A LITTLE MORE NEWS REGARDING CONTAMINATION BENEATH CHURCH ST. EAST

 I keep forgetting to advise the various "authorities" about the 1991 Control Order on Uniroyal Chemical insisting that it only referred to currently known contamination. In other words contamination found later needed to be properly addressed and taken care of. Of course with the Ontario Ministry of Environment, their verbal statements are not worth the paper they aren't written on but we have also learned that their written Control Orders sometimes aren't as well. The MOE/MECP simply "amend" or write new Control Orders mostly to appease the polluter and make their life easier. I suspect that backroom deals (probably written) between the MOE/MECP and polluters include such things as "Don't worry we are simply being hard asses now in order to get the public onside. Once the heat dies down we'll amend (i.e. remove) those paragraphs that you don't like."

So isn't this interesting? Earlier in the week I mentioned benzene as being one of the chemicals that Uniroyal Chemical carelessly handled and mishandled such that there was a separate benzene plume in the aquifers beneath Uniroyal and Elmira. Lo and behold it seems that the Region of Waterloo have specifically named benzene as one of the contaminants found at depth beneath Church St. East. Good on Boris and the Region for stepping up and speaking to the public who after all pay the bills for everybody! This information came from an e-mail by Dr. Dan Holt to Rich Clausi that was cc'd to four councillors, two newspapers, the MECP, the Chair of TAG and CPAC members.

 What else have we learned recently? Well it seems as if there are other lines of communication open with involved parties. Sometimes the best information only gets out to the public when the inside parties are squabbling. Take the Environmental Appeal Board hearings back in the early 1990s. That's when the public only learned about the extent of corruption, incompetence and self-serving behaviour due to Uniroyal Chemical and the Ontario Ministry of Environment going toe to toe. No it wasn't the MOE doing their job it was the MOE lying and trying to blame the entire contaminated drinking water mess solely on Uniroyal Chemical. In the nick of time, just before the Ministry were to present their case (and then be cross-examined), a sweetheart deal was struck between Uniroyal and the MOE leaving all the other parties blowing in the wind.  Well today it seems as if there may be behind the scenes arguments going on between various players including the Region and the Township. It seems as if there are differing opinions as to whom should be held responsible for extra costs involved in excavating contaminated materials and trucking them to a hazardous waste site near Sarnia. Presumably that would be the Corunna hazardous waste site under various ownership over the decades. 

To date there has been one media request for further information that I am aware of. Today is four days since I brought this matter to the Elmira Advocate as well as to numerous authorities. To date not a single phone call or e-mail from any of these authorities to me. I'm patient. After all Elmira/Woolwich have been ground zero for environmental coverups for four decades and longer. That crap can not be unraveled overnight. Too many vested interests pushing too many buttons.