a toxic watse site that remains so and with the blessing of local and provincial authorities will likely remain so for the next few centuries.

LOCAL GRAVEL PITS AGAIN

There have been two recent articles in the Waterloo Region Record titled "Puslinch council pushes for a pause at gravel pit" (May 21/21) and today's article titled "Group asks, how many gravel pits are enough?". Both these articles were written by Leah Gerber. The first article is concerned with declining ground and surface water levels in ponds and wetlands near a below water table gravel pit on Roszell Rd. in Puslinch. Puslinch residents and council want a pause in the below water table extraction until they find out for certain if the gravel pit extraction is the cause. .............................................................................................................. The second article is in regards to the proposed Hallman Pit near Shingletown in Wilmot Township. Apparently this pit if approved will be the ninth gravel pit located within a three kilometre radius. Ontario uses on average 160 million tonnes of gravel per year and produces on average 170 million tonnes per year. Clearly the number of gravel pits currently exceeds the volumes required hence there is actually gravel stockpiled. Therefore, especially with eight other pits nearby, why is the Hallman Pit required? The answer is that it isn't needed. The problem is faulty provincial legiclation insisting that states that a demonstration of need for gravel is not required when a company wants a license to start a new gravel pit. .......................................................................................................... I think that most honest, unbiased people would see that as ridiculous. There are a number of environmental and human health impacts from gravel pits so why open new ones unnecessarily? Probably the answer continues to be that the Sand & Aggregate industry have been big donors to both the Liberal and Conservative governments over the decades and they expect something in return.

PRIVATE DEALS BETWEEN POLLUTERS, MIN. of ENVIRONMENT, PROVINCE OF ONTARIO

Yes courtesy of both Conservative and Liberal governments, Ontario is indeed "open for business". Quoting Richard Clausi "When all was said and done, more was said than was done." This is the reality in Ontario and likely most of the rest of Canada. Our politicians and governments are the biggest liars and hypocrites possible. An expression I've often used is that we the citizens here in Elmira were promised the Cadillac cleanup but only received the Volkswagon cleanup. In fact what the politicians and bureaucrats beneath them do is promise the sun, the moon and the stars to the victims of environmental disasters with full knowledge beforehand that they are going to do the absolute minimum cleanup possible. How do they know this ahead of time? They know this because they've been sitting down with the offending business/industry; days, weeks, months and sometimes even years in advance discussing steps to mitigate potential, upcoming disasters such as Elmira (Uniroyal/Varnicolor/Nutrite & others), Walkerton, Grassy Narrows, Shanley St. (Kitchener), Canadian General Tower and Norstar Aerospace in Cambridge. ...................................................................................................................... The reason that politicians and Ministry (Environment) bureaucrats promise us everything in the early days of a crisis is because we the citizens are angry and looking for whom to blame. They lie about how much prior knowledge they had. They lie about how much cleanup they are going to do. They lie shamelessly using expressions such as "world class" cleanups and "top, independent" environmental consultants. Then they lie about public consultation. Oh yes they say this is a huge public interest issue that must be discussed on an ongoing basis with all stakeholders. The lying filth. Or as Richard again has often said "If you want to give the impression that you are addressing a matter then form a committee." The reality is that committees are where serious issues go to die. Susan Rupert knew this in Elmira thirty years ago. She was extremely leery of APT Environment sitting down with Uniroyal Chemical, the Ministry of Environment and others. She was especially leery of this happening in private meetings as was originally suggested. She knew that these committees both upfront and behind the scenes would be filled with world class manipulators. Possibly she had no idea that this included world class manipulators from within APT. ............................................................................................................................... Perhaps these politicians and bureaucrats are afraid of public inquiries and perhaps they are not. The older I get the more I understand the depth of corruption within government. They of course prefer the term "influence". This "influence" extends to all of our society and includes the education system, the health care system, the judicial system, housing, labour rights, transportation etc. Basically every Ministry at the provincial and federal level controls rules, regulations and funding to these different areas of our society and of our economy. We even have control and "influence" between levels of government. Our municipal leaders (ha-politicians) are terrified of offending the current provincial government whether it be Liberal or Conservative. Municipal leaders know how quickly they can be put on the sh.t list if they do not adhere to provincial directives. Provincial governments have more autonomy and responsibility but still need to watch themselves in the clearly federal fields of interprovincial trade, international trade, military, federal highways, federal elcetion laws because again the federal government can punish recalcitrant provinces by sending federal construction projects elsewhere including courthouses (some), Canada Revenue offices etc. Health care grants (hospitals etc.) and infrastructure grants can also be delayed or witheld if provinces don't play ball. The entire system is basically set up to control the public and what they know. It is also set up to appear to be democratic, open and transparent. It is no such thing. It never has been and is getting worse. Citizens are promised safety and security of the person. They are promised justice, fairness and equity throughout all areas including employment, education and economic opportunity. In exchange for these false promises they hand over one freedom after another. That too will get worse. If you doubt that the previous promises are bestowed upon all citizens equally then simply ask Black, Indigenous, People of Colour (BIPOC) their opinions on the matter. Not to suggest that all white people are treated equally either. Money talks in regards to everything but most especially in regards to justice. Check and see how many poor people are acquitted at trial for either serious or minor offences compared to rich people. Let me end with this quote: "The law in all its majesty comes down equally as hard upon a poor man stealing a loaf of bread to feed his family as it does upon a rich man doing the same thing." ..............................................................................................................

WHAT IN THE NAME OF ALL THAT IS HOLY, IS GOING ON? MORE WATERLOO REGION POLICE & CROWN INCOMPETENCE?

Today's Waterloo Region Record carries a front page story about an alleged rapist walking free courtesy of Justice McKay (Yup the same judge who convicted the recent sex assault victim). The good Justice had help of course, specifically from the Waterloo Regional Police and the local Crown Prosecutor's office. Or at least that's what we are advised in this Record article. The title of the story is "Accused rapist avoids prosecution due to delays in bringing case to trial". The judge suggested that the vast majority of the delay was caused by the Crown being unable/unwilling to provide evidence to the defence in a timely manner. There was also a suggestion that the Police and Crown together somehow botched the investigation by the police firstly doing one combined investigation for two different incidents, followed by the Crown insisting on two separate investigations. Much of the delay apparently flowed from the police tardiness in so doing as the Crown requested. ........................................................................................................................... All of this is in recent light of two grotesque police and Court incidents in Waterloo Region. The most recent was an officer attacking and assaulting a Black woman on her own front porch, possibly because she rejected illegal orders to identify herself to a police officer. The earlier incident was the police, prosecuters and Judge McKay convicting a woman who's complaint led to a conviction of her ex-husband but then she was convicted of and fined for releasing the judge's decision to select parties contrary to a publiction ban. Now this third judicial atrocity. Is the Waterloo Region Record sending a loud message to the public? Even the defence lawyer for the accused rapist suggested that systemic delays in our court system come with costs including "...undermining of public confidence in the system". I would suggest that in this particular case that an accused rapist walking free based upon delays since he was charged in the fall of 2019 will also very effectively send the message that our courts are stupid, out of touch, incompetent etc. I wonder if the Waterloo Region Record have had enough of being on board and facillatating public confidence in a system that does not deserve it? ...................................................................................................................................... There have been far too many asinine judicial decisions over the years. Sending Rodney Lambka to jail for defending his father, himself and his home is one of them. Acquitting Officer Dearing after shooting a fleeing, unarmed burglary suspect is another. The shooting multiple times of a young man on Brybeck Cres. in Kitchener several years ago is another. The young man was sufferring from mental health issues but did not deserve to be shot six or seven times just because a local police officer knew that he would not be held to serious account. That shooting reminds me of the murder of the 18 year old young man (Sammy Yatin) on a trolley bus in Toronto years ago. In that case he was shot by a police officer nine times despite the victim collapsing to the floor of the empty bus after three shots. The officer was eventually convicted of attempted murder despite Sammy Yatin dieing from his injuries. In a convoluted decision the juru suggested that the initial volley was legal but the followup shots were not. Then they suggested that it was the initial shots that were fatal not ther followup shots. What a pile of judicial pus!

ARE OUR LOCAL POLICE (WRPS) SCHOOLYARD BULLIES DEMANDING "RESPECT", OR ELSE?

The Record: "Officer Denies Bias At Disciplinary Hearing" ................................................................................................................. The first question I asked myself was whether the white male police officer would have, with little or no evidence, physically attacked and forced a white woman to the ground. Unless she were an obviously destitute drug addict or homeless person I seriously doubt it. In other words it's all about bullying. He likely viewed her as a "safe" target because she was black. Well was he wrong on all counts. She has since sucessfully sued the Waterloo Regional Police Service for violating her human rights of safety and security of the person and she won. This was a 41 year old woman returning from dropping her son off at work (5:30 am) dressed in pajamas, hardly a suit of armour. She was unarmed and on her own property about to enter her home when she was confronted , harassed, ordered to obey and when she rightfully refused, assaulted. The police officer had exactly zero evidence of any criminal behaviour on her part. He allegedly had a report about a "Black, armed dreadlocked suspect named Joe driving a red SUV." Well maybe he did and maybe that's bullsh.t. Regardless she was not a Black male named Joe and the officer knew it but still assaulted her. The most likely reason he assaulted her was that in his biased police opinion she refused to acknowledge his unfettered right to order her around including demanding identification while she was on her own property with her car and accompanying licence plate clearly visible. In fact the officer had already radioed in the licence plate and claimed however that he had not waited for confirmation that the car was owned and registered at the current address. There was no crime, no victim and no reason to force her to the ground and attempt to handcuff her. The police officer is nothing but a dirty pig bully and I among most have nothing but contempt for him and for any employer who give him a badge, gun and other weapons. Citizens have a right to expect help and protection from police officers not confrontation, harassment and demands for compliance followed by assault when those citizens rightfully refuse to comply. ........................................................................................................................ Currently once again our Police Service (WRPS) have quietly paid out financial compensation to citizens that they have harmed. As a taxpayyer I am incensed. As a human being I am appalled yet again that badly behaved officers do not face criminal charges and even when they do are so rarely convicted. This officer is facing an internal disciplinary hearing. That is utter bullsh.t. If you and I assaulted a middle aged (41?) woman and forced her to the ground we would be facing the full weight and wrath of prosecuters, police, courts and judges all the while spending quality time in custody. Where the hell are our civilian Police Services Board? Where the hell are our regional politicians both those on that Board and those that aren't? Why are you over decades condoning assaults upon innocent citizens? Yes the vast majority of those assaults are upon the homeless, the mentally ill, the sick (drugs) and visible minorities. These assaults are sometimes with superior size and strength and sometimes with guns, fatal and otherwise, but they are not stopping. When will our gutless wonder, lying and shameless politicians, mostly male but not exclusively, stand up to the regional police service and or to the province if need be? Are those in political power the real reason that local. bully cops are still within the WRPS (Waterloo Region Police Service)? ............................................................................................................. Oh yes and is typical when a pig, bully cop screws up and is caught, he issued FOUR traffic tickets to her after the confrontation and assault in an attempt to justify his unjustifiable behaviour and or to further intimidate her into not hiring a lawyer and going after him legally. Well the cop failed on all counts as those FOUR charges were all thrown out. Our senior, hypocritical police bosses have proven over and over again that they are unwilling and incapable of running an honest, professional. modern police force. So have their political bosses (Waterloo Region). Fire the lot of them along with the bad apples within the police force.

IS OUR JUDICIAL SYSTEM TRULY WORSE THAN EVEN I SUSPECTED?

Today's Waterloo Region Record carries the following front page headline: "Judge overturns conviction against assault victim". While I've been expecting further developments in this story, I will admit to being somewhat surprised by the outcome. It seems that our judicial system including police, Crown prosecutors and at least one judge are willing to fall on their swords over this shocking incident in which a victim of sexual assault, after her attacker was convicted, was then charged herself with disobeying a publication ban protecting her identity. I am stunned that the various actors in this drama have apparently 1) admitted to their initial stupidity 2) reversed their apparently horrible decision to convict the young woman of disobeying the publication ban and then fining her $2,600. ............................................................................................................................... Here in the Elmira Advocate, back on April 16 and 17 I did some serious speculating as to what was going on. I made it very clear then that I was trying to come up with some kind of scenario that could possibly induce the police, Crown and a judge to behave in such a bizarre fashion towards a victim of an assault. I made it clear that my thoughts and suggestions were NOT based upon any inside information or any tips etc. but were absolutely speculation as to what could possibly induce our judicial authorities to penalize a woman whose complaints of sexual assault had been upheld at trial and her attacker convicted and sentenced. ........................................................................................................................................ Well todays article in the Record certainly does not support any suggestion that the police or Crown had information that led them to lose confidence in the victim's story after conviction of her ex-husband. There is absolutely nothing stated today that the police, Crown or Judge (Thomas McKay) made their decision to prosecute and convict the victim of a sexual assault because of some new evidence, facts or information that they chose not to reveal at trial. In fact there is not even a suggestion or hint that the judicial partners had some overiding moral or ethical reason for their apparently bizarre legal attack upon a victim of crime. ............................................................................................................................................ So what the hell are we the public to take from this? Should we commend our judicial system for admitting their mistake? Should we understand that the people involved in our judicial system have little or no common sense and only will back down after public exposure of their misdeeds? Or should we understand that our judicial system like our health care system, educational system and others are closed, non-transparent systems to the general public, who do what they damn well please, right or wrong? And have always done so with only occasionally a glimmer and a peek inside them to see what's going on? Somebody, somewhere stepped up to fix what was in the public eye a brazen, bizarre abuse of authority. If only that happened more often.

RECENT & ENJOYABLE HISTORY

The Woolwich Observer pblished an article on Saturday, August 29, 2015 titled "Woolwich resident urges reform in wake of council election expense woes". The Woolwich resident was Richard Clausi and he spoke to Woolwich Council on the matter on August 25, 2015. He gave councillors about ten different suggestions so that they could avoid future problems in running afoul of the Ontario Municipal Elections Act (MEA). Mr. Clausi also advised that excuses that the MEA is vague, grey or confusing are exactly that: excuses. ..................................................................................................................................... Mr. Clausi also took Woolwich Township as well as the judicial system to task when he described the farce of Sandy Shantz being reinstated by a judge to the mayor's chair. He referred to it as "throwing the game" as the "prosecution" refused to present evidence, including verbal or written evidence from the complainant (yours truly). Mr. Clausi also advised council and the public that Ms. Shantz's written evidence to the judge (Justice David Broad) contradicted her verbal evidence in Council chambers to the Municipal Elections Compliance Audit Committee (MECAC) regarding when they received an audited statement from her accountant. He then publicly asked Ms. Shantz "Are you telling me that you perjured yourself?" ..................................................................................................... Among his many reccommendations, Mr. Clausi advised that staff in the Municipal Clerk's office desperately needed to receive more training regarding the requirements of the MEA and regarding when to formally advise councilors and mayor that they have forfeited their seat on council due to a serious transdgression. All in all it was a very calm and straightforward presentation clarifying many obvious failures and illegal actions taken by a number of councillors (and mayor), contrary to the Ontario Municipal Elections Act. These actions taken by myself, Dr. Dan Holt, Richard Clausi and with help from others certainly have endeared ourselves to the local (corrupt?) power structure. Perhaps in future they will begin to understand that politicians who live in glass houses should be very careful about throwing the first stones at citizen volunteers doing their duty.

WISHFUL THINKING TRYING TO "BALANCE" HUMAN NEEDS WITH THOSE OF OTHER SPECIES

Last Monday's Waterloo Region Record has an article titled "Region updating "significant species" list. An employee of a local environmental consulting firm, Natural Resource Solutions, is spearheading the Region of Waterloo's project to update species lists particularly at this time for plants and birds. The person in charge was quite straightforward in that while lists of species whether native, rare or significant are important to land managers, in the long run what is most important to other species than ourselves is more available habitat. Good luck with that happening overall as we the human species continue to proliferate at an alarming pace throughout the world. .................................................................................................................................. The newspaper article suggests that there are a couple of different conservation methods employed such as looking at "umbrella" species i.e. a particular target species that might indicate a general healthy environment. Another method is simply having better overall land use practices on the landscape. Examples given are environmentally friendly agriculture or less greenfield development. I would suggest that here in Elmira not allowing chemical companies especially but also manufacturers in general to build and operate beside surface water bodies such as creeks or streams. University of Waterloo assistant professor Michael Drescher optimistically advises that valuable natural areas are not just totally remote spaces. There are valuable areas that are not pristine and that are close to home. All efforts to reduce human impact and conserve land are worthwhile.

MORAL TURPITUDE OF OUR GOVERNMENTS & SENIOR ENVIRONMENTAL AUTHORITIES ON DISPLAY

Today's Waterloo Region Record carries an article written by Leah Gerber titled "Challenge to environment act changes reaches court this week". Various groups involved in legal action against the Doug Ford, Conservative Ontario government include Wilderness Committee, Greenpeace, Ontario Nature, Earthroots and Ecojustice. This article relates the various negative changes to environmental protection that Doug Ford and company have been pushing the last couple of years. This is hardly surprising for a Progressive Conservative government deeply beholden to big business and big money. Bill 197 is the focus of the court action this week as it was enacted without any public consultation and it makes large changes to the Environmental Assessment Act and the Planning Act among others. Also there are certain environmental protection guarantees within the Environmental Bill of Rights and as well within the Environmental Registry of Ontario that these various environmental groups claim have been ignored, arbitrarily amended or broken. .................................................................................................................................... None of this is terribly surprising to yours truly. How can it be when I have been writing here for eleven years now about the disgraceful, immoral. unethical and dishonest actions of the Ontario Ministry of Environment whether they call themselves the MOE, MOEE or MECP. A piece of manure by any other name smells just as rotten. Whether we are talking about mercury in the English-Wabigoon river system, Trichloroethylene from Northstar Aerospace in Cambridge or NDMA, DDT, chlorobenzene and dioxins in Elmira the one constant is the corrupt Ontario Ministry of Environment. This corruption clearly includes whatever party currently are forming the government, Conservative or Liberal.

YES GARLIC MUSTARD IS PRESENT IN ELMIRA, ONTARIO

In fact it is present in Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, P.E.I., and British Columbia with Alberta a maybe. Garlic Mustard is a European species brought to North America in the 1800s. It escaped domestic cultivation and is now considered an invasive species in both the U.S. and Canada. It inhabits forested areas both within and without city boundaries and leads to a decrease in biodiversity via chemicals in leaves in the soil as well as by decreasing beneficial fungi in the soil. The beneficial fungi normally assist in the transfer of nutrients in the soil to native plants and trees. Hence in the long run it can adversely affect normal forest canopy trees and even some domestic crops. Maple trees and hence maple syrup production could also be at long term risk from garlic mustard proliferation. Dairy cows who eat garlic mustard also can have the taste of their milk negatively affected. .................................................................................................................... There are on-line articles dealing with garlic mustard recognition, control and removal including from the province of Ontario. Oddly to date garlic mustard is not a controlled or regulated invasive species by either the province or by the federal government. Municipalities can pass by-laws insisting on either control of or removal of garlic mustard within their jurisdiction. Control or removal depends upon a number of factors including the size of the infestation. Various methods include pulling by hand, mowing/cutting and even just clipping of the flower heads to prevent the seed from being released. Obviously timing is crucial in the spring in order to attack the plants before their seeds are spread. Another method sometimes used is physically removing (pulling/burning etc.) as much as possible and then overplanting with another species.

The SOMETIMES SUBTLE, SOMETIMES BLUNT & IN YOUR FACE ART OF SH.TDISTURBING

Sh.tdisturbing = activism However those on the receiving end including politicians and polluters oft times have no appreciation of it. Today I started with my post of yesterday which I had sent to most (not all) of the TAG members & Chair. It was titled "Dr. Richard (Dick) Jackson's Specific Technical Criticisms Of The Elmira "Cleanup" From 1989-2015". This morning I decided to further send it along to our Woolwich Council. The purpose should be obvious. They are responsible for the bastardization of public consultation beyond all recognition here in Elmira. They are historically responsible not just for passive acceptance and condoning of the third class "cleanup" efforts but also of actively undermining and destroying what was already weak public consultation. Sitting around a table begging for environmental scraps from a multi national, multi billion dollar company which has made their private sweetheart deals decades ago is essentially useless. Without an outraged and aroused citizenry attending meetings and commenting strongly on perceived failures and poor decisions the citizen reps are toothless. ....................................................................................................................... Many hours later I thought to myself: Well if sending it to Woolwich Council is good then what about sending it to Regional Council? Done. The Region of Waterloo have a greater authority in regards to groundwater and environmental protection than any individual members (city or townships). They also likely have a stronger voice with the province and if willing to push should have more traction than little old Woolwich Township. The question is however are they really willing to push. Eh I don't think so and sure haven't seen it much here regarding Uniroyal, groundwater and or the Canagagigue Creek. Occasionally yes. ................................................................................................................................... A few hours later and I thought if yesterday's posting is as well written and strong as I think it is then why simply share it with politicians? So off it went to three different media namely the Woolwich Observer, Waterloo Region Record and CTV Kitchener. While over the decades all three media have on occasion done an excellent job, it's the age old question: What have they done for the issue lately? So I will not hold my breath nor change my schedule expecting the reaction that should come from that strong public interest posting. Instead and as always it will be business as usual.

Dr. RICHARD (Dick) JACKSON'S SPECIFIC TECHNICAL CRITICISMS OF THE ELMIRA "CLEANUP" FROM 1989-2015

AN OPEN LETTER TO THE MAJORITY OF HONEST, INTELLIGENT TAG MEMBERS .................................................................................................................................... I expect that either later today or perhaps this weekend that I will send this posting on to the TAG Chair, Lisa (Support services), and the majority of TAG members. Dr. Jackson was by far the most environmentally experienced and knowlegable person ever to hold the Chair's position with either CEAC, UPAC, CPAC, or TAG. Just as importantly, or more, Dr. Jackson felt zero need to be deferential to credentialed expert deceivers, consultants, Ministry of Environment, Chemtura etc. He simply refused to allow self-serving "facts", drivel, or psuedo science to roam freely within the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) while he was the Chair (Sept. 2015- Dec. 2016). Yes he was not the sole "good" Chair. There were others including Dr. Dan Holt (approx. Jan. 2012-Aug. 2015). Possibly Dr. Murray Haight deserves recognition although I admit that his Chairmanship of CEAC was prior to my involvement. ............................................................................................................................................... Media coverage of TAG during Dr. Jackson's tenure as Chair was essentially zero. That said I do recall one Woolwich Observer reporter present for a TAG meeting or two. The Elmira Independent covered ALL UPAC and CPAC meetings from January 1992 until July 2015 when they shut down. They did a generally excellent job of accurately covering who said and did what at those meetings. Since their departure, media coverage of TAG meetings has been generally non-existent. The Independent's coverage included Bob Verdun as well as Gail Martin with reporters such as Roddy Turpin (early days), Shirley Rennie, Julie Sawyer etc. The lack of media coverage of TAG has been wonderful for the MOE/MECP, CRA/GHD, Chemtura, Lanxess, Woolwich Township and disasterous for the public interest in and around Elmira, Ontario. .......................................................................................................................... In his short tenure Dr. Jackson exposed failings, lies and incompetence among the Ministry of Environment (MOE), Uniroyal Chemical, Crompton and Chemtura. He was extremely blunt with those parties and while he bluntly criticized many aspects of the work that Conestoga Rovers did over the decades he usually referred to them simply as the companiy's consultants i.e. he avoided naming them. Much of Dr. Jackson's technical criticisms made at public (Woolwich Council Chambers) in person meetings were reported the next morning here in the Elmira Advocate blog. They were also incorporated into my book "The Elmira Water Crisis: The Triumph of Corruption, Deceit and Citizen Betrayal" (2019). That book is available on the Waterloo Region Advocate on-line Blog and as well was on-line from 2019 until a few months ago at the Cambridge Advocate Website. Chapter 20 in particular decribes Dr. Jackson's words of disgust and contempt for the decades long failures to do a proper cleanup in Elmira. ........................................................................................................................................ Dr. Jackson also criticized the MOE for their blunt refusal to post warning signs regarding the eating of fish in the Canagagigue Creek. He advised that he would have confidence in a dioxin report for the creek produced by Hatfield Consultants but by the MOE "...not so much". Finally he supported cleanup via Source Removal when he stated in regards to the partial island and creekbank excavations along the creek on Crompton's property that "source removal works". ................................................................................................................................... ................................................................................................................................... Dr. Jackson lambasted CRA and friends for their decades belated understanding of the basal gravel unit at the bottom of the Municipal Aquifer in Elmira. That unit was a preferntial flow pathway for groundwater and contaminants and should have been targeted by pumping wells from the beginning. ......................................................................................................................................... He lambasted the guilty parties (MOE, Chemtura CRA etc.) for their utter failure to test for contaminants in suspended sediments in the creek ("Gig"). In fact he suggested that CRA threw out the baby while saving the bath water in that they filtered out the suspended sediments and then tested the creek water alone. ............................................................................................................................................... He (Dr. Jackson) actually laughed at the pathetic attempt to use In Situ Chemical Oxidation (ISCO) as part of the Elmira Aquifer cleanup. He suggested that what they did "...was not engineering..." and that they should have consulted experts and professionals before doing it themselves. ....................................................................................................................................... Water reinjection into the Elmira Aquifers in order to speed up the cleanup was arbitrarily rejected by Uniroyal and their consultants back in the 1990s and should not have been without serious study and thought according to Dr. Jackson. ............................................................................................ DNAPLS DNAPLS & DNAPLS: Dr. Jackson weighed in upon the longterm DNAPL coverup on the Uniroyal site. He stated that the groundwater concentrations at various wells near the eastern border clearly indicated the presence of DNAPLS (dense non aqueous phase liquids). Dr. Jackson also strongly criticized Chemtura and CRA for refusing to analyse the components of DNAPL material found around 2011-12. Myself and CPAC argued to have the samples analysed for their components but Woolwich Councillor Mark Bauman along with new CPAC member Susanna Meteer disagreed giving Chemtura the excuse they needed to ignore CPAC's overall reccommendation. ............................................................................................................................. Dr. Jackson came right out and stated that pump and treat is "...not sufficient." Basically contaminants from groundwater diffuse into aquitards and less permeable zones where over decades as the groundwater concentrations decrease there is "back diffusion" from the aquitards etc. into the groundwater. This initial diffusion and later "back diffusion" was greatly underestimated by Uniroyal/Crompton/Chemtura, CRA etc. hence the "cleanup" was not pursued vigorously enough. ............................................................................................................................................ Yours truly had made presentations to CPAC (2009) in regards to both ISCO and MLS or Multi Level Sampling. CPAC under the friendly thumb of Chemtura, Pat and Susan ignored my citizen Delegation to them. Dr. Jackson wondered why MLS was not used decades earlier on the Uniroyal site and throughout Elmira. ............................................................................................................................................ Dr. Jackson criticized the MOE's plans to test YOY (young of the year) fish in the creek for contaminants as he felt that those fish had neither the time nor the fat content to uptake most contaminants. ...................................................................................................... Dr. Jackson advised that the "...Stroh Drain may be pulling groundwater eastwards and directing it southwards." This was also the concern of Peter Gray from MTE consultants in his report to CPAC (2014). ..................................................................................................... Dr. Jackson expected a major blowup regarding the creek with the Ontario Ministry of Environment. He advised the public at a TAG meeting that there would be "...a confrontation with the MOE in the next few months regarding the downstream Canagagigue Creek." If that happened it was after his resignation and it was done behind the scenes privately. .................................................................................................................................................. Sebastian, Linda D. and David H. I believe were present during Dr. Jackson's tenure as Chair of TAG. It might be helpful if they were to examine both their memories and any notes they may have taken at the time. Woolwich Township are the proud owners of UPAC, CPAC, TAG Minutes. Years ago they refused to provide them to current CPAC members when requested. Also as long as Minutes were taken by Township employees a certain "softening" or even omission of harsh/critical comments sometimes occurred in the finished Minutes provided to UPAC/CPAC members months later. ............................................................................................................ .............................................................................................................. Sincerely Alan Marshall (CPAC & EH-Team member)

RE: GRAVEL PITS & MORE POLITICIANS HAVE EARNED THEIR DISGUSTING REPUTATIONS

Their basic raison d'etre is a lie. They are not making their livelihoods as public servants but rather as servants to the already wealthy and powerful in Canada, very often at the expense of the public whom they are supposed to be serving. It's called the public interest. Filling in and developing wetlands is contrary to the environmental interest as well as to the public interest. Similarly excavating more gravel, sand or limestone pits is also not in the public or environmental interest especially when it is suggested that there is an oversupply in the marketplace. ........................................................................................................................... Today's Waterloo Region Record has an excellent Opinion piece written by Susan Koswan who has been long involved in various regional environmental issues. Her article is titled "All of the gravel pit opposition has to count for something". She relates several past and present ongoing gravel pit controversies in Waterloo Region including a proposed pit in Maryhill as well as Shingletown, Rockwood, Milton and Burlington. She also visited a couple of local pit sites (Hallman Pit & Chudyk Pit) for a first hand observation of the natural environment there including "...beautiful rolling hills, prime farmland, small settlements, ponds and forests." Besides advising readers of gaps and failings in process around siting of pits as well as overlapping authorities among various provincial ministries; one of the biggest items to me addressed what I had long suspected. Absolutely none of these proposed pits as per provincial legislation ever has to justify an economic need for another new pit. Hence when Ms. Koswan states that there is a declining value of aggregate in the marketplce likely due to an oversupply of sand and gravel, it confirms my suspicions. Gravel pit owners and operators are simply opening pits willy nilly in an attempt to be able to underbid competitors to supply gravel etc. by shortening their distance to the end uses be they roads, highways, construction projects, asphalt and cement plants. In other words we the public do not need more pits. We have plenty within Waterloo Region and likely throughout Ontario. It is simply to increase the profits of our aggregate produces at the expense of both the environment and the nearby residents. .................................................................................................................................... And here is what our government does for us: Aggregate producers donate to both the Liberal and Conservative parties. They buy influence and good will and our provincial governments reward their largesse by passing legislation protecting them and their economic interests while throwing both the environment and local citizens under the bus. Keep on voting Liberal and Conservative if you are O.K. with that.

ADVOCATE READERS, YOU ARE READING HONEST, EXPERT INFO TOTALLY IGNORED/MISSED BY WATERLOO REGION MEDIA

Today's post continues on with facts and information presented at public TAG (& RAC) meetings during Dr. Richard Jackson's tenure as TAG Chair (Sept. 2015-December 2016). It was mostly missed by Waterloo Region media including radio, television and two newspapers because none of them could be bothered attending the public meetings held in Woolwich Council Chambers. Yes during this time there was media coverage of other travails that Woolwich Council were going through such as their asinine attempts to deny Delegations to Council in regards to Chemtura (Uniroyal) in Elmira. I will again list a number of dates and titles in this Blog (Elmira Advocate) that were the result of my in person attendance at these public meetings, taking notes and usually posting here the next morning. All of these posted articles can be accessed from the Blog Archive on the bottom right corner of the Elmira Advocate. A few of these dates and titles will also include specific comments/criticisms of the Elmira "cleanup" and those in charge over the past decades from Dr. Jackson. Today I have only reexamined past posts from January 2016 through April 2016. .............................................................................................................................. Friday January 15, 2016: titled "Wednesday Evening's TAG meeting". Friday February 12, 2016 titled "Last Night's TAG Meeting Was Illuminating". Friday March 16, 2016 titled "Ontario MOECC Show Their Contempt For Citizens Again". Friday April 29 titled "Monday Nights RAC And TAG Reports". These reports were given to Woolwich Council at a public council meeting as updates and were contentious. Wednesday April 20, 2016 titled "More Music To My Ears At Woolwich Council". While this post was in regards to the previous evening's public council meeting dealing with the Hawk Ridge Homes proposed development, what was of great interest to me was the blatant and disgusting display of hypocrisy put on by Susan Bryant and Pat McLean. These two self-serving (co-opted?) individuals spoke at length criticisng both Chemtura and predecessors as well as hammering the Ontario Ministry of Environment's lack of environmental enforcement and hence how at risk the new residents will be in the Hawk Ridge development across the road from Chemtura Canada in Elmira. Of course these same two liars said no such things a year earlier in the private "Stakeholders" meeting where they crapped on CPAC (Dr. Holt & members) plus myself in order to get Woolwich Council to remove CPAC. Maybe this was because at that time Chemtura, the MOE and Pat and Susan's goals were aligned (i.e. get rid of me and CPAC). ........................................................................................................................................ Friday April 15, 2016 titled "Council & TAG Hypocrites Crying Foul - M.O.E. Repeatedly Portrayed As Liars". I love that previous evening's TAG meeting. Dr. Jackson unequivocally stated that there were DNAPLS (dense non aqueous phase liquids) on the eastern property line of Uniroyal/Chemtura as proven by the groundwater concentrations of various DNAPL chemicals. Pat Mclean also was whining and crying about the M.O.E.'s bad and disrespectful attitude towards TAG including private meetings between the M.O.E. and Chemtura, excluding TAG from attending. Dr. Richard (Dick) Jackson also suggested that Hatfield Consultants should and could do an excellent Dioxin Risk Assessment in the Canagagigue Creek. The M.O.E. or Conestoga Rovers (implied) not so much. ........................................................................................................................ And this folks is how polluters with political support and media laxness get away with murder, whether of the truth or of people's lives.

A SMALL LISTING OF DR. RICHARD JACKSON'S COMMENTS REGARDING THE ONT. M.O.E., CRA, CHEMTURA ETC.

In yesterday's post here I suggested that Dr. Jackson, as Chair of TAG, "...appropriately ripped CRA, Chemtura and the MOE new ones over his fifteen month tenure." Today I have spent about half an hour skimming through the Elmira advocate Blog Archives from September 2015 to December 2016, the time frame of Dr. Jackson's tenure at TAG. I have skipped many, many months and next day followups/posts here in the Elmira Advocate. Nevertheless here are a few dates and titles of articles posted the next day here, after I had personally attended the TAG meetings and taken detailed notes and quotes. ...................................................................................................................... Saturday December 5, 2015 titled "M.O.E. Unhappy About Public Spanking". Friday December 4, 2015 titled "Unforgiveable", "Extremely Disappointing", Under Designed", "M.O.E. Bought Off". Friday November 18, 2016 titled "Last Evening's TAG Meeting". One included quote from that posting is "Dr. Jacksaon advised that the MOE's Notice to residents was "inappropriate and misleading". ................................................................................................................. Saturday October 29, 2016 titled "CPAC Rules, "Now It Turns Out That The Activists Were Right" - K-W Record. Finally Friday October 14, 2016 titled "TAG Members Eviscerate "Fortress" M.O.E.". ........................................................................................................... These are only five postings published here the day after either TAG members or the TAG Chair blasted the guilty parties for their behaviour, attitudes and failures regarding the Elmira Water Crisis. You the readers feel free to look at the Blog Archives on the right side of the page, especially from January 2016 until September 2016. The titles alone should give you a clue as to the postings (usually monthly?) done the morning after an evening TAG meeting. Dr. Jackson relentlessly made it clear during his tenure that the Elmira "cleanup" has been totally mishandled from day one. Many citizens such as myself and other CPAC members have publicly said and written that as well but been more easily ignored by politicians and other dishonest decision makers.

ANOTHER RECENT HISTORY LESSON

Every now and again I look back into my newspaper files regarding Uniroyal/Crompton/Chemtura/Lanxess Canada and am pleasantly pleased to see some very good articles from the Woolwich Observer on these matters. No they've never held a candle to the Elmira Independent's (Bob Verdun/Gayle Martin) efforts over literally decades (Nov. 1989-July 2015) but they still have done some good work. Two stories come to mind namely August 29/15 titled "As CPAC winds down, longstanding concerns remain" and September 5/15 titled "Bringing an experienced eye to Elmira's Water Woes". ................................................................................................................... The first article (Aug. 29/15) refers to Chemtura's somewhat limp and tentative admissions that the cleanup date of 2028 likely is unattainable. This of course had been CPAC's position since at least 2012 despite vehement opposition from both the Ontario Ministry of Environment and from Chemtura Canada. Woolwich Council under then mayor Todd Cowan also supported and formally endorsed CPAC's position. Contrast that with Woolwich Council's immediate assault and undermining of the very same volunteer citizens on CPAC, as soon as the new Council began. Yes Sandy (S.) your new council was the elephant in the room as I stated as early as January 2015. CPAC members Ron Campbell and Graham Chevreau spoke to Council from the outgoing CPAC regarding the longstanding concerns. Steve Kannon of the Woolwich Observer referred to CPAC's imminent departure thusly "...the environmental watchdog group whose term expires at the end of the month, to be replaced by a more company-friendly arrangement cooked up by Mayor Sandy Shantz." Wow does that ever spell out the lies and deceptions of both Sandy and then councillor Mark Bauman. Graham Chevreau advised a deaf, dumb, blind and biased new council that a real investigation of the Stroh property was necessary. That still has not happened to date thanks to Woolwich Council's pro-company (Uniroyal/Crompton/ChemturaLanxess) policies, biases and ignorance. ............................................................................................................................... The second article (Sept. 5/15) highlights the new Chair of TAG (Technical Advisory Group), Dr. Richard Jackson. He was the very best Chair of all the former UPACs and CPAC's despite the excellent work done by Dr. Dan Holt (2011-Aug.2015). Dr. Jackson based upon his incredible 40 years of professional work in environmental investigation and remediation was able to cut through the bullsh.t and verbal diarrhea coming from Conestoga Rovers (CRA), Chemtura and the Ontario Ministry of Environment. Dr. Holt's professional expertise was not in the environmental field and hence ironically he was much more careful and diplomatic of the ultra-sensitive feelings and egos of Chemtura than Dr. Jackson. I say ironically because the council idiots S. Shantz and M. Bauman, along with the professional liars from Chemtura and the Ont. MOE, alleged that CPAC members including Dr. Holt and the SWAT sub-committee were too aggressive, rude etc. What a joke! Dr. Jackson, appropriately ripped CRA, Chemtura and the MOE new ones over his fifteen month tenure. ................................................................................................................................ Absolutely disgustingly Dr. Jackson's, supported with facts and experience, criticisms of those three parties never made it into the Woolwich Observer. After the Elmira Independent closed their doors in early July 2015, it was home free for Chemtura and then Lanxess Canada. Little or no serious coverage of the "cleanup" or of public consultation occurred after that despite incredible revelations of CRA, MOE, Uniroyal/Chemtura incompetence and deception. That has allowed the public to remain in the dark about Dr. Jackson's revelations as Chair of TAG. Dr. Jackson's criticisms strike to the heart of the failures to clean up the site either by 2028 or likely until 2050 or 2060 if ever. Some of us at UPAC and CPAC told those in charge of the cleanup what was required. For self-serving reasons (money, status, ego) we weren't just ignored, we were lied to, deceived and vilified by the professional liars; aided and abetted by local politicians.

GOVERNMENT & INDUSTRY (POLLUTING OR OTHERWISE) ARE IN BED TOGETHER

There is a phenomenon known as "regulator capture". Whether the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) or Canada's various provincial Ministries of Environment, the process and results are similar. Likely it occurs in other fields such as securities regulators, housing standards, automotive safety regulations etc. Essentially there will be professional commonalities between the various personnel (government and industry) such as their fields of study, University degrees, professional certifications etc. Another prime example would be the Ontario Ministry of Labour. What an absolute joke and disgrace rolled into one. Again to a certain degree it's a case of human beings of a "professional" stature having to work closely together and wisely deciding early on to make things as pleasant as possible versus say the combative, confrontational atmosphere of a courtroom. Although even there realize that generally speaking the police, the Crown prosecuters and even the judge are all viewed as professional collegues to be respected at all times. Defnce counsel may be somewhat on the outs although not always. .................................................................................................................... Regarding professional certifications I know that those in industry with a MSC (Master of Science) degree and most certainly those with a professional certification in hydrogeology tend to form their arguments around known and accepted scientific criteria and understandings. Of course there is way too much "professional opinion" involved especially as polluting companies are loath to spend extra money on sampling and testing that may prove they they then need to spend even more money on contaminant removal or containment. I also expect that their consultants very quickly have learned that they and their companies can expect much more followup work via reports and written studies when they are more cognizant of "cost effective" methodologies and means. Hence consulting companies early on learn that being known as "client driven" is to their advantage. Either professional standards or even formal, engineering standards be damned if they conflict with the paying client's interests. In other words, in law, it is understood that a person's lawyer holds priveleged information that is harmful to their client's interests (financial/legal) and that they are neither expected to share them with the opposing side and in fact are legally bound NOT to do so. In legal matters that is understood. It is NOT so understood in regards to technical consultants and in fact consultants routinely and dishonestly attempt to fashion their positions and conclusions around the public interest including public environmental interests. The reality is that environmental/hydrogeological/surface water and or soil consultants in general do not give a rat's as. about the public interest. While an engineer can literally go to jail for a shoddy design of a bridge or building that collapses, as long as the environmental consultants have saved their clients money, a complete failure in say for example cleaning up the Elmira Aquifers to drinking water standards in thirty years, goes unpunished. ................................................................................................................ The system is both broken and rotten. Intentionally so and this is the public price (environmental & health) paid because of millions of dollars of sucessful government lobbying efforts by industry. This lobbying is of course enhanced with generous political donations and more. Again just like regulators being "captured", so can our government Ministry's and their staff.

WHAT WOULD IT TAKE FOR LANXESS CANADA TO RESTORE THEIR NAME AMONGST OLDER, MORE KNOWLEGABLE & EXPERIENCED ELMIRA CITIZENS?

I've recently been criticizing the hypocrisy of Lanxess Canada donating money to both local and international environmental and water issues while deceptively and surrepticiously making deals not in the public environmental and health interest with the Ontario Ministry of Environment and with Woolwich Township. So I see a few major actions that Lanxess need to do to regain any respect from the last and best CPAC (formerly Chemtura Public Advisory Committee-currently Citizens Public Advisory Committee). ................................................................................................................................ First reappoint (with an apology) the current CPAC members to TAG. This might require Woolwich Council approval but they did remove CPAC six years ago at Chemtura's insistence. Second begin both greater off-site pumping in the Elmira Aquifers while simultaneously stopping literally years of excuses about this well and that well which aren't working properly. Thirdly Begin a serious and professional application of In -Situ Chemical Oxidation (ISCO) in and around higher contaminant concentrations in the Aquifers. Fourthly Begin removing contaminated soils in and around the Stroh Drain, Ditch and Berm (SDDB). Chemtura and Lanxess have had seven years to do soil sampling around the SDDB and have refused so just go in with a backhoe and start digging. You will see, smell and breathe the contamination. If you're too self-serving and dishonest to do the cleanup properly in the first place then you deserve to be stuck with a greater cleanup as a result. Fifthly start removing highly contaminated sediments from the bottom of the creek both where you have repeatedly tested over the decades as well as where you haven't (presumably depositional areas). Sixly go back and start removing known areas of DNAPL from your site. A couple are admitted but a number of others are readily apparent both from soil and groundwater sampling despite your client driven consultants pretending otherwise. ............................................................................................................................... This is a start. It could also be of benefit to get the hell rid of RAC (Remediation Advisory Committee) which are primarily a bunch of bureaucrats and politicians doing what politicians love to do which is talk about a problem while resolving nothing, preferably over the greatest time period possible.

"CHARITY BEGINS AT HOME" - O.K. MAYBE NOT THE BEST METAPHOR

May 1 and 3 of this past week have posts here in the Advocate describing recent publicized "freebees" by Lanxess Canada. They include articles in both the Woolwich Observer and the Waterloo Region Record describing voluntary, charitable "environmental" work by the German based company. They include arts and culture funding to Woolwich Community Services as well as the 67 acre "nature reserve" at the south end of Elmira, off of Union St. I also mentioned other community events that the company (Uniroyal/Crompton/Chemtura) have contributed to over the decades. ......................................................................................................................... It is one thing for a corporate body to both morally and legally discharge their duties and responsibilities to the community and then to decide if they wish to be exemplary corporate citizens by voluntarily donating to good causes within or outside the community. It is entirely different for a company and their corporate predecessors to lie, dissemble, deceive or manipulate their way out of discharging BOTH their moral and legal responsibilities to the community. This exactly what Uniroyal Chemical, Crompton, Chemtura and lanxess Canada have done here in Elmira. And now they have the brass balls to suggest that as good corporate citizens they are going to make donations to local events as well as to assisting with water filters in Uganda as mentioned in today's Woolwich Observer. Shame on both our local papers (Record & Observer) for failing to mention the Elmira Water Crisis and the fact that our local drinking water will NOT NOT NOT be restored by 2028, if ever. And that result is exactly what is to be expected by a series of corporate scumbags, in total control of the "cleanup" from day one who have nickel and dimed that "cleanup" over the last thirty-two years and CONTINUE TO DO SO. .................................................................................................................................. Much of their manipulation and deception has been private, behind the scenes meetings with both Woolwich Township and the province of Ontario via the Ministry of Environment (MOE/MECP). It's been a sham and a scam from the very beginning with the polluter, regulator (Ha!) and politicians all involved in deceiving the public. The public have been lied to regarding the extent of environmental damage as well as the extent of "cleanup" with the political bodies running interference for them from outraged citizens.

PROPOSED CAPITOL PAVING PIT NEAR MARYHILL

I have many times written about the nasty problems for nearby residents and landowners when a gravel pit comes knocking. I have often heard the Aggregates Resource Act referred to as a "cudgel" in that it flat out allows gravel pit proponents a cakewalk towards the rezoning and other administrative hurdles they often require to proceed with their proposals. Essentially it simply allows the proponent to buy the reports and studies indicated by either the municipality involved, the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) or sometimes the Region of Waterloo. From what I have seen it makes little difference if the property that they have bought is not zoned for extraction or even if that location is flat out meant to be a natural area, part of a groundwater recharge area or near environmentally sensitive areas. All "protections" are relative and expert consultants are merely a nickel and a phone call away willing to prostitute their knowledge and expertise for a share of the economic pie (i.e. $$$$$$$). Make no mistake it's all about money and politics and both are usually overwhelmingly on the proponent's side. Hell you don't think that the Aggregate industry donates to the Liberals and Conservatives out of the goodness of their hearts do you? .................................................................................................................................... Today's Waterloo Region Record carries the following article written by Leah Gerber and titled "Maryhill residents want $17M liability fund for gravel pit". There have been two notable exceptions to the rule that proponents always win, formerly courtesy of the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB). One was in Puslinch and the other that I know of was the proposed Hunder Pit located very close to the Golf Course subdivision in Conestogo. The replacement for the properly known as biased OMB is LPAT or Local Planning Area Tribunal. To date I have no knowledge that they are any better than the OMB which they replaced. In fact I believe that the Jigs Hollow gravel pit located just outside Winterbourne was sold out by that Tribunal. Firstly Woolwich Council sold out their residents several years back by permitting the zone change to an above water table pit and then LPAT gave the O.K. for a below water table amendment. It is my understanding that most attempts to stop new pits are really in effect thinly veiled attempts to simply tighten up the incredibly loose and unenforced (by the MNR) rules, regulations and laws that currently exist. In other words usually it's a lost cause but local residents have a right to be seriously offended and angry by outside parties lowering their property values and harming the local environment all for these outside parties greater financial gain.

MORE INFO REGARDING LANXESS MARCH 2021 "PROGRESS REPORT"

Back on April 20/21 I posted here about the on and off-site pumping wells and how inadequate, especially the off-site pumping was. Today we will begin with Table A.4 and the concentrations in water of just a few Uniroyal Chemical industrial contaminants more than thirty-one years after the Elmira "Water Crisis" of 1989. In the Upper Aquifer at monitoring well UA 560I we currently have the following: Chlorobenzene at 622 parts per billion (ppb or ug/l) dissolved in the groundwater along with Toluene at 7,320 ppb. 0-Xylene is at 109 ppb and m/p xylenes at 162 ppb. Accompanying those toxins we have 2-Mercaptobenzothiazole (480 ppb), Aniline (400), Benzothiazole (1360) and 2-Chlorophenol (2.69). ...................................................................................................................................... Table B.1 lists the former MISA outlets that allegedly discharge storm water from the site into the Canagagigue Creek. Of course the entire site remains grossly contaminated such that both surface rainfall over bare ground picks up contaminants as well as the Storm Water Sewer (SWS) in the vicinity of storm water pond (RPW-8). Results from SWS include 2,4-D at 26 ppb, Aniline at 348 ppb, Carboxin at 317 ppb, Diphenylamine at 1.21 ppb and Toluene at 2.11 ppb. .................................................................................................... Table C.2 gives the results of surface water in the Canagagigue Creek, both upstream of Uniroyal/Lanxess as well as downstream. Somewhat unexpectedly the Arithmetic Mean for m/p cresol and o-cresol are both higher upstream at SS-110 than downstream at SS+925. Similarly Nitrosomorpholine has a slightly higher concentration (Arithmetic Mean) upstream (SS-110) than the downstream result. Chlorobenzene, Trichloroethylene, m,p xylenes and Benzene all follow suit. More expectedly the following chemicals have Arithmetic Means higher downstream than upstream namely NDMA and Toluene. Something is very wrong here. Either GHD have messed up and reversed the upstream and downstream positions or there is a source(s) upstream of some of these contaminants. One likely source is the Bolender Park Landfill. Perhaps there is yet another industrial source upstream that has been kept hidden from the public as well as TAG (Technical Advisory Group) in order for Uniroyal/Lanxess to be able to once again minimize the extent of their contamination by hiding behind other sources. ...................................................................................................... Non Aqueous Phase Liquid (NAPL) in Attachment F refers to the LNAPL or Light Non Aqueous Phase Liquid which is comprised mostly of Toluene which was discharged from Building 15 in Uniroyal/Lanxess's south-west corner. It was first made public around 1995 and was allegedly not mentioned earlier upon the advice of Uniroyal's lawyers. Nice. The thickness of the Toluene floating on top of the water Table (UA1) has been dramatically reduced since about 2018. Presumably this is a result of some sort of trench and skimmer as well as by the operation of the UACTS or Upper Aquifer Containment & Treatment System. Nevertheless you should ask yourselves why it took that long to get the LNAPL (Toluene) out of the natural environment. ....................................................................................................... All in all I suggest that decisions made in private in the early 1990s have negatively impacted both the health of the local environment as well as the health of local residents. Much shame belongs to both Woolwich Township and the Ontario Ministry of Environment (MOE/MECP).

HYPOCRISY, REBRANDING & FORGETTING HISTORY

I have long felt that the changing of names of our local producer and seller of Agent Orange and DDT was all about forgetting what Uniroyal Chemical did both here in Elmira as well as half way around the world. Oh and just for further clarification they also sold Agent Orange to the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and to the Ontario Ministry of Transportation. Similar to its'use in Vietnam it was used to knock down brush and undesirable trees along power corridors, highway ditches and more. Hence Uniroyal Chemical has become Crompton, Chemtura then Lanxess Canada. ................................................................................................................ Leah Gerber of the Waterloo Region Record wrote an article titled "Elmira sets aside 67 acres for nature reserve" for last Saturday's paper. The article is very strongly a feel good, pro environment article which is mostly fine. It is also however a public relations step for Lanxess Canada who are continuing the long held tradition in Elmira of lots of talk about the cleanup that they are legally liable for, a minimum of actual money being spent, all the while hiding behind the cover of process, studies, reports, and decades of delay under the umbrella of so called supervision by the Ministry of Environment with Woolwich Township passive acceptance. .......................................................................................................................... I am sorely tempted to send Leah Gerber a recent New York Times article titled "America, Please Don't Forget the Victims of Agent Orange". It is heartbreaking and Uniroyal Chemical in Elmira contributed to the disaster and humanitaruion crisis there as well as here. How many of our Elmira and downstream citizens have passed away "from cancer" and other diseases with no determination as to whether DDT, NDMA, dioxins/furans or other Uniroyal products contributed? Not to mention also that MNR, Ontario Hydro and MOT employees have sufferred. .................................................................................................................... But hey not to worry, Ontario. Our politicians and leaders say it's all O.K. if in the pursuit of economic gain.

LANXESS CANADA (UNIROYAL CHEMICAL) & WOOLWICH TOWNSHIP: DECADES OLD FRIENDLY DEALINGS OR A SCRATCH MY BACK & I'LL SCRATCH YOURS GROSS CONFLICT OF INTEREST?

Back in very late 2014 and early 2015 when Uniroyal Chemical (Chemtura) ordered Woolwich Township to jump, the Township immediately stood their ground and asked "How high?". This was in regards to the pressure that CPAC (Chemtura Public Advisory Committee) whose members had been appointed by the previous Woolwich Council was exerting on Chemtura to investigate and clean up the Stroh and Martin farms to the east and south of the chemical company. The company knew that more millions of dollars, perhaps even dozens of millions of dollars would be required to properly remove PCBs, dioxins/furans, DDT, PAHs, and other Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) from the Stroh farm especially but also likely the Martin farm as well. The "How high?" was quickly answered by Chemtura. Get rid of the current CPAC members as well as one Alan Marshall. The company knew that in order for the thirty year coverup (east side/ DNAPLS/ hydraulic containment) to continue that they needed their partners in pollution (consultants, Ministry of Environment, Woolwich Township) to help get rid of the educated, intelligent and informed citizen activists on CPAC. Sandy Shantz and Mark Bauman lept to attention and began the "manufactured crisis" at CPAC which was simply the Ministry (Environment) and Chemtura refusing to attend CPAC meetings. Notice that this all started after the Todd Cowan scandal was in full swing and it was obvious that he was going to lose to Sandy Shantz in the October 2014 municpal election. (He came in last of four candidates). ........................................................................................................................ To my shock and consternation, after 2015 I began to discover the various business dealings and more between Woolwich Township and Uniroyal/Crompton/Chemtura and eventually Lanxess Canada. It turned out that Woolwich had been sharing consulting companies namely Conestoga Rovers & Assoc. (CRA) with Uniroyal for decades. This included ongoing technical reports commissioned by the Township for advice regarding the Bolender Park Landfill. These reports have been completed by CRA and later GHD since the early 1980s up until the present. Furthermore various engineering studies for infrastructure (roads/subdivisions etc.) projects in the Township and or Elmira have been also given to CRA/GHD. To the uninitiated, CRAs reports and studies have long been criticized by citizens as well as governments (Region of Waterloo) for their somewhat optimistic conclusions which always appeared to save their client (Uniroyal etc.) millions of dollars in environmental cleanup costs. Uniroyal and successors have also donated funds around town for various charitable and good works including the Maple Syrup Festival. Most recently in last Thursday's Woolwich Observer we learn that Lanxess Canada have been giving money to Woolwich Community Services towards arts and culture initiatives for local youth. ........................................................................................................... Now while they say no good deed goes unpunished I think that we need to look a little more closely at Uniroyal/Crompton/Chemtura/Lanxess's good deeds in light of how much "good will" it has BOUGHT them. For example if for every $1,000 that our local, infamous polluter has donated to Woolwich Township say for example also to the new arena/recreation centre several years back, have they directly or indirectly saved $1,000,000 in cleanup costs of the Elmira Aquifers, the air and the Canagagigue Creek? There is absolutely no doubt that both the Ministry of Environment (MOE/MECP) and Woolwich Township have shielded the company from the righteous anger of local citizens who themselves and family members have paid the price for the damaged local environment courtesy of the manufacture and negligent disposal of toxic wastes. There is absolutely no doubt that the Township have abused their position of authority in order to give assistance to the company and plant which destroyed Elmira's drinking water source. This assistance includes removing and stifling citizens who have honestly and accurately attempted to bring transparency and accountabilty to the cleanup here in Elmira. These same citizens donated their time and efforts for years to uncover the truth and to improve the environment only to be maligned and defamed by Woolwich Township, both verbally and in writing. These misdeeds were done to protect the polluter from a fuller more appropriate cleanup of the mess that they either caused or knowingly purchased. ................................................................................................................... Woolwich Township have been in a blatant conflict of interest regarding our worst local chemical polluter for decades. They have never had any moral authority to step in and take control of local public consultation yet indeed they did so back in 2000 with the assistance of one local councillor (McLean) and her buddy. They still are in this conflict of interest position and need to be removed from the issue entirely. Control of public consultation needs to go back where it was from 1991 until 2000 and that was securely in the hands of citizens despite the Township's meddling even then. They must abandon this project even as they have long abandoned citizens' interests in favour of the polluter's interests. ........................................................................................................... Oh the rotten, dirty dogs. I've just seen the front page of today's Waterloo Region Record. It's a story written by Leah Gerber titled "Elmira sets aside 67 acres for nature reserve". You know that this sh.t was kept quiet for decades but now all the guilty parties are feeling confident enough that they are letting the public know how much money our internationally infamous polluter (Uniroyal - Agent Orange,NDMA, DDT, dioxins etc.) and their successor companies are giving out to Woolwich Township. It is blood money folks and it is a tiny fraction of the health, environmental and financial damages that they have done here and elsewhere. We are advised in today's Record that Lanxess Canada are committing to financial support ($) for this "nature reserve" for the next five years. BLOOD MONEY. They have NOT properly yet, 32 years after the fact, cleaned up their site, nearby contaminated by them sites, the Elmira aquifers nor the Canagagigue Creek. But they are putting some money ($) into tree planting etc. And how many of us are lapping up this self-serving sh.t by Lanxess and friends at the Township?