STILL LOOKING FOR THE MAGIC BULLET

 I believe that it might have been Dr. Richard Jackson who coined the phrase in the title above. Essentially it is the mystical methodology allowing Uniroyal/Crompton/Chemtura and Lanxess to avoid doing serious remediation with known technologies while they wait for the magic bullet technology that 1) does not exist 2) is less expensive than all others 3) cleans all contaminants including chlorinated compounds (i.e. solvents, TCE, Chlorobenzene, NDMA, dioxins/furans, DDT, PAHs, and more). 

This "magic bullet" was not described as such at the last RAC meeting (Dec. 7/23) however it was referred to as "...any new technical information available that may change the options available...". In other words the long awaited for "magic bullet". 

One additional item suggested by RAC relevant to a new Control Order is the water needs of the community. Continued growth (for better or worse) is slated for Waterloo Region and hence water supply is crucial. Rather than Ramin's poor suggestion in yesterday's post I would focus on continued and improved groundwater remediation in Elmira thus hopefully negating the need down the road for a pipeline to the most polluted Great Lake namely Lake Erie. 

WOOLWICH OBSERVER'S TAKE ON THE LAST RAC MEETING

 Leah Gerber wrote the story and as usual she did a good job. Unfortunately of course there was a ton of nonsense, stupidity and historical revisionism from both Ramin Ansari and Jason Rice at that meeting. When you have successfully captured the local political structure it's pretty easy to be confident in selling even the most outrageous crap as being factual.

 Oh and here by the way is a plug for the Observer. Despite Ms. Gerber's being constrained to reporting upon what only hand selected and pre-verified spokespersons have to say, her efforts should get citizens doing some thinking on the subject. Right now the Observer and other newspapers are hurting financially. The Observer are looking to sell subscriptions annually or even for as long as five years. Our family subscribed and paid for one year and fully expect to renew that each year. 

The Ministry of Environment are hoping to build support for a new Control Order. Why? The last two (1991, 2000) have done little or nothing other than to reveal the impotency of the MECP and their stupid, non-binding Control Orders that don't even have consequences when the polluter fails to achieve what was ordered.  These Control Orders are clearly for public relations purposes and it seems obvious that privately the MECP (wink, wink, nudge, nudge) advise the polluter what they really would like accomplished (mostly visual public relations efforts) versus some more onerous, expensive and substantial remediation. 

Ramin also has been trying to sell the idea of oh gosh how wasteful it is to pump contaminated groundwater, treat it allegedly to drinking water standards (it isn't) and then pump it into the Canagagigue Creek. He is bleating about sustainability, unnecessary electricity useage and carbon footprints. Give me a break! He is a master at selling self-serving (Lanxess) ideas to lessen their financial liability. If it also reduces their public culpability, well then that's a bonus. 

Both parties as well as Woolwich Township are also looking for public support by talking up some limited public consultation regarding these future self-serving plans of both Lanxess and the MECP. To date all three parties have shown a breathtaking contempt for real public consultation by keen, enthusiastic and knowledgeable local citizens. They hand picked their citizen rep decades ago and are sticking with her despite her not being either a Canadian citizen nor even a resident of Woolwich Township any more. She is however very amenable to private meetings with them as well as private deals, only allegedly in the public interest. That and worse is their idea of "public consultation".  

  

MORE EXAMPLES OF LANXESS (GHD/STANTEC ??) LIES AND DECEPTION

 

It is possible that I am being a little cute by including question marks beside GHD/Stantec above. By cute I mean aware of Libel laws and our pitiful courts here in Waterloo Region and Ontario. I have never knowingly lied about anything regarding the Elmira Water Crisis but Libel Chill has been a constant thorn and harassment for anyone involved in public interest cases for decades even despite a new Libel defence accepted by the Courts possibly fifteen or more years ago. Do I have any doubts about the integrity or not of Conestoga Rovers ? I do not. Their corporate successors, GHD, on occasion have appeared to be an improvement on them and then they turned around and produced some claims, statements or reports of a dubious nature. Finally of the three I have the least experience with Stantec although I find their claims of "no unacceptable risks" downstream in the Canagagigue to be incomprehensible and bizarre.

The Ministry of Environment (MECP) have bluntly told Lanxess/Stantec that their draft Risk Assessment (HHERA)  "...has not sufficiently evaluated all other potential exposures to humans and the aquatic ecosystem." Do you think? How the hell could it possibly have done so? I know for a fact that Stantec have not approached highly knowledgeable Elmira residents for their input. I also do not believe that they have properly and appropriately approached all the residents and property owners the length of the downstream Canagagigue Creek to the Grand River. Exactly with whom and how often have they discussed   exposures to the natural environment in, around and nearby the Creek? Have they talked to visitors, fishermen, hikers, kayakers and others walking, swimming, boating, fishing and even just playing in the Creek including children? Have they included in their calculations air contamination by solvents, pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, DDT and dioxin/furans? After all the entire downstream community are downwind based upon prevailing west to east wind direction? This air exposure is decades long and multi generational. 

The MECP have suggested that concerns and comments by Ministry staff as well as by TAG "are appropriately resolved." in their December 20/23 cover letter. If that happens I suggest that it will be a first. I also suggest that there are lots more stakeholders than just the MECP and TAG despite our local politicians assisting Lanxess by scoping down the list of stakeholders who have spent the last 34 years actively involved in this environmental disaster.

Despite about five years racking up the bills to Lanxess, Stantec keep missing the boat. Many of these concerns, comments and complaints have been stated both verbally and in writing over the years simply to be put on the back burner with vague promises to reexamine them later. Later serious examination rarely occurs.   

  

THANK YOU MECP, FIVE YEARS TOO LATE AS ALWAYS

 So many tricks, so many deceptions, so many lies and corporate polluters have mastered them all. What really stings however is when our authorities are in bed with these professional liars as the Ontario Ministry of Environment (MECP) seem determined to prove.  They have belatedly released their latest critiques of the Lanxess/Stantec draft HHERA or Human Health and Ecological Risk Assessment for the Canagagigue Creek.  The bottom line is Lanxess/Stantec's claim that all downstream risks for more than five miles "are acceptable". Well we've known by their lack of cleanup over the last fourty years that the suffering,  ill health or deaths of either wildlife or human beings "are acceptable" to them. This is precisely why Dr. Richard Jackson as well as TAG way back in 2016 expressed skepticism that any Risk Assessment under the control of Chemtura/Lanxess would result in appropriate Creek cleanup.

I give credit to Joe Kelly (TAG member at the time) for first raising the alarm about poor sediment sampling techniques in the Creek by GHD on behalf of Chemtura/Lanxess. I also got on the bandwagon and repeatedly have also tried to pound home the point that improper sampling using shovels instead of proper core samplers reduces the amount of fines captured. Both dioxins/furans and DDT adhere to the sediment fines at the bottom of the Creek. Hence when you attempt to sample in the wrong location where there is alleged "armouring" (stones, cobbles, rocks) on the bottom of the Creek, the core samplers can not penetrate through the armouring. Then GHD, instead of moving fifty metres one direction or the other, instead use a shovel to get through the "armouring" and then when drawing the shovel upwards through the water column lose most of the fines and most of the DDT and dioxins in the sample. It's just one more scam as I've written about here before in which polluters in charge of their own cleanup can fudge the numbers in their favour.

The report is oddly organized such that advising you that the details of the previous paragraph are on page 3 of the report dated December 20, 2023 is not perfectly clear. However by referencing page 3 of the eleven page report dated December 20, 2023 should narrow things down. The MECP go even further and advise us that their 2014/15 sampling of sediments have resulted in sediment samples dominated by silt, clay and small to medium sands VERSUS Lanxess/GHD/Stantec (2017) sediment samples that are dominated by COARSE SANDS and GRAVEL . 

Beyond contempt.

TWO NEW REPORTS FROM THE MECP CRITICAL OF THE STANTEC/LANXESS RISK ASSESSMENT OF THE CANAGAGIGUE CREEK

 The two reports are dated December 7/23 and December 20/23. The shorter second one I have read and I'm almost half way through the longer first one.  Interesting criticisms include Stantec making conclusions based upon limited evidence. There are also comments about Stantec presenting data in an inconsistent fashion. For example this might include data sets for soil samples that include dates, locations, depths, soil types and other parameters and then the next soil samples only have half the identifying parameters of the first soil samples.

To date a big complaint by the Ministry of Environment (MECP) is in regards to chicken and egg consumption. Apparently Stantec made various assumptions (the bane of risk assessments?) regarding free range chickens not foraging either on contaminated floodplain soils as well as not right beside the contaminated Creek. I guess that Stantec allegedly asked the Old Order Mennonite farmers whether their chickens foraged for food where they weren't supposed to and the farmers supposedly said no they don't.  This raises two issues. Are chickens highly obedient to human verbal commands and if not would they obey written posted signs advising them to stay away from the Creek? Yes indeed folks, professional Risk Assessments are a laugh a minute as long as you can avoid seeing the dead bodies.

Two other criticisms by the Ministry are the fact that there are multiple channels of the Creek in the downstream area heading towards the Grand River. Hence the distance of the Creek is substantially greater than 8 km (5 miles) and should be reflected with more soil and sediment samples . Floodplain samples also should be increased I would think. In a recent post I discussed alleged anomolous very high contaminant concentrations. Apparently Stanted prefer to call these results "outliers" and may have conveniently (& self-servingly) been leaving them out of various calculations. The Ministry view this as a little too blatant and want that data back into the various risk calculations and others.

This has always been part of my criticism of this whole process. When the polluter and his bought and paid for "experts" and "Qualified Pe*****" are manufacturing all the reports they get to cherry pick the evidence. This likely includes "evidence" that all the other stakeholders aren't aware of and which can be thrown out if it turns out to be inconvenient to the narrative being peddled to the public.   

MORE POLLUTERS' TRICKS AS PRACTICED IN ELMIRA, ONTARIO

 Rule #1:  You will never find that which you do not look for.

Rule #2:   If you stumble across a nasty surprise refill the hole and move elsewhere (quickly)

Rule #3:   If an informed source advises you where to sample either ignore, make excuses, or question                        their credibility.

Rule #4:  Refer to all high concentrations of contaminants as anomalies or possible lab errors. Then take                   at least another 25 samples in known cleaner areas to show that the high result was anomalous.

With the adroit use of hydrogeological principles try to ensure that your sample depths are the least likely to find high concentrations of contaminants. Where possible have backup groundwater monitoring wells that are screened in both a higher and lower aquifer (i.e. a nearby "window" in the aquitard) in order to have elevation readings that can be used to confuse groundwater flow directions. This is particularly helpful when "proving" hydraulic containment.

Be well politically connected in order to be able to separate the wheat from the chaff. Most of the above tricks will fool 90% of the local citizens but the remaining ones may need to be "removed" from public consultation committees arbitrarily by the local Council.

MY 2019 BOOK TITLED "ELMIRA WATER WOES: THE TRIUMPH OF CORRUPTION, DECEIT AND CITIZEN BETRAYAL" HAS BEEN REORGANIZED

 It is still located, free of charge, on my Waterloo Region Advocate website (www.waterlooregionadvocate.blogspot.com) or click on it (over to the right side of this page under "Useful Links Regarding Similar Environmental Topics"). It is now much more user friendly. This Blog and presumably most or all have the authors' most recent posting come up first and older postings have to be searched for either by scrolling backwards or through the Archives on the right side of the page. 

I have, surprisingly to me, been able to reverse the order such that my book now appears at chapter #1 as one accesses my waterloo region advocate Blog either via google or via the website address in the previous paragraph. I have also added the Prologue as well as the cover page that were included when my book was on Amazon/Kindle. 

The cover page is a colour photograph of a provincially licensed hazardous waste site in Elmira including the Howard St. Elmira Water Tower in the background. This picture is a damning indictment of what passes for Ministry of Environment enforcement of environmental laws in Ontario. Although other pictures show more illegalities including metal drums sitting in water this picture has at least two illegalities displayed. The first would be the drums stacked three high when provincial laws demand a maximum of two high to minimize skid breaking/crumbling and drums hence toppling. The second would be the very large stainless steel tank located in a tank farm, leaning at an angle due to it sitting in water and beginning to float prior to toppling and damaging other full tanks beside it.

My book calls a spade a spade. I name the liars, I name the corrupt agencies and I name the corrupt individuals. No level of government goes unscathed nor should they. People die from air, water, soil and sediment contamination every year and there is little to no accountability. This book is trying to change that.

DISTRACTION WORKS FOR MAGIC TRICKS AS WELL AS FOR OUR AUTHORITIES AND THEIR PROFESSIONAL LIARS

 The Waterloo Region District School Board (WRDSB) discusses, debates and argues changing Parents/Guardians to Family/Caregivers despite the Ministry of Education having no opinion or concerns on the matter. The WRDSB feels an urgent need to shut down any discussion by parents or educators as to whether some books in their public school libraries are age inappropriate for Junior Kindergarten, Kindergarten or even Grades 1 and 2. The WRDSB have made their minds up and by gosh no further discussion is to be tolerated! Wow! This includes both parents, oops sorry Family/Caregivers as well as by senior teaching staff. Apparently neither group are "stakeholders" or important enough to be permitted to politely express their opinions on an educational matter. 

Is it possible that the WRDSB are simply constantly on the lookout for the flavour of the month issue to argue and capture newspaper headlines rather than the ongoing, decades long focus on crappy results in reading, writing and arithmetic?  Or as the Ministry of Education suggested in today's Record perhaps the Board's focus should shift back to their core job of educating our young citizens.

Fast forward to the years long now Human Health & Ecological Risk Assessment (HHERA) of the Canagagigue Creek. While a serious issue it has quite neatly removed the focus on cleaning up the Elmira Aquifers. The cheapest and least effective remediation strategy of Pump & Treat (groundwater), to no surprise has failed. It mostly on its' own couldn't rehabilitate the contaminants in the Elmira Aquifers to drinking water standards after 30 years (allegedly by 2028 despite the "Water Crisis" beginning in November 1989). Also very odd is that the HHERA really didn't even start until our authorities finally, belatedly admitted what citizens have been telling them and our authorities for years namely that too little pumping, too often interrupted pumping and not combined with on and off-site source removal was destined to fail as it has.

So instead of discussing enhanced remediation (including source removal) all parties and most stakeholders are focused on remediating one, two or three "hotspots" in the downstream Canagagigue Creek. Even if Lanxess concede to do so do you really believe that one to three tiny (probably Mickey Mouse) cleanups by New Jerusalem Rd., Northfield Dr. and or Jigs Hollow Rd. will actually do much to remove the many decades of discharged DDT, dioxins/furans, PAHs, mercury and PCBs in the downstream five miles of creekbank and Floodplain soils, creek sediments, fish and other wildlife?    

O.P.P. BEHAVIOUR APPEARS VERY STRANGE

 Today's Waterloo Region Record has a story on page A4 titled "SIU clears OPP officers for Fergus arrest in April". The sub title is "Director's report found the officers' conduct was not improper".  From that point onwards however I found the story to have glaring gaps in it and definitely not to be particularly clear that the officers behaviour was either proper or legal. Now perchance the unnamed author (Metroland) simply wasn't given all the information necessary or maybe he wanted to make his story ...let's say curious.

We are told that a pedestrian approached officers in a public place (St. Andrew St. West) and advised them that he was recording their conduct. Now certainly in the U.S. that is perfectly legal and reasonable conduct provided the citizen is not obstructing or interfering with the police in the performance of their duties. Apparently the OPP officer in Fergus however immediately advised the citizen that he was under arrest for "public intoxication". Now firstly I very much doubt that pedestrians are routinely charged with public intoxication in Canada unless they are really, really impaired and even then I expect that most might (in winter time at least) be simply taken to the police station and given a bed in a jail cell for the night to sober up. 

Now the OPP officer however immediately wrestled the citizen to the ground and attempted to handcuff his hands behind his back. Other officers also piled on and assisted in handcuffing the citizen who apparently felt that throwing him to the ground and handcuffing his hands behind his back was unnecessary and abusive. The OPP officers also felt the need to punch the citizen in the face three times allegedly in order to gain compliance to what arguably was an illegal assault and arrest. In the end the arrested citizen was taken to hospital for treatment of a broken kneecap.

Guess what? The Special Investigations Unit (SIU) deemed the OPP officers' conduct was not improper. For that to be the case and for the public to have any confidence in either the OPP's behaviour or the SIU's report, a whole lot more information is required. For example was the citizen convicted on "public intoxication" or were the charges quietly dropped? Secondly why with the citizen face down on the ground and with multiple officers assisting, was it necessary to punch him three times in the face? Thirdly when exactly did the broken kneecap occur? Was he kicked or was the impact with the ground that forceful that the kneecap was broken when he hit the pavement? According to the story in the newspaper there was immediate and aggressive action by the OPP against the citizen after he advised that he was recording them. Is this an example of de-escalation by police when dealing with the concerned public. Are we so far down the road of police arbitrary authority that we are supposed to be happy that the OPP didn't shoot and kill the unarmed citizen?   

POLITICS, TRUTH AND DECISION MAKING

Our judicial system is sometimes perverted by politics. Who appointed the judge (Liberals or Conservatives) and is the issue one which resonates politically say education, immigration, police etc.? What is even more apparent is how hot button issues of the day affect political decisions and yet how strong lobbies routinely delay and deflect necessary government action. Climate change is the perfect example. The Liberals are under fire from the Conservatives for their carbon tax initiatives. This ticks off the Conservatives because both they and the Liberals have been long under the lobbying thumb of the oil and gas industry in Canada. Why do you think that Canada routinely fails any and all tests regarding carbon emissions and continue their support of oil and gas useage if not expansion in Canada? Alberta in particular are and have been reliant for decades upon local oil and gas and resist every federal idea that could possibly inhibit their development.

Today's Waterloo Region Record has an interesting article by Andrew Phillips. I feel that it is not only telling us an important political truth but is very well written so as to avoid casting blame or even criticism upon a Canadian minority group, namely Muslims. The issue is Gaza and Israel's continued pounding of the land, the infrastructure and the civilian population of the area. Two months ago Justin Trudeau and the Liberals automatically supported Israel 100%. They have now flipflopped and are strongly condemning the ongoing civilian displacement and murders happening in Gaza.

Mr. Phillips suggest that it is simple mathematics plus perfectly legal and generally appropriate political lobbying. Trudeau and the Liberals have realized that there are about .33 million Jewish people in Canada versus 1.77 million Muslims. Wow! This is the result of immigration over the last ten to fifteen years in particular. So if you want the most votes from one group or the other and can't have both then what do you do? Simple, instead of continuing your unconditional support for Israel which also works well with our powerful neighbour the U.S., you more carefully examine the conditions of your support as well as (heaven forbid) all the facts including the uncomfortable ones, and change your position. Yes you can loudly proclaim Israel's absolute right to self-defence but now you strongly state that it can not come at the expense of innocent civilians, men, women and children. Yes some Hamas leaders might escape but murdering 500 Palestinian non-combatant civilians to remove half a dozen Hamas from the planet can not continue. It is a war crime and is shameful.

Once again (or perhaps once in a row) politics I believe has come to the right decision albeit likely for the wrong reason. More votes for the Liberals in the next election is not a good reason to stop the carnage in Gaza. Decency, ethics, honour and humanitarianism are.       

 

THANK YOU WATERLOO REGION DISTRICT SCHOOL BOARD FOR ONCE AGAIN SHOWING YOUR DISPICABLE COLOURS

 If I believed in hell then I could feel confident that all you arrogant, bullying, lying pieces of crap would spend eternity there. Oh well. At least your stupidity in provoking a public backlash has exposed your undemocratic, might is right attitude yet again. Also I believe that some of our local courts may have stepped into deep water this time as well. Unlike myself almost twenty-five years ago, Caroline Burjoski appears to have the financial means to appeal the asinine decision by the three person divisional court stating that the Trustee Chair (Piatkowski) acted reasonably.  I had the asinine decision by the dishonourable Robert Reilly to contend with and no money for an appeal.  He also had refused me a trial by my peers (i.e. a jury trial) . That was but one of his many contemptible actions during the almost four week long trial. I have now long understood that our courts are the playgrounds primarily of the wealthy and that despite claims to the opposite, attempts by unrepresented litigants are given short shrift and respect by judges and other court personnel.

Two divisional courts consisting of three apparently biased and ignorant individuals have now ruled in the Board's favour, one versus Caroline Burjoski and one versus trustee Mike Ramsay. At what point will the public realize how grossly biased, unfair and glued to the status quo some of our courts are? Will the public compare those two recent decisions to the one from several weeks ago which bluntly condemned the anti-democratic and biased behaviour of Chair Piatakowski and the Board in their treatment of Caroline Burjoski? In that decision Justice Ramsay upheld Ms. Burjoski's right to sue the Board and Mr. Piatkowski for defamation after the Chair had her improperly shut down as a Delegation for allegedly contravening the Human Rights Code. That false claim was scathingly denied by Justice Ramsay as well in his decision.

Ask yourself citizens how is it that one court can filter out the fluff, the lies, the deflections and distractions while another embraces them in order to achieve the politically correct decision. Shame once again to our corrupt judicial system.    

DEFUNDING THE POLICE MAY YET OCCUR ALBEIT IN A BIZARRE FASHION

 Yesterday I wrote here about the article and Opinion piece in the Waterloo Region Record regarding Regional Council's budget approval process. I also took shots at the amateur accounting efforts by mostly grossly unqualified career politicians pretending to be competent. Today I'm going to talk about the regional police from a different perspective.

We were told that they are having a hard time obtaining new recruits. Wowser what a non surprise . For that you can thank decades of poor treatment of women recruits, harassment of blacks locally (eg. driving while black) and a regional government wedded to the status quo in all things including shoddy police work. Kitchener had their own Black Lives Matter protest walk a couple of years ago with thousands participating. This does not occur without decades of "street checks" and now illegal "carding". Guess who got street checked and carded way out of proportion to their numbers? Yup blacks! Guess who get stopped excessively for spurious reasons while driving? Blacks again.

So let's try to figure this out. Waterloo Regional Police from the top down are racist and sexist and now they can't seem to get applicants to be police officers almost starting with a six figure annual income. Lots of unemployment, lots of under employment and they can't even get applicants. At one time my son was seriously interested in being a police officer. Then he met an as#hole cop on Arthur St. in Elmira throwing his weight around. My son does not back down to bullies whether in uniform or not and called out the officer for his behaviour. That interaction with a pig convinced my son that he did not wish to join the biggest street gang (police) around. I will balance this with my personal experiences with local police as an older, white male. The street cops I have met have treated me well and professionally. Zero problems there but senior administrative police are a different breed. They are petty politicians looking to enhance their influence and authority. They do this by taking improper requests for action against parents from the likes of the Waterloo Region District School Board. They aid and abet harassment and bullying of parents by the Board. Shame on them.

So the WRPS can't find applicants. It serves them right. Meanwhile as taxpayers and as per Luisa D'Amato of the Record lets stop paying salaries to the Waterloo Regional Police Services for cops that they do not have and can not hire. 

THE WORLD'S WORST ACCOUNTANT "HELPS" CLARIFY REGIONAL POLICE'S $240 M. BUDGET

 O.K. first off I have zero proof that our very own Mayor Shantz is the world's worst accountant. For all I know she may have taken a half dozen accounting courses since 2016 (i.e. almost 1/year). Or not? What I do know first hand is how she incredibly and repeatedly botched her approximate $14,000 expenses on her first mayoralty Election Financial Report. She botched it to the point that not only were all the errors in her favour (as in reduced total expenses) but that the Crown Prosecutor took months looking at it as well as bringing in an outside prosecutor to avoid appearances of favourtism. (It happened anyways).

That's right our Sandy Shantz couldn't even come close to preparing her approximate $14,000 election expenses accurately and now she's one third of the regional councillors on the Police Services Board approving a $240 million dollar budget. Her personal finances she had total expenses at approximately $9,600 which was conveniently below the $10,000 ceiling which demanded an independent (and expensive) audit. Now she, councillor Doug Craig and regional chair Karen Redman are the three regional council appointees approving the Waterloo Regional Police Services budget. No wonder some other councillors are a wee bit skeptical of their expertise. Is there any chance that any of the three of them know their way around a financial statement?

There is an old joke about the two most important jobs in the world requiring zero educational requirements. The two jobs are parenthood and being a politician. Good stuff Woolwich electors. Mayor Shantz was relatively young and attractive when she was first elected to council plus she has a Mennonite last name and had done volunteer work in her church. That was the extent of her qualifications apparently. Voters you get what you deserve. Do not do your due diligence and you and everybody else gets it in the ear.   

CONSPIRING TOGETHER TO BE POLLUTION CHEERLEADERS

 Thirty years ago Glenys McMullen of APTE coined the following phrase as she described UPAC (Uniroyal Public Advisory Committee) more fittingly as the Uniroyal Pollution Appreciation Club. Oh my, Oh my. By January 1994 the Elmira Environmental Hazards Team were formed as we resigned from both APT Environment and from UPAC. I would be embarrassed to belong to either one today although I know that there were some good people on both who were deceived.

O.K. the title is somewhat confusing. No one, not even the dirty polluters themselves will ever admit to cheering for pollution. Rather they prefer to be known as pollution fighters even as they block, obstruct and undermine any and all initiatives to achieve less pollution. Their objections are ideological as in all possible costs of production should be externalized and borne by the human race, the natural environment, taxpayers, governments or anybody but themselves, the profit-makers.  

Their methods of course are scurrilous. Obfuscation, puffery, misinformation, psuedo science, junk science and simply overall gilding of the lily are their stock in trade.  Combined with seducing possible allies and or opponents. Local politicians are top of their list followed by influential citizen leaders. Look for both individual and group weaknesses or desires and exploit or provide as required to gain influence.

The key eventual fellow travellors are municpal councils (Woolwich), Grand River Conservation Authority (GRCA), the Ontario Ministry of Environment (MECP), the occasional or hopefully rare co-opted citizen (you know who), regional councils (RMOW) and possibly the odd client driven consulting company (CRA/GHD).   

This cycle can only be broken by courageous, driven truth seekers who can not and will not abide corruption.

WOOLWICH TOWNSHIP'S LOWEST POINT

 Way back in the spring of 2016 Woolwich Township councillors (less Patrick Merlihan) voted in favour of censoring citizens from speaking to council unless they had previously spoken to one of their environmental committees (RAC/TAG) on the subject first. Curiously this initiative by Council occurred within a week of Mayor Shantz having all Municipal Election Act charges dropped against her. Well! No political pettiness up here  eh?

Well it backfired spectacularly with radio, T.V, and newspaper media all appropriately pounding on Woolwich Council. Thank you Sandy as that certainly took the sting out of the rollover and abdication of responsibility by our courts. It also further confirmed to me the unhealthy link between our courts and our local politicians. 

Keep in mind that TAG has never allowed any members of the public to speak to them since their inception in September 2015. Written Delegations which can be easily ignored are O.K. RAC on the other hand will listen to oral Delegations. Of course they only meet about four times a year so timeliness is a problem. 

It did my heart good to see the Township and their self-serving, petty behaviour so uniformly castigated. They quickly backwatered and dropped their idiot decision basically attempting to further muzzle myself, CPAC and the general public Whether the Township staff and councillors actually learned anything is subject to debate.

LANXESS/MECP PLANS TO HANDLE 2028 EMBARASSING ELMIRA FAILURE

 Lying, deception, obfuscation, deceit, delay, deflection, avoidance...O.K. you get the picture. They will also pull in all outstanding favours, IOUs and political debts in order to make things go as smoothly as possible. Smoothly for them does not equate with smoothly for the rest of us. I very much doubt that avoiding jail is even on their radar although it should be. I also doubt that as of yet their public liability insurance companies have noticed a change in the wind direction. Yes bought and paid for politicians will always run interference for chemical companies at least until the bodies are lying in the streets. Even the Bhopal disaster was handled and managed in order to mitigate personal responsibility and liability. Think about car accidents in North America. Your insurance company are on the hook for medical costs and damages (health & property) done by the poorest of drivers and then the state steps in and can lay either traffic or even criminal charges for negligence etc. When was the last time that you heard of any corporate executive charged and convicted on criminal charges for negligent on the job injuries and deaths much less for neighbours injured and dying from toxic fumes or drinking water? It just doesn't happen. 

Lanxess and the MECP will ignore the blatant failure to clean our poisoned groundwater within thirty years as both promised and mandated. By the way notice how that thirty years managed to get stretched out to 39 years (1989-2028). Typical. They will wax poetic about unknown hydrogeological factors such as diffusion and how surprised they are that aquitards are now back diffusing contaminants adsorbed to them, back into the aquifers as the concentrations in the aquuifers slowly decrease. They will also whine about the extraordinarily low drinking water standard for NDMA ( 9 ppt.) being so difficult to achieve. That is because NDMA is so toxic yet they released it into the natural environment for decades.  The MECP will support Lanxess's excuses not because they are accurate as much as they can neither afford nor win a pitched legal battle with the multi national, multi billion dollar corporation. Financial might is usually right in our legal system. 

If the MECP lay yet another Control Order on Lanxess (Uniroyal) it will be reinterpreted at Lanxess's will just like the first ones.  There will also be private "gentlemens" HA! agreements between Lanxess and the MECP to avoid certain difficult requirements. Uniroyal Chemical were ordered to contain all groundwater on their site and have never done so (UA, ML, BR aquifers at the minimum not done). They were also ordered to remove all DNAPL below the west side ponds and never did so. They did a tiny amount in RPW-5 and TPW-2 and later a bit from RPE-3 and that was it.

In other words the same as 39 years ago the "Orders" will all be for show. We may or may not ever have a clean aquifer again under Elmira.  

MORE OF LEADING THE PUBLIC BY THE NOSE: LAST THURSDAYS RAC MEETING

 Yesterday I spoke about former teacher Caroline Burjoski and her unnecessary battle with the Waterloo Region District School Board (WRDSB).  Unnecessary in the sense that Ms. Burjoski had every right to address the Trustees as a Delegation and in fact was a pre-registered Delegate who had advised them ahead of time what her topic was (who/how does the Board decide what books to remove from school libraries) , when she was asked. Now clearly her stated topic was accurate despite her being interrupted and stopped cold within about four minutes, long before she had completed her Delegation. The point however is not whether or not her stated topic was 50% accurate, 75% accurate or even 100% accurate. By what right (other than might) do the Trustees have to pre-censor incoming citizen Delegates to a meeting of the Trustees? That is exactly what they are doing by demanding the topic which only has to be an educational one, no more and no less? 

The Trustees are merely representatives of the public. Delegates however are the real deal. The Trustees work for them. not the other way around. Trustees instead of pre-censoring and pre-judging incoming Delegates for political correctness (i.e. only agreement allowed with established Board directives) need to learn how to act like grownups, suck it up and listen respectfully to all citizen Delegations not just those that the majority of Trustees agree with. Something like how they should behave with their own trustee colleagues who do not agree with some Board policies. Through anti-democratic policies the WRDSB are only allowing friends and fellow travellors to speak to the public via Delegation. That is an attempt to lead the public by the nose and manipulate public sentiment and approval in their direction.

Back to the RAC meeting. It was primarily bullsh*+. There was (thankfully) only a brief update on the RAC/TAG Terms of Reference. The final report will soon be submitted to Council and it most likely will be a stinker. CPAC (Citizens Public Advisory Committee) were unable to get the face to face meeting we wanted with the councillors however multiple CPAC members including Richard, Dr. Holt, Sebastian and myself all submitted written comments primarily advising that RAC/TAG had zero moral authority after how they were manufactured based upon the wishes of Chemtura (Uniroyal) and the corrupt Ontario Ministry of Environment (MECP).

The second bullsh*+  item was #7. titled "Status Update on 2028 MECP Order Deadline". This was primarily Ramin on behalf of Lanxess and Jason on behalf of the MECP  spinning their gross failures to achieve cleanup into some sort of victory. They went on about how important and necessary public consultation was going to be regarding the formulation of a new Order or Directive from the MECP relevant to the failed 2028 deadline. Again they are trying to lead the public by the nose. Who the hell from the public asked them to do that? NOBODY!!!! 

The last couple of Control Orders (1991, 2000) certainly didn't do the job. Uniroyal, Crompton, Chemtura and Lanxess have done exactly what they wanted from day one and that was to spend the least amount of money possible and hope for the best. It failed and there were lots of cleanup suggestions along the way from citizens that were given short shrift or none at all.  One really odourous suggestion from Ramin was to do the final water treament immediately before sending it into the public water system versus discharging directly into the Canagagigue Creek. That idea stinks partially because final treatment now does not achieve Ontario Drinking Water Standards (ODWS) but a much weaker criteria because it is going into the Creek for immediate dilution etc.

The verbal emphasis  on public consultation is just that: talk. They've never had good public consultation only bad to non-existent the last eight years with the behaviour of Woolwich Township, Lanxess and the MECP.  They will always talk about consultation when in fact they are terrified of it. 

 

LEADING THE PUBLIC BY THE NOSE: RAC / WRDSB / DIVISIONAL COURT

 Truly pathetic. Superior Court three weeks ago finds that a teacher presenting as a Delegation to the School Board trustees did not engage in hateful comments, did not violate the human rights code and had her rights to free speech removed by the trustees and their eager Chairman. Then yesterday another divisional court consisting of three adjudicators (judges) decided that golly gee that very same teacher broke the procedural rules of the school board trustees by allegedly wavering away from her pre-stated subject matter of discussing how the board decides which books to remove from school libraries and classrooms. Instead she allegedly sailed off into unchartered (unpermitted) waters by describing two specific books and what she felt was inappropriate sexual matter for very young children. This three person "court" also stated that the Chairman's decision to stop her from speaking was not unreasonable as it is part of his job to "...preserve order and decorum...". The trio also claimed that the topic of her speech to the trustees was irrelevant to those outlined in her request to speak to them. Well now: Since when does a citizen require to be pre-screened by the trustees? If she goes to a school board meeting and starts talking about non-educational matters (politics, immigration, disarmament, climate change etc.) then by all means shut her down. Otherwise if the citizen's comments have anything at all relevant to education then the trustees should shut up and let them speak (less of course profanity, threats, promotion of illegal activities etc.). Oh and this brain trust of three also stated that the Board's restriction on her freedom of expression was "minimal". 

This trio of trouble simply deflected the whole argument towards one they felt they might have a better chance of getting away with namely that the teacher whose polite, professional and calm Delegation was briefly posted on-line; had allegedly violated the school board's Delegation policy. Too bad that was not what the board chairman (Piatkowski) had claimed. He publicly stated at the meeting that the teacher (Burjoski) had or was about to violate the Ontario Human Rights Code. Both claims are bullshit.  

Meanwhile back to the Superior Court decision three weeks ago when Justice Ramsay clearly advised that he felt that the School Board do not have a valid defence to Ms. Burjoski's defamation lawsuit. He also said that she did not violate the Human Rights Code as alleged by the Board Chair. 

How does one square the circle of two separate "courts" coming to such diverse conclusions? Also I personally watched the trio of alleged judges and their on-line judicial review. I have absolutely zero recollection that the Board raised the issue of Ms. Burjoski's Delegation being irrelevant to her pre-stated topic of discussion. The Board was not yelling about procedural failures by Burjoski either at the initial trustees meeting nor at the three person judicial review . Yet here suddenly that issue is the big deal. I repeat it's all about deflection. If your team screwed up the real issue badly then search desperately for some other speck to argue about. That shows incredible bias to me.

I will discuss last evening's RAC meeting here tomorrow.

BHOPAL INDIA NEGLIGENCE & PROFIT MOTIVE

 I recently watched a televised dramatization of the 1984 Union Carbide disaster in Bhopal India. On the one hand there were references to corporate ideology regarding cutting corners on safety due to financial concerns while at the same time we were advised of various employees literally dying on site after the leak of toxic gas as they frantically did the best they could to stop the impending disaster. The actual chemical culprit I believe was MIC or methylene isocyanate. That said the movie/documentary was pretty clear that there had been serious concerns and threats for some time prior to the actual MIC becoming unstable and venting into the atmosphere.

I know here in Elmira, that the standard practice seems to be the use of rupture discs. I would almost compare them to frost plugs in a car's engine block which are supposed to be forced out if the engine coolant freezes. The idea is that the frost plugs breaking free reduces the pressure on the rest of the engine block. The same thing happens with rupture discs on a pressure vessel. We were advised by Chemtura back in 2010 that that is what occurred with the release of BLE 25. The pressure vessel either overheated or over pressurized and instead of exploding inside the building the rupture disc in an outside vent did its' job (ruptured) sending the contents of the pressure vessel up the stack to share with the rest of Elmira. How thoughtful.

One could be forgiven for seeing this as but one more externalization of costs from private manufacturers onto the public. Just as Uniroyal Chemical for almost twenty five years dumped untreated or partially treated wastes into the publics' air, groundwater and surface waters to save themselves massive treatment costs; these rupture discs spread the contamination far and wide versus an explosion inside their manufacturing facilities that would shut down future production and profits. I suggest that the Elmira cleanup of BLE 25 saved them money versus stopping production and having to rebuild their factory. 

Whether there is a comparison between the two (Bhopal/BLE 25) I am uncertain. Whether Union Carbide used rupture discs on their pressure vessels in Bhopal I am uncertain. What is more certain is that some corporate concerns for the publics' well being are mostly public relations. 

TECHNICAL REVIEW UNDERWAY

 I have over the last few months been looking at both the 2020 Soil & Sediment Investigation of the Canagagigue Creek (GHD) as well as at the Fish Tissue testing report done in 2022 by the MECP. Both reports are damning especially when we consider that allegedly Uniroyal Chemical stopped dumping untreated wastes into the Creek in the very late 1960s (almost 1970). How is it possible that the blatant dumping stopped by 1970 yet we still have lots of soil, sediment and fish tissue samples in excess of either provincial or federal criteria more than half a century later?

Clearly the former Uniroyal site is a saturated mess of toxins and chemical wastes leaking, oozing and generally migrating off-site on an ongoing basis. Clearly much more source removal on site, as suggested and requested by citizens for decades, is required. Clearly this will require legal orders and legal action by the MECP to accomplish. Unless of course our provincial and federal politicians get their act together and make the environmental cleanup laws stronger and less vulnerable to frivolous delays and appeals.

I am about to conclude a look at the 2017 Soil & Sediment Investigations of the Canagagigue Creek. Same thing  as the 2020 one in that there are a ton of detections of dioxins and DDT compounds both above and below the provincial and federal criteria. There are also of course mercury and PCBs above criteria as well. It is a disgusting mess and Lanxess's attitude is that well our bought and paid for Risk Assessment says that there are no unacceptable downstream risks so we don't have to do anything. That is both bull and lies. Is this also an example of gaslighting by our authorities ? Or does the gaslighting start when Lanxess suggest that voluntary out of the good of their hearts, simply to calm the unenlightened Woolwich citizens, they might just decide to clean up one, two or three "hotspots"?  Lying by any other name is just as contemptible.     

APRIL 14, 2016 & May 2, 2016 . OUR LOCAL PAPERS HAMMER ONE COUNCILLOR AND ONE COMPANY (CHEMTURA/LANXESS)

 The first date was a Letter To The Editor which I believe was in the Woolwich Observer in which Dr. Dan Holt thanked Patrick Merlihan and Steve Kannon of the Observer for their hard work reporting on the environment. Dr. Holt also thanked Paige Desmond and Luisa D'Amato of the K-W Record for their reporting efforts as well. Dr. Holt then took a sideways swipe at then Councillor Murray Martin for his lumping Dr. Holt in with "those people" who apparently are environmental activists. Wow. This was the same councillor who a few years later took a biblical run if you will at the idea of a rainbow crosswalk in Elmira. Frankly if the councillor had stuck to the budgetary/financial reasons not to spend the money he'd likely have had more support.

The second date was a Record article titled "Town pushes feds on creek water. TAG Chair Dr. Richard Jackson was unhappy with the federal governments hands off policy in Elmira. Dr. Jackson also made it clear that neither the Ontario Ministry of Environment nor Health Canada were doing their jobs. Woolwich mayor Sandy Shantz also chimed in that a small municipality should not have to tackle the problem all on their own. Dr. Jackson then pointed out the hypocrisy of Canada sending aid and support to Vietnam while refusing to lift their fingers to help Elmira/Woolwich with their battles against Agent Orange and dioxins. 

RAC AGENDA FOR THIS THURSDAY

Mostly the purpose is to present to the public something that looks good and feels good. In other words the impression they (Lanxess, MECP, Township etc.) are trying to convey is one of professional concern, care and competence. The reality is that they fail on all counts however with enough credentialed experts combined with some elected politicians all helping, the public are often successfully misled.

Item. 6 is the RAC and TAG Terms of Reference Update. CPAC were unsuccessful in obtaining an appropriate private meeting with the Woolwich councillors on this matter but I'm sure that won't inhibit a feel good report advising that all is O.K. when in fact it is not. 

Item. 7 is a Status Update on the 2028 MECP Order Deadline. Allegedly the Min. of Environment are going to deal with Uniroyal Chemical and corporate successors groundwater cleanup failure with a new Control Order. Well the last one certainly didn't do the job so I wonder why this one will. 

This meeting will be much ado about nothing but you have to attend to pick up occasional nuggets of gold from among all the crap presented. 

UPCOMING RAC MEETING DECEMBER 7, 2023 5:30 pm.

 RAC stands for Remediation Avoidance Committee. Wait a minute: It stands for Reliably Avoiding Cleanup.  Hmm how about Really Asinine Committee? Maybe it stands for Retrenchment AT all Costs. well whatever as we all know a rose smells great by any name and in this case RAC stinks by whatever name it is called.

RAC membership includes its' Chair Sandy Shantz as well as the TAG Chair Tiffany Svensson. Then we have the Grand River Conservation Authority (GRCA), Region of Waterloo, Ministry of Environment (MECP) along with Lanxess attending.

Similar to TAG, Disclosures of Pecuniary Interests is a farce. Every single group present has a pecuniary interest in attending and in supporting the entire scam and sham. From our six digit salaried mayor to Tiffany's $30,000 very part time honorarium to the GRCA's budget (municipal & regional tax dollars) to the MECP  's long shrinking budget everybody has a financial reason to support the status quo and pretend to clean up Elmira. The fact is the cleanup is based upon groundwater dilution, surface water dilution (Canagagigue), air dilution and natural attenuation all slightly assisted by pump & treat technology including more dilution in the Creek.

The last meeting was held in early September and RAC appears to average about four meetings a year. This avoids and minimizes nasty citizen input that is only partially allowed at RAC and not at all (no Delegations/no questions) at TAG. This folks is the Sandy Shantz joke of public consultation here in Elmira/Woolwich.

COWARDS DO NOT HAVE THE COURAGE OF THEIR CONVICTIONS

 The unholy foursome of Uniroyal/Crompton/Chemtura/Lanxess have never been up front with the public. I expect however that in private sessions (which are most common) with the Min. of Environment (MECP), Woolwich Township, Region of Waterloo etc. they likely have been. All four made it plain early on that Elmira/Woolwich would be worse off without the economic engine which a chemical company is.  Wages, raw materials, water and power consumption are all paid for by a manufacturer. 

Hence here we are in the thirty-fifth year since Uniroyal Chemical shut down our drinking wells (1989). The "cleanup"  has not been successful and in fact it seems clearer and clearer to me that for all intents and purposes Lanxess really aren't trying that hard and the MECP is O.K. with it. Afterall if there are no sanctions for failure (none so far)  then why should Lanxess continue to spend full bucks on pumping and treating? I believe they have degraded their offsite pumping to the point of merely trying to stop the spread of the contamination. While that has been the intent with on-site pumping & treating for decades they are supposed to be pumping & treating to the point of both containment and actual cleanup of the off-site aquifers. By Conestoga Rover's own figures that would require closer to 150 litres per second versus the current 64-68 l/sec. total off-site well pumping.

Lanxess will likely continue telling the public one thing while keeping our authorities in the loop. This also allows our political authorities the cover of "plausible deniability". For example if the company decides to cut and run all our politicians will publicly cry foul and claim that they did not know it was coming.

UNIROYAL/LANXESS DEVIATION FROM CONTROL ORDERS

DNAPL removal, full hydraulic containment (Nov. 1991 Control Order); 2028 full remediation of groundwater (2000 Control Order).

Further MECP & Lanxess failures:  Canagagigue Creek cleanup not mandated according to Lanxess.

DNAPL and LNAPL remain on the former Uniroyal Chemical site both as residual and as free phase DNAPL and LNAPL. Locations are known and mostly shallow.

Full hydraulic containment in all aquifers never occurred. Three quarters of Upper Aquifer, namely north-west, north-east and south-east are not contained for egregious and or false reasons. Municipal Lower is not hydraulically contained nor is the Bedrock Aquifer. Municipal Upper routinely fails to achieve its' Target pumping rates.

 2028 full remediation of groundwater is admitted by all parties to be unattainable. This is due to the polluter being in full charge of the cleanup and the least expensive, least effective methodologies have been used despite excellent recommendations from various citizens plus UPAC and CPAC.

Only recently have we the public been advised that the cleanup of the Creek is voluntary. Good God!  The Creek soils, sediments and fish are full of DDT, dioxins/furans, PAHs, mercury and PCBs plus more most well above the provincial or federal health criteria. Human beings living along the Creek are also exposed. Lanxess claims that their bought and paid for Risk Assessment says that there are no unacceptable risks downstream. That is a lie produced for money by professional, self-serving manipulators. 

SETTLING FOR CRUMBS

 Will Lanxess play the same game that Todd Cowan tried with me back in 2010.  Todd and I had sat down on two or three occasions and discussed the status of the Elmira cleanup. He already was unimpressed from various other professional sources that he had talked to. I was the cherry on the cake and promised to continue my work keeping up to date but as a member of Woolwich Council appointed CPAC (Chemtura Public Advisory Committee).  Then lo and behold as he advised me that I was being put onto CPAC, he and Dave Brenneman added a condition. I either had to give up my Blog (Elmira Advocate) or else promise not to discuss any Chemtura/Elmira/ CPAC issues in it. I was stunned and angry. I basically advised Todd and David in no uncertain terms that I had agreed to do volunteer work on behalf of the public interest and if they thought that I should somehow have to "pay" for the privilege then they were out of their minds  I was appointed without conditions.

Right now Lanxess (Ramin A.) are telling TAG (Technical Advisory Group) that they are in favour of doing something extra for the community in regards to the Canagagigue Creek. They emphasize that their whole Risk Assessment and or any extra are all voluntary. I do not know how they managed to wiggle out of both financial and legal liability for the devastation they caused in the Creek but the Ministry of Environment are not disagreeing with Lanxess's position. 

So will Lanxess go to their proven lousy poker player whom they've bluffed and bafflegabbed for thirty years and ask her for some form of ringing endorsement of them if they agree to say cleaning up two hotspot areas? Will Lanxess advise Woolwich Township that good press quoting Woolwich Township praising them is desirable  prior to them spending their money on any hotspot cleanups. Maybe if Lanxess have enough brass (they do) they might even sell their cleanup costs for good press from the Min. of Environment. Again if you will this is Lanxess's desired outcome. Do the absolute minimum (moral, ethical-legal?) AND get praised for doing it. 

It is without a doubt a fine time to be a dirty polluter.

JUSTICE JAMES RAMSAY IS NO ROBERT RILEY

 Thank goodness! Or am I just caught up in the euphoria of the moment? Did I see this judicial victory described in both yesterday's K-W Record and today's ahead of time? I did not. There was of course absolutely no doubt that the Waterloo Region District School Board (WRDSB) and their stooges are complete bullies and idiots. That was not ever in contention with myself. I've been on the receiving end of that former pack of gutless wonders nearly thirty years ago.

Robert Williams and Luisa D'Amato in today's Record lay bare what Justice James Ramsay had to say about former Chair Scot Piatkowski as well as about the Board's behaviour. When I say the Board I usually am referring to the senior administration however right now I'm referring to them as well as to the Trustees as a group. They are a contemptible pack of biased and woefully ignorant citizens not working in the public interest but in the School Board's interest. That is the proof of their ignorance (as a group) as they have through their public stupidity exposed  themselves and the entire WRDSB to the public contempt and derision to which they've long deserved. To be clear there are at least a couple of trustees who do not deserve my contempt and that would be Mike Ramsay and Cindy Watson. I suspect that one or two more may have voted against the majority of trustees in agreeing with the then Chair Scot Piatkowski to remove Caroline Burjoski from the public meeting she was speaking at way back in January 2022.

 Am I being too ecstatic in my praise of Justice James Ramsay? Maybe because I don't believe that I know him at all. Am I being too harsh in my condemnation of Justice Robert Reilly? Not at all. I know that as+hole only too well. He is a biased coward and bully who uses his judicial pulpit not in the public interest. Frankly he disgusts me. Getting back to Justice James Ramsay I would very much like to believe that his decision hammering the Trustees, Scot Piatkowski and presumably the senior WRDSB administration is the real deal. 

That's the rub. I've seen asinine decisions out of judges at the Ontario Superior Court in Kitchener in the past. Also at local lower courts nearby. I've also seen a far too cosy relationship between senior police admin and the WRDSB in the past. So is this decision from Justice James Ramsay the proper decision based upon the facts and based upon the law or is it just one more set up by a group of professional liars and manipulators?  This recent decision shouldn't even have been entertained by the courts in the first place. The WRDSB filed a Motion to dismiss Caroline Burjoski's Defamation lawsuit against Trustee Chair Scot Piatkowski. This Defamation lawsuit was directly mentioned by Judge Ramsay as he indicated his opinion that it was a very worthy/credible ? lawsuit based upon the facts and evidence before him. 

Time will tell but it is typical for the inward looking, intellectually incestuous idiots at the Board to file a SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) Motion against Caroline Burjowski after she was publicly defamed by the Trustee Chair.  Oh and just for the record up until the Burjoski incident I was a fan of Scot Piatkowski. Boy has that changed. 

A PUBLIC MEETING WILL BE ANNOUNCED SOON

 It was not my idea. I am not in charge of this upcoming meeting. Its' purpose will be to update Elmira and Woolwich citizens regarding the status of the alleged remediation of the Uniroyal Chemical toxic dynasty. This so called remediation has been underway since January 1992. In fits and starts. In stop and starts. What has been constant is the propaganda and puffery coming from Uniroyal Chemical initially and their three corporate successors since (Crompton,  Chemtura,  Lanxess Canada). 

Uniroyal's toxic dynasty includes gross soil contamination, gross ground and surface water contamination, gross air contamination and gross downstream creekbank soil and creek sediments contamination. Plus throw in some floodplain soils contamination as well. Now of course it goes without saying that gross truth pollution has also occurred by those responsible for the environmental pollution as well as their fellow travellors.

Fellow travellors have included most of our political and semi political authorities to their everlasting shame. Of course lying to the public is all in a day's work for professional politicians whose motivation is their own self-interest versus the public interest. Seriously is it possible for any but the newest Canadian residents to still think that our governments are here for our benefit?  Think provincially with Doug Ford and the Conservatives blatant lying and corruption over the Greenbelt. Think about Justin Trudeau and the Liberals cheerfully bringing in many hundreds of thousands per year new immigrants without having first upgraded our housing stocks, our transportation routes, our sewage treatment plants, our water supply and on and on. Did they do this on humanitarian grounds or did they do this to massively increase the supply of labour, decrease wages and weaken unions? It may be true that Canada needs a certain number of working immigrants per year but why are so many underemployed in relation to their skills? Why with the Covid pandemic are restrictions on both foreign nurses and doctors practicing in Canada still maintained? Why are highly educated Canadian applicants to medical schools being routinely denied admission?

We are a country of self-serving producers and professionals all looking out for number one who are also smart enough to be politically active. Professional lobby groups both pressure and financially reward our governing parties to do their bidding. This obviously includes input into legislation whether to weaken government attempts to control collateral damage to the public or to further strengthen individual groups stranglehold on their part of the economy.

Our municipal, regional, provincial and even federal governments have not acted in the interests of Elmira and Woolwich residents. They have permitted the downstream discharge and leakage of Uniroyal Chemical's toxic wastes from 1942 up to the present. Along with that they permitted decades of toxic air emissions and groundwater contamination. Our governments have taken the measure of local citizens and opposition and decided back in November 1989 to continue their support of a very dirty polluter. This has been done both with subtlety  at times and blatantly at others. Citizens have paid the price through shortened lives and increased health issues.         

It is my hope that citizens will leave this public meeting knowing that they must step up and demand government action. The pressure must be renewed for any appropriate cleanup to take place. 

TAG GET YOUR THUMBS OUT OF YOUR BUTTS & START DEMANDING MORE FROM LANXESS AND THE MECP

 TAG members are not stupid. Unfortunately. If they were unable to understand what is good for them personally then they might focus more on what is in the public interest. There is a plethora of new members with science backgrounds, education and experience who are going along for the Lanxess/MECP ride .  Or maybe they'd rather be known as incompetent and inexperienced rather than self-serving and willingly blind. You pick which it is.

The entire HHERA (Risk Assessment) as predicted years back by both TAG and Dr. Richard Jackson, their Chair, has proven to be pathetic. A crock if you will. While acknowledging the numbers of soil and sediment samples in the Creek which exceed either provincial or federal criteria for DDT and dioxins/furans despite locational sampling biases, faulty and self-serving Method Detection Limits (MDL) and amateur hour sediment sampling using shovels versus proper core samplers; Lanxess and the MECP have continuously supported, propped up and even bragged about the "science" behind their Risk Assessment. 

Their "science" is the science of professional liars whose only goal is to get the hell out of Dodge with the minimal amount of cost to themselves. They don't give a rat's butkiss about you, me, downstream citizens or the public at large. What they are trying to achieve is to convince generally the dumbest half of our citizens that all their degrees, credentials and environmental work experience makes them honest, decent folks who strictly out of the goodness of their hearts, with no self-interest involved, want to do what's right. They want to protect us all. They want to, solely based upon scientific principles mind you, ensure that their conclusions of "no unacceptable risks"  in the downstream Canagagigue Creek are believed by us. 

Their consultants have been routinely "client driven". The Ministry of Environment, Conservation & Parks (MECP) have been trying to resurrect their reputation for decades. It's been tattered by Uniroyal Chemical, Varnicolor Chemical, Northstar Aerospace  and mercury poisoning in the English-Wabigoon river system (Grassy Narrows). 

There are health based criteria for DDT, dioxins/furans, Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons, mercury, PCBs, solvents etc. There are air criteria. There are drinking water criteria. There are eating criteria namely fish tissue concentrations.  FOR INDIVIDUAL CONTAMINANTS ! In other words the drinking water criteria for NDMA is 9 parts per trillion of NDMA in pure water. The drinking water criteria for dioxins is 15 parts per quadrillion in pure water. What is the criteria for both NDMA and dioxins in otherwise pure water? Nobody knows because there isn't one. Then add in all the other toxic compounds in the water, soils and Creek sediments. Nobody can honestly say what the health effects are for two separate tocic compounds much less for twenty-two or more.

Nobody can say what the health criteria for one individual compound (such as dioxin) in air is if the resident receptor both breathes contaminated air AND eats contaminated fish, much less drinks contaminated milk and eats beef from his farm. What is the health criteria for that same resident (Old Order Mennonite) along the downstream Canagagigue Creek who also burns his own wood at his house?           

Then assume this very same resident is also exposed to the well in excess of criteria DDT in the Creek sediments, creekbank soils and air etc. Again multiple routes of exposure for two toxic compounds. Now throw in every single industrial chemical in the air, ground and surface water, creekbank soils, Creek sediments, fish and what have you got as a health criteria? You have absolutely nothing whether or not every single industrial poison is from Uniroyal Chemical. Which pleases professional liars, whether corporate or government to no end. None of us can prove that Uniroyal Chemical and corporate successors have intentionally poisoned anyone. At the same time honest brokers can not claim that there are "no unacceptable risks" in the downstream Canagagigue Creek. 

That however is no problem for the Ontario MECP and Lanxess Canada to do. 

TOXIC CHEMICALS EFFECT ON BABIES IN UTERO

 Biologist, scientist, author and environmental activist Dr. Henry Regier has shared recent results of studies done on following generations of victims of the 1984 Bhopal, India industrial disaster (Union Carbide).  These studies indicate that this particular accident not only injured and killed thousands of men, women and children but also seriously affected babies still in the womb at the time of the accident. The toxic chemical released was methyl isocyanate (MIC) and now with the passage of time, scientists, doctors and researchers can see its' full, multi generational effects. 

These include higher risks of cancer, lower education accomplishment, higher rates of disabilities, high blood pressure, diabetes, miscarriages and other reproductive problems including birth defects. The other huge issue discovered is the radius of impact of the release of  MIC. It is not a mere five kilometres but closer to one hundred kilometres (62 miles). 

In India, citizens, governments and health authorities are beginning to ask the question "What is owed to victims who weren't born yet at the time of the accident?"

KUDOS TO THREE WOOLWICH COUNCILLORS

 Now the groundwater tutorial ran from 4:15 pm. until 6 pm. and I believe that all who attended both benefited and enjoyed the experience. I was particularly pleased with the questions asked by the councillors (Schwindt, Grant and Cadeau) as they were clearly engaged and interested. Both Drs. Dan Holt and Sebastian Seibel-Achenbach of CPAC (Citizens Public Advisory Committee) also attended and contributed.

All attendees were given a large package which included colour maps of the Lanxess site, the town of Elmira, location of wells etc. Much of the package, which also included text from the K-W Record (May 15, 1991) and a letter from a professional hydrogeologist, may like a fine wine require time to be fully appreciated. Further text which I provided listed the pumping well systems such as the Upper Aquifer Containment System (UACS), the On-Site Containment System (PW4 & 5) and the Off-Site Containment & Treatments System consisting of wells W5A, W5B, W8, W9, W6A, W6B, W3R and E7/E9. 

The Diagram showing the sub-surface cross-section of the various geological strata was particularly helpful as councillors could quickly see the interaction, location and connections between the various Aquifers (water saturated pore spaces) and Aquitards (tighter pore spaces and much less water flow). I offered future assistance as they had the time to examine some of the maps, diagrams and documents more carefully down the road.     

YOUNG CHILDREN MOST AT RISK FROM UNIROYAL/LANXESS DIOXIN

 Young children above in the title particularly includes children in the womb followed by breast fed babies. Good Lord imagine mothers being on call for babies feeding times believing that their efforts are giving their children the very best possible start in life only to learn later that they may have poisoned their own children. Such is the insidious nature of both dioxins and the profit/share price motivated industrial polluters among us.  In the case of Elmira, Ontario we are referring to Uniroyal Chemical and their corporate successors namely Crompton, Chemtura and now Lanxess Canada. 

Can you believe that today more than thirty years after we learned that dioxins were unintentionally produced here in Elmira and then distributed throughout the site in the north-east corner of Elmira plus released into the air, groundwater and surface water (Canagagigue Creek); to date there has been barely minimal attempts to remove them from soils as well as sediments on at least the downstream five miles of Creek prior to its' discharge into the Grand River. 

Today the world are expressing their horror and disgust relative to children being injured and killed both in the Ukraine as well as in Gaza. The hypocrisy is not lost on me that we can be outraged by harm to innocent children overseas yet blind to the harm that has been caused right here in Elmira, Ontario. Dioxins are the worst of the worst including NDMA which was described by one scientist as the most carcinogenic compound known to mankind. Dioxins do so much more harm than just causing cancer. They can cause birth defects minor and major, developmental problems physical, mental and emotional, contribute to diabetes, reproductive problems and the list goes on and on. These health and mortality effects have occurred here in Elmira including along the downstream five miles of Canagagigue Creek. Our authorities have been very careful to refuse health studies either thirty plus years ago or now. They have been very careful to keep health data of both adults and children quiet.  

TOMORROW IS GROUNDWATER TUTORIAL DAY FOR THREE WOOLWICH COUNCILLORS

 Oddly two councillors did not respond at all to the invite. The third, mayor Sandy Shantz also did not, but that was less of a surprise to me. I am curious regarding Bonnie Bryant and Evan Burgess's reason(s) for not responding.

The three attendees are councillors Grant (Kayla), Schwindt (Eric) and Cadeau (Nathan). All three seem keen and eager and that's all that is necessary to spark perhaps a long term interest in groundwater in general and Elmira's groundwater in particular. I will be providing multiple relevant photos, maps and drawings to each of the three councillors both for use tomorrow and for them to keep as references down the road. My goal is to get them started to be able to ask intelligent and indeed probing questions of Lanxess, MECP, and consultants such as GHD and Stantec.

Although my focus is a better understanding for councillors of the groundwater literally beneath their feet I will also be attempting to show a number of inconsistencies within some of the maps/drawings and claims of various consultants. This is not necessarily to try and prove subterfuge or dishonesty but to indicate that much of the science of hydrogeology can be interpreted subjectively. I feel that hydrogeology is both an art and a science. Hence some of these inconsistencies are the results of new data and more time having passed leading to somewhat different conclusions.

I admit that I may have judged a couple of councillors too harshly early on when they sent me e-mail answers to my complaints about the shallow aquifer (UA) pumping system failures. Their written answers frankly were poor and I thought that those poor answers were intentional. I have since come to understand that whatever strengths and experience they have, hydrogeology was not part of it. Hence my offer of a groundwater tutorial and their agreement to it. Tomorrow should be a win-win.    

FURTHER THOUGHTS ON THE LIKELY INTERCEPTOR TRENCH DIVERTING UNIROYAL CHEMICAL'S TOXIC GROUNDWATER OVER TO THE STROH PROPERTY

 This trench visible from both aerial photographs and satellite images of the Uniroyal/Lanxess site in Elmira, Ontario was the subject of dispute way back in 2014. Yours truly had discovered the Stroh Drain approximately in May 2014 and some time after that began carefully examining satellite images and aerial photographs. The images are very clear that a manmade excavation from the surface had occurred over a large distance on the east side of the Uniroyal Chemical site. I coined the term Interceptor Trench to describe what seemed to be pretty clearly was an attempt to divert contaminated groundwater away from it's natural flow westwards towards the Canagagigue Creek on site.

The Trench is located on the west side of the east side toxic waste pits known as IR-2, RPE-1, RPE-2, RPE-3, RPE-4, RPE-5, BAE-1 and RB-1 and RB-2. It appears to run from north to south initially while then turning towards the south-east. This corresponds to the slope of the surface of the ground hence gravity flow would take liquid contents (groundwater) from the Uniroyal property over to the Stroh property. There is a sub-surface corrugated steel pipe facing north-south that discharges directly into the north end of the Stroh Drain. It is my opinion that likely the buried Trench joins the corrugated steel pipe and discharges into the Stroh Drain, Ditch & Berm (SDDB) where it then continues southwards through the Martin property, both past and into their dug swimming pond. This pond was used by generations of children and if I am correct then this bypass was an abomination.

Firstly there were drawings submitted to the Environmental Appeal Board showing an Interceptor Trench proposed to remove the need to excavate the two Consolidation Pits known as RPE4 & 5. Uniroyal was adamant about not agreeing to excavate and truck the toxic contents off-site whereas the Ministry of Environment, under intense public pressure wanted it done. Also recent examination of the photos also indicates the peculiar route this alleged Interceptor Trench has taken. It neatly encompasses toxic groundwater from the five major east side pits and from RB-1 & 2 and BAE-1 as well as skirts TPE-2 (a temporary pit) . This path as shown in the various photos etc. is both difficult and deliberate. 

The fact that the Min. of Environment refused to demand a clear explanation as well as some exploratory minor digging to prove or disprove the likelihood of some kind of potentially illegal diversion onto one neighbour's property (Stroh), likely with consent, and onto the second neighbour's property (Martin), likely without consent, is shocking and heinous. This citizens is government corruption and I suggest it makes the recent Doug Ford Greenbelt scandal look like small potatoes in comparison.      

 

A BRIEF DIOXIN REVIEW

Bob Burtt of the K-W Record wrote a story about dioxins at the Uniroyal site back on May 15, 1991. They had been found as high as 19 parts per billion in soils on the site. The Ontario Ministry of Environment apparently did not have any criteria or standard for soils at industrial sites but they did have a limit of 1 part per billion (ppb) on residential properties at the time. Currently there are provincial soil standards (Table 8) which refer to soils within either 10 or 30 metres of surface water (rivers, lakes etc.). That limit or criteria is 7 parts per TRILLION (ppt). To say that Uniroyal/Lanxess exceed that criteria routinely the length of the downstream Creek to the Grand River is an understatement.  When it comes to the even much lower criteria for dioxins in creek sediments then I believe the exceedances of the federal criteria (.85 ppt) are even more egregious. 

The May 15, 1991 article gives further damning information about dioxins and their toxicity to wildlife and human beings. How is it possible today based upon even greater knowledge of the damage that dioxins have done and are doing to human beings, fish and wildlife that Lanxess and their fellow travellors continue to sell their bought and paid for, self-serving Risk Assessment of the Canagagigue Creek to the unsuspecting public as well as the non-confrontational, non-aggressive, tame TAG committee? The fact that the Ontario Ministry of Environment are supporting Lanxess efforts is an indication of exactly how corrupt our so called environmental regulator is.

LAST NIGHT"S TAG MEETING A BUST

 O.K. am I prepared to say that I wasted my time in attending it in person? No I'm not. Unlike two citizen liars who barely each attended one third of the CPAC meetings between 2011 and 2015 I will only speak about TAG from regular first person attendance. Oh and I will also inquire as to why half of TAG are not showing up in person but are "attending" from home virtually.  Covid has introduced a slippery slope here and I fully expect Lanxess and fellow travellors to exploit this lack of in person attendance when it suits their needs at the expense of the public interest.

Firstly as promised but undelivered, the Min. of Environment (MECP) failed to complete their Comments on the Revised Draft Risk Assessment (HHERA) on time for last night's meeting. Hence there was nothing to read, understand and discuss for Item 4.2 . Last night's meeting should have been cancelled or postponed or at least other important items put on the Agenda. It did not happen. TAG were re-promised those Comments by the end of November with the next TAG meeting scheduled for February 1, 2024.

Then we were treated to Agenda Item 4.3 in which Ramin Ansari (Lanxess) played the good guy working diligently to assist the poor,  intellectually deficient Elmira citizens who want at least a token/pretend cleanup of the Canagagigue Creek. Susan Bryant has spent decades manipulating, scheming and back stabbing colleagues, friends, APTE members etc. in order to solidify her position as the citizen saviour of the Creek. This has included decades of private meetings and unauthorized by UPAC and CPAC deals with the devil (Uniroyal/Crompton/Chemtura/lanxess). She trusted professional liars and scumbags to deliver on their promises. In exchange for unrestricted access to talk and negotiate allegedly on behalf of local citizens she has made a plethora of environmental concessions harmful to the public interest. Her long term goal was her own enhancement and status with all levels of government as well as with the public combined with a significant cleanup of the downstream five miles of Canagagigue Creek.     

Instead she is now prepared to settle for crumbs. I have no doubts that she will jump on the bandwagon and claim victory if and when Lanxess "voluntarily" do a token cleanup of one, two or three "hotspots" in the Creek. Lanxess's fake but well credentialed Risk Assessment allegedly has claimed that all downstream chemical and environmental risks are "acceptable". That is utter and complete self-serving and self-manipulated bullcrap. Wildlife are suffering and the scientific evidence in fish tissues of dioxins/furans, DDT, mercury and PCBs is overwhelming. Furthermore much of the sampling and lab work was not up to par and manipulating Non Detects in sediment samples is child's play when you are in charge of the entire process.  

I am hoping in the near future to hear what the MECP's rationale is for pretending that Uniroyal Chemical and successors are not obligated and legally liable for the cleanup of the Canagagigue Creek which they devastated. How dare they sit on their fat ass** and pretend everything is O.K. with both wildlife and humans having been victimized by the company. 

 

 

 

TONITE'S TAG MEETING WON"T BE GOOD

 There are two apparently significant Items on the Agenda namely 4.3 an Update on Hotspot Removal and 4.2 The MECP Comments on the Risk Assessment (HHERA). Both are irrelevant in that the decisions were made a long time ago and these discussions are simply to continue the facade of public consultation. These discussions along with public TAG meetings are the price our authorities pay in order to do their anti social, anti public interest work behind the scenes. The results of this Risk Assessment (HHERA) were decided years ago (maybe decades) and RAC and TAG are simply the way to both stifle real public consultation and likely opposition. RAC and TAG are simply controlled opposition, controlled by Lanxess, MECP and Woolwich Township, with or without the knowledge of most of the current, new councillors.

Pages 1 and 2 discuss what was said about the RAC and TAG Terms of Reference Review. Sebastian was the only TAG member whether honest enough or brave enough or both to speak truth to power. Unfortunately the Minutes inaccurately reflect that  in particular as they do not attribute either his criticism to him nor TAG members responses to themselves. This is unfortunate and deceptive in my opinion. This is a long term experienced TAG member telling his colleagues to get their act together and all he got back in response was excuses and drivel from three TAG members as I previously reported here last Friday (Nov. 10) as well as in late October immediately after the TAG meeting.                       .         

HAVE OUR MEDIA FORSAKEN US?

 I have long complained that our only remaining truly local media (Woolwich Observer) have abandoned us to the deluge of bull, lies and propaganda coming from Lanxess Canada, the Ont. Min. of Environment and Woolwich Township regarding the alleged "cleanup" here in Elmira, Ont.. Now of course almost as soon as I do that the Observer publish something relevant whether "balanced", slightly tilted in favour of the guilty parties or God Bless Them honest, accurate and strong. I will make a generalization as follows. Whether coincidence or not I feel that the addition of reporter Leah Gerber has improved both the quantity and quality of their "Elmira Crisis" reporting. 

That said here is my "balanced" reporting. What perks or benefits is the Observer receiving in exchange for refusing to interview or quote the single most informed, by a country mile, citizen/resident of Elmira?  It has been obvious to me for many years now that a deal has been struck. If the Observer are staying in business via Ad revenue or other dollar inputs provided they obey certain rules then frankly I am less offended. On the other hand if it is simply a corporate (or political) minor quid pro quo that they are not to interview or quote me then I am seriously offended. For example would a mayor threaten to remove municipal ads and Notices from the only local newspaper if they quote my opinion/position on the Canagagigue Creek Risk Assessment? Come on Observer dig your heels in and at least get well paid for following the local power structure's rules.

I checked on-line for stories or articles about the East Palestine, Ohio train derailment from last February. Wow there is almost nothing! There has also been nothing in the Waterloo Region Record since then.  What the hell is going on? Is this a government (state/Feds) news blackout i.e. a coverup? The little I have seen on-line actually supports the posting I made yesterday regarding the likelihood of dioxins being formed under the conditions of carbon based materials burning in addition to chlorine based items such as vinyl chloride. Dioxins while being produced unintentionally via chemical companies as well as pulp and paper mills can be produced naturally via forest fires. Dioxins are also produced with improper municipal and hospital incineration of wastes. 

Here in Elmira we have been blessed by Uniroyal Chemical's production of 2,4-D,  2,4,5-T, Agent Orange and more. The manufacture of pesticides and herbicides is a great way to produce and distribute dioxins/furans into the air, soils, creek sediments, local wildlife and human beings. We've got them all up here despite the silence on the matter from both the K-W Record and the Observer. This reluctance to publish fearlessly will eventually bite all our media. Yes you have responsibilities towards your staff, employees, families which I understand. But you have chosen to work in a field where the public interest is supposed to be paramount. Please put it first.   

EAST PALESTINE, OHIO TRAIN WRECK LAST SPRING

 I was recently sent a video from a local friend and colleague that I found fascinating. My understanding is that an activist from New York City by the name of Eric Coppolino was being interviewed by a fellow named Alec who has a regular Vlog? (The Way Forward") either on the radio or perhaps more likely on-line. Now Mr. Coppolino has longtime credentials as an activist in at least a couple of different areas but it was his knowledge of dioxins/furans that were the subject of this on-line video.

I certainly recognized much of his facts and claims regarding the toxicity and prevalence of dioxins in the form of body burden in human beings around the world. It is very alarming. He (Eric) essentially was saying that the derailment and spillage of large quantities of benzene, motor oils, vinyl chloride etc. and the resulting fire was a catastrophe and a disaster that was exacerbated by poor decision making afterwards. He suggests that there was improper influence brought to bear possibly by Northfolk Southern Railroad immediately after the accident. I hope that I've got the correct name of the railroad company involved. 

Regardless Mr. Coppolino makes a strong case that the plastics as well as the chlorinated compounds involved in the fire would certainly have produced dioxins. Again his statements of fact generally correspond with research I did years ago regarding dioxin production and toxicity. What is of great concern however is the response by governments at all levels as well as by the media.  It's all about denial and minimization of the risks and threats to both human beings and to wildlife. It includes basically ignoring the probable presence of large amounts of dioxin under the conditions stated.

Here in Elmira, Ontario we know all about "experts", suits, Qualified P++++++ exaggerating, lying, minimizing and making  self-serving claims for the benefit of their polluting clients.

EFFECTIVE VERSUS LAB SOLUBILITY

 Via experiments in the lab the solubility of most solvents in water has been determined. They range from almost insoluble (MBT) to chlorobenzene at 495,000 parts per billion. Other examples of lab solubilities would be benzene at 1,800,000 parts per billion. Toluene is close to that of benzene.

By lab solubilities I mean an exact amount of organic solvent in a pure litre of water. Real life and contaminated sites are nothing like that. In the real world polluters leak, drip, spill and dump all kinds of solvents into the ground and surface water. Hence determining the solubility of benzene for example in contaminated groundwater depends upon the different solvents present and their individual concentrations. What we do know is that the solubility in water of all solvents decreases as the number and concentration of other solvents increases.

These are known as Effective Solubilities and can be determined via testing the variety and concentration of all other solvents in the groundwater. These Effective Solubilities are usually a tiny fraction of the Lab Solubility of the compound on it's own in a litre of pure lab water. It's almost as if there are a pre-determined number of spaces available for organic compounds in water and hence there is competition to decide which compound ends up in the available spaces .

The significance of multiple compounds in groundwater simultaneously is as follows. Usually we think of groundwater contamination based upon the various concentrations in groundwater of these contaminants (organic pollutants). Hence the higher the number of contaminants the lower the concentration numbers but the greater the contamination. 

HALF OF COUNCIL READY TO LEARN MORE ABOUT GROUNDWATER

 Well it seems to be three out of six which while not ideal is still well worthwhile to do. Maybe between the presentation, questions asked and answered, combined with the notes, maps and diagrams given to the three councillors; the other three might change their minds or at least take a long, hard look at the literature handed out. 

In a two hour or less tutorial nobody is suddenly going to become an expert. However, especially if they already have an interest, the tutorial could spring curiosity and interest into more serious study.  If there had been more citizens really keen on learning about hydrogeology thirty years ago then I am confident that the guilty parties would have had a much more difficult path to doing the very least possible while expecting gratitude and congratulations.

I have long suggested that hydrogeology is not rocket science. This of course does not please the credentialed practitioners of that art & science.  What I have learned over the past three decades is that any fact, data, theory or theorem can be intentionally misinterpreted, bent or deflected to suit the self-serving interests of others. This even includes sampling whether sediments, groundwater or soils. I suspect that there may be many disciplines in which dishonest adherents are able to manipulate results and conclusions to serve their agenda's and most certainly not the public interest.

OCTOBER TAG MEETING WRITTEN UP IN WOOLWICH OBSERVER

 At least part of it was written up. That would be the part that discussed how TAG has been functioning. The reporter did a good job although a couple of quotes from member Sebastian Seibel-Achenbach were missed such as his accurately describing TAG as "tame". My comment here in the Advocate was that what was needed was a watchdog and instead TAG were a "lapdog". Sad but true. Nobody on TAG wants to offend the powers that be. 

Sebastian however was quoted as saying "The reality is that (TAG) lacks the teeth and the knowledge to be able to do a credible job. And the reality is that when confronted by specialists in the field, we find ourselves on this committee at a disadvantage." Further he added "And consequently, there's a tendency for this committee to be bulldozed because of that professional accreditation that is presented to us. And the reality is that some of that professionalism isn't ironclad." 

A couple of members agreed with Sebastian that more peer reviews by independent experts could be helpful and as well there was agreement that TAG needed to better communicate with the public. Other TAG members did not agree to either. Overall Sebastian 's comments about TAG's weaknesses were not supported by Susan Bryant and Wilson Lau both with agendas I view as not being in the public interest.

Sebastian spoke truth to power and was not supported by those in favour of the status quo including the MECP, Lanxess, GHD, likely Stantec and TAG in general.

ANOTHER TAG MEETING NEXT THURSDAY (Nov. 16) IN COUNCIL CHAMBERS AT 6:30 PM.

 There are two significant items on the Agenda namely Item 4.2 and 4.3 which are MECP Comments on the Revised Draft Human Health and Ecological Risk Assessment (HHERA) for the Canagagigue Creek and Creek Hotspot Removal Update (Lanxess). 

With the first Item 4.2 the Min. of Environment may or may not have substantive comments or criticisms on the HHERA. In reality their comments are essentially irrelevant as the poor data, mistakes, omissions, bad assumptions, and falsehoods of the HHERA are all long in the rearview mirror. Whatever stuff the MECP produces in their latest comments won't even nudge the forward progress of the HHERA, not even a little bit. It's been a done deal for years with Lanxess/Stantec/GHD and the MECP simply going through the motions which was essentially predicted by Dr. Jackson and aven other TAG members years ago. Oh and by the way these MECP comments aren't even completed yet for distribution hence aren't included in the Agenda package sent out today.

Item 4.3 is Creek Hotspot Removal Update by Lanxess. When exactly did Polluter Pays get replaced with Polluter Controls? Now we are advised that this HHERA is voluntary and that the Ont. Min. of Environment, in their infinite incompetence and impotence, can't even order cleanup of a Creek devastated by decades of unethical, immoral and ILLEGAL pollution from Uniroyal Chemical and successors. When exactly did Ontario citizens give up their rights to a clean environment? When exactly did large corporations rewrite both the laws and their enforcement to suit themselves? Lanxess will haughtily advise that out of the goodness of their hearts that they will voluntarily spend at least a tiny fraction of the amount required to undue the damage, which liability they bought along with the property and business. Unless of course all our local political authorities as well as the province gave them a free pass, a legal release if you will from the liability attached to the Elmira property. If this was done apparently all our authorities/politicians etc. "forgot" to tell us citizens about it. That folks would be corruption especially if certain hands got greased along the way.      

POSITIVE VERSUS NEGATIVE (CRITICAL) : A NICE CHANGE OF PACE

 When dealing with decades long, entrenched corruption of the corporate polluter and Ministry of Environment style it becomes easy to be disillusioned and skeptical. When one joins an environmental group it does elevate one's hopes and aspirations for environmental improvement. It also reinforces the fact that most people are good at heart despite the appearance that so many politicians are not. I think what has been most shocking to my system is the extremely bad behaviour, thank goodness of only a few citizens who surreptitiously have advanced their own position at the cost of both their friends and colleagues as well as that of the public interest. That such perfidy existed I originally did not know. 

Currently I am attempting to arrange a groundwater tutorial with the mostly new Woolwich Council. Within a mere 48 hours I have had positive responses from half (3) of them so far. I view that as an excellent start and certainly hope for more. I expect that this time we will be able to come up with a time that suits more folks.

I will admit that I am looking forward to assisting these new councillors to get a better handle on proposals or ideas brought to them through their Council duties. It has long been my opinion that there has been a one sided voice speaking to municipal councillors regarding the Elmira Water Crisis and all the ensuing plans whether for groundwater cleanup or downstream Creek cleanup. I believe that if councillors can get a better handle on the basics of groundwater, contamination, remediation etc. that they eventually will make better decisions in the public interest. This could be through better knowledge and understanding or even simply greater skepticism as they ask more and harder questions when Lanxess, GHD and the MECP plans are presented to them.