ANOTHER BUSY ENVIRONMENTAL MORNING

Well as per the title above I've been a busy beaver sending off documentation regarding two separate environmental issues, one in Heidelberg and one in Elmira (& downstream). I believe that our authorities decided decades ago never to have to go through another public relations/environmental disaster as occurred in Elmira after November 1989. The problem unfortunately is that rather than focus on avoiding another environmental disaster by taking strong action they decided to focus more on the public relations disaster. Public relations disasters are very difficult for politicians who like to assure the public that all is under control when it is not. Our municipal and regional politicians knew full well that Uniroyal Chemical in all their negative glory were but the tip of the iceberg. Good Lord all three cities as well as the Townships had conveniently looked the other way regarding industrial contamination for many, many decades. Just here in Elmira, Ontario there have been numerous environmental cleanups from a multitude of offending industries and businesses such as Uniroyal, Varnicolor (two sites), Nutrite/Yara, service stations (3 sites) including Voisin Motors, Strauss Fuels and one more still unnamed at the north end of town. Other than Uniroyal and Varnicolor everything else in town has been kept on the downlow. I repeat that Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge also have had many contaminated sites some absolutely horrific as the one on Bishop St. known as Northstar Aerospace. That gross trichloroethylene (TCE) plume damaged human health severely for those living in downgradient homes. The media coverage was inadequate considering the extent of the completely avoidable environmental disaster.  

Hence today I have sent off my Elmira Advocate postings for July 27 and 28, 2022 to the Waterloo Region Record concerning the upcoming shutdown of the Heidelberg drinking wells. I have also sent my critique of the Canagagigue Creek Risk Assessment to TAG (Technical Advisory Group), Woolwich Council and to the Ontario Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks (MECP). This critique is also my Advocate posting of yesterday August 2/22. While I expect nothing to be done by any of them I do still have hope that certain TAG members as well as the media will step up. It will not be easy for any of them.