WOOLWICH ARE INTENTIONALLY BLIND IN ONE EYE & CAN"T SEE OUT OF THE OTHER

 

ACTUALLY THEY ARE KNOWINGLY & CHEERFULLY DEAF. DUMB & BLIND

It serves both them as well as Lanxess and the Min. of Environment (MECP). As I understand it being "dumb" means you can't speak for whatever reason. Well that certainly applies to Woolwich albeit it is selective "dumbness" with a dash of obfuscation and exaggeration included. Remember two weeks ago the public meeting with Sandy, Eric and Nathan held at Doughnuts & Deli?  I kind of concluded that that meeting was a set-up and so I hijacked it into getting Mark an audience for his ideas regarding better remediation of the aquifers. It actually served both purposes and may or may not have put a dent in Lanxess's joy in the status quo cleanup (i.e. under pumping in all aquifers and hence saving electrical pumping costs as well as treatment costs) .  Lanxess refers to this as a win-win for them & them.

Regarding cleaning the Creek (the "Gig") deafness and blindness are crucial. The only way to pretend that the Creek does not pose any unacceptable risks is to either fabricate non-existent evidence or to vastly over rate/ under rate what little you have. The former municipal/industrial landfill that is still mostly on the Lanxess property is called M2. Testimony during the early 90s at the Environmental Appeal Board hearings  indicated that when excavations started for the Region's Elmira Sewage Treatment Plant (1965), built at the south end of the dump, they "discovered" 45 gallon barrels of toxic wastes three deep (i.e. on top of each other). Hundreds of them! 

Where are the photographs? Where are the reports and statements? What testing was done of soils left behind much less of the toxic wastes themselves?  Deaf, dumb & blind. This is directly beside the Creek.  It was another 32 years of drainage into the Creek before the so called Upper Aquifer Containment & Treatment System was installed. Shameful! Yet no reports were submitted to the HHERA  (Risk Assessment)  showing that allegedly now the area was clean. Meanwhile the MECP  and our other authorities continue to hide between a mathematical and philosophical construct allegedly claiming that there are no unacceptable risks. The whole program is for show folks. The cleanup of both the Aquifers and of the Creek is a sham. It's always meant to be so and it has succeeded in that much.

SAME CLEANUP FAILURES OVER & OVER AGAIN

 

WOOLWICH STILL TOO INCOMPETENT & COWARDLY TO RESPOND IN WRITING 

Woolwich Township are floating on a small block of ice in a very big river. Every question asked of them  jostles themselves and the ice block. They are too terrified to answer because they have no confidence in their answers. Nor should they. When you surround yourself with syncaphants, co-optees, yes men and women and nothing but deferential twits you do not get nuanced, intelligent answers to even easy questions much less hard ones. They know that any inaccurate or poorly written answers will be criticized. They know that any particularly egregiously stupid answers will be outright laughed at. and mocked. The worst of it is they don't even know which are the easy questions and which are the tough ones. Boy that small block of ice sure is slippery when it starts to tilt. 

All of this is the result of bad decisions and lying over the last three plus decades. They've come to rely on dishonest brokers and the price for that is high. Personal integrity, personal barriers and personal relations with everyone become strained. Yes lots of lower on the rung staff try hard to be helpful to the public but eventually they too realize who and what they are working for. When that happens it becomes very difficult to do your job with a smile.

The June'2024 pumping rates are out in the monthly Progress Report. They are the best they have been this year but guess what? They still haven't met their own pumping TARGET RATES this year! The last time they met their already low/inadequate TARGET pumping rates was last November 2023. How many different excuses are humanly possible? Just ask Lanxess, they've used them all. Meanwhile keep blaming the NDMA & chlorobenzene cleanup failures on Joe Ricker's "asymptotic behaviour" or on "back diffusion" or on whatever else you want but as long as you refuse or can't pump contaminated groundwater to your own criteria then you are royally buggered!

WOOLWICH ARE TOO CHICKEN TO EVEN CLUCK

 

HEADS BURIED IN THE SAND. NOTHING MATTERS IF THEY OR THEIR APPROVED, CORRUPT FELLOW TRAVELLORS DIDN'T WRITE IT

Some of my questions regarding Elmira cleanup failures go back years. Others are merely months old as in back to the Environmental Awareness Event held at Rural Routes, Elmira in February.  Good gosh just look at my partially custom produced map (2' x 3') first started in 2014 and added to as information has grown over the years.  Way back in January 2020 or 2021 Ramin (Lanxess) deigned to talk about it with me at the end of a TRAC meeting . Yes the end of the meeting and hence most TRAC pieces of crap left. Unbelievable. Sebastian and I made a bit of a cold presentation anyways. Tokenism combined with fairy dust and less.

That map is a glaring indictment of all that is wrong and perverse with the Elmira cleanup.  It shows where the overflowing east side pits and ponds followed the slope of the land both east and south (& somewhat west) .  It shows where DDT, dioxins, NDMA, PAHs, 2,4-D and so much more settled in low lying areas both on and off the Uniroyal site. The topographical lines ensure that gravity flow of contaminants, far and wide, is readily seen and understood. It shows the various off-site paths these contaminants took over to both the Martin and Stroh properties.

all of this denied of course so that instead of proper cleanup eventually it will simply be buried under east side development and roadways. The corruption runs deep and Woolwich are up to their ears in it.  

OUR WOOLWICH TAXES SUPPORT PROFESSIONAL LIARS WHO LIE TO US THE CITIZENS SHAMELESSLY

 

SIX SINCERE & STRAIGHT FORWARD RELEVANT (to Woolwich) QUESTIONS FROM A LOCAL CITIZEN,THAT WOOLWICH TWN. HAVE REFUSED TO ANSWER IN THE LAST FEW MONTHS 

Woolwich deception can be by commission or omission. All lying is on the table when Woolwich are covering up their embarrassing behaviour.  Yesterday I listed several recent examples (last few months) in which they have either flat out refused to acknowledge my e-mail communications to all councillors or they have refused to respond in writing. An other option is their long held tactic of deflection. ...Oh Mr. Marshall in line 7 of the second paragraph you used a harsh word namely "shi*#ead" and our highly trained and ultra sensitive staff have never in their lives been subjected to such extreme verbal violence and potentially mentally damaging language hence we can not possibly comment to you as to why the sub-surface DNAPLS in RPW-6, nine feet below ground surface, have never been removed.  Please try again say in about a decade and if we have recovered we will certainly respond....

   Yes  those two previous sentences are a tiny exaggeration but you get the point. They, the Township have been pulling this sh*# for decades and while they think it's perfectly O.K. to lie like dogs (i.e. full denial)  or simple refusal to answer or deflection, it is not. We pay those a#@holes to respond to us and after three decades plus of their lying and bull*hit I'm bluntly, as I see fit, calling them out. 

One recent non-response I got from a Township staff person and failed to include in yesterday's post was a very simple and straight forward question asking about Township policies in issuing building permits within certain distances from former landfills. I've asked (in writing-  e-mail) twice now and still nothing.  Not even a confirmation that they've received it and are looking at it. 

I challenge anybody to put up with this bull%$it for 35 years and keep on fighting with clean hands. Woolwich Township are YELLOW, GUTLESS WONDERS  who are even too chicken to face me in a public debate.  

WOOLWICH ARE RUNNING SCARED

 What a hoot. Sandy appoints a councillor to be both the Chair of TRAC as well as their spokesperson who has zero experience.  Granted not zero experience in life, in politics, in twisting the English language but in regards to his portfolio i.e. the remediation of the Elmira Aquifers and of the downstream Canagagigue Creek. Poor, old Nathan Cadeau has been doing his best to "fake it till you make it"  likely for close to a year now and as long as he is speaking to people of equal lack of knowledge he can fake it really well. He definitely has talent in that department. 

I have of late been poking the bear. Nothing else has worked to date. They've always hidden behind the Min. of Environment (MECP) as well as their "citizen" committees such that they can support the status quo (i.e. what the polluter Lanxess wants) while at the same time talk big about citizen involvement and alleged longterm cleanup goals. While the long term is here and 1) the Elmira Aquifers are not drinkable (i.e. potable) and 2) the downstream Creek is a mess of DDT, dioxins, PAHs, lindane, mercury, PCBs and more. 

Firstly I asked for formal responses to my concerns about the failure to pump the off-site wells to their TARGET pumping rates as set by Lanxess's consultants.         Nothing!

Then I asked for a response to me concerns about the failure to pump the on-site Upper Aquifer (UA) wells to the historic values they've been pumped at since 1997-98.           More Nothing!

Then I commented on the first TRAC meeting in which Joe Ricker advised that neither NDMA nor chlorobenzene in Elmira could ever achieve drinking water standards due to some mystery/magic known as "asymptotic behaviour".  I flatly stated that Joe was mistaken and then proved it and asked for a formal response                                  Nada!

The next TRAC meeting was June 13/24. Here I hoped that TRAC/Woolwich might feel that a response to my formal comments mentioned in the previous paragraph would be appropriate. Who was I kidding? TAG/TRAC have not responded to any written Delegations from myself since their first meeting in September 2015. So yet again            a big fat  NYET!

Throughout all this Nathan and other fellow travellors and guilty parties have been blathering about collaboration, respect and constructive dialogue. They also claim that this latest attempt at public consultation (TRAC) is the real deal. Which it is for Elmira at least (Totally Rotten & Corrupt).

On Saturday, July 13, 2024 I both posted here and sent a copy to Woolwich Township. The title was "The Dirty, Lying Twits".  It was a fairly detailed history of the DNAPL coverup here in Elmira by Uniroyal Chemical and successors. At the end of it I made a serious suggestion that Council have an independent hydrogeologist interview me for several hours to find out where all the hydrogeologic skeletons are in Elmira. So far to date zero response to either my detailed DNAPL info presented nor to my serious suggestion that a truly independent hydrogeologist with no ties to Lanxess/MECP (financial or other) interview me.  Same result as always  -whining about tone and lack of respect-  But continued Refusal to acknowledge concerns, offer ideas, solutions, dialogue on the problem        i.e.  Head In The Sand, Ostrich Like Behaviour .

My comments of Saturday, July 20, 2024. further explained the extent of the corruption required to hide a problem as serious as DNAPLS thoughout Elmira, both on and off site. I also included the unfortunate reversal by APTE  leaders on this DNAPL matter. Was the private deal they were offered either the facade of a permanent seat at the table or did it include promises of Creek cleanup decades down the line? I also gave Woolwich their second challenge namely to debate me publicly regarding both the Aquifers cleanup and the remediation of the downstream Canagagigue Creek.  Apparently Woolwich don't want to talk about it. Their specialty is private, closed door sessions with dirty polluters and their regulators all the while refusing to discuss any of these matters with citizens who aren't their lapdogs.  In other words informed citizens with both backbones and only the public interest in mind need not attend. 

 Woolwich Township you are CHICKEN through and through.

MY LATEST ASSAULT UPON FORTRESS WOOLWICH REGARDING THE ELMIRA CLEANUP

 

                                                                                                                      July 20, 2024

Zero Formal Responses To Citizens Reports, Critiques and Concerns

In a democracy politicians are not permitted to simply have to listen to their fellow parlimentarians, legislators or party caucus. Good gosh they aren't elected by those eminent shawinigans but by their constituents living in their ridings. You would think municipal politicians would be even more aware of that. Not here in Woolwich Township. Also you might think that municipal politicians might respond even more regularly and cogently with citizens who have separated themselves from the pack by not being toadies, co-optees or deferential to persons espousing the status quo.

After 35 years it is impossible to believe that Woolwich Township are simply mistaken. Nobody can remain blind, deaf and stupid for that long unintentionally. Once again quoting Saul Bellow “A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep.” DNAPLS were the first exposure of corruption and following coverup back in the very early 90s. Out of context quotes allegedly from Stan Feenstra (hydrogeologist) made by Brian Beatty (Morrison-Beatty) were exposed resulting in the “consolidation” of Brian Beatty according to Dr. David Ash . At a later point Brian Beatty threatened legal action versus The Woolwich Observer for their truthful and accurate reporting. Those actions may have soured relations between myself and the Observer for decades.

Then came APT Environment's major rollover whereby Sylvia Berg convinced APT members that there was no reason to get upset over the Ministry of Environments' December 10, 1993 acceptance that no more than a token removal of free phase DNAPL from RPW-5 and a touch from TPW-2 was acceptable. This was after Susan was in India, Sylvia , Glenys McMullen and I hammered out a three or four page document clearly showing where both residual and free phase DNAPL were on site and readily accessible for removal. That document was dated I believe in September 1993 and yet two months later without a whisper to me Sylvia reversed herself. More than strange.

Interestingly several months after Susan came back from India in 1994 APTE quit UPAC over their acceptance of Uniroyal's proposed Upper Aquifer Containment & Treatment System (UACTS). It was grossly under-designed and intentionally incapable of satisfying the M.O.E.'s Control Order demanding full hydraulic containment in all aquifers on the Uniroyal site. The M.O.E. however, similar to the Waterloo Region District School Board, seemed to feel that if Participation Medals were O.K. for kids then surely they were fine for God fearing, Christian espousing, local, chemical polluters. So for close to six years UPAC carried on with very few formal citizens on their “citizens' committee”. Woolwich and all the other government authorities who abandoned Elmira residents never clarified intelligently the Ministry abandoning their own Control Order. They did however carry on with both APTE and the Environmental Hazards Team routinely factually undermining Uniroyal/Crompton's bullcrap while speaking from around the table as full citizens with rights, whether formal members of UPAC/CPAC or not. This is in stark contrast as to how the power and authority shifted after 2000 when former councillor Pat McLean assumed the Chair's position at CPAC with support from mayor Billy Strauss.

DNAPLS have floundered ever since with highs and lows but never any real action or removal. Quoting Richard Clausi “When all was said and done, more was said than was done.” Both Jaimie Connelly and Mr. Ruland (hydrog's) seemed to get their sh*# together somewhere around 2007 and wrote some more than average honest opinions on the presence of DNAPLS but it was either poorly distributed, buried or forgotten. All of these reports are available but don't expect Woolwich, MECP, Lanxess or GHD to voluntarily cough them up. Fortunately, fortuitively and perhaps pre-emptively I've got copies of most of these documents. Of course over the decades I've produced documentation to videographers, reporters, and citizens. Funny isn't it how seldom to never any of the corrupt bodies have asked me for written backup of this or that. The cowards.

With enough accurate technical evidence to support the presence of both residual and free phase DNAPL, the issue seems to have a life of it's own. It's a lot like the real DNAPL itself. It's the engine that could. It's a very bad contaminant but despite official, corrupt attempts to bury it over the decades it's still the albatross hanging around Uniroyal and successors' heads. Wake up long retired APTE members. Sylvia 's been long gone for decades but she sure hoodwinked you guys in order to get Richard, Esther and I off of APTE.

Currently Sandy has appointed a five minute wonder to be Chair of TRAC. Geez after Dr. Richard Jackson, then Tiffany Svensson and now Nathan has the standard ever plummeted. I mean I grant you with Pat McLean the Chair from 2000 on it was bad, but really Nathan? I suggested in my missive from last Saturday the 13^th that Woolwich Council needed to step up and get an independent and honest hydrogeologist hired to work here in Elmira providing peer reviews of reports and more of all the crap that continues to flow downgradient. That of course is what I've been doing for decades but of course our litany of councillors are far to sophisticated and worse to do any such thing. They are also far too inexperienced still yet to know how they are being constantly played. At least some of them.

Getting back to Nathan there is nothing more provoking than a five minute wonder with absolutely zero experience having the nerve to even comment in contradiction of an event that occurred ten, fifteen or twenty years ago, to someone who was there, participated and fought that particular battle.

Here's my second challenge to Woolwich Council. So far no feedback on my strong suggestion that you send me an independent hydrogeologist to sit down with me for several hours to learn where the hydrogeologic skeletons are buried. If you are unwilling, unable or just plain chicken-sh*# then hear's my second challenge. Close to twenty years ago I was constantly trying to get Susan to sit with me in a public DEBATE against Crompton/Chemtura & Conestoga Rovers (CRA) . I assured Susan that the two of us could easily smoke that pack of unscrupulous swine and we could have. Today Susan would have to sit with Lanxess because I find debating with a knife in my back uncomfortable. So here's the challenge:

I'M TWENTY YEARS OLDER BUT NO SMARTER. WITH HONEST RULES NOT SET UNILATERALLY BY YOU I CHALLENGE WOOLWICH TOWNSHIP TO A PUBLIC DEBATE. YOU CAN HAVE AS MANY AS YOU WANT AGAINST ME BUT EACH SIDE, NOT PERSON, WILL HAVE EQUAL TIME TO SPEAK.

There will be independent time keepers, recorders and media present.

Alan Marshall

SUMMER IN THE CITY

 Sorry folks but I've been slacking off. Family are over and things are hectic albeit enjoyable. I expect that our visitors will be gone sometime this weekend and by Monday I can resume my posts.

THE DIRTY, LYING, TWITS

Who exactly? There are so many! O.K. folks today's recipient is Uniroyal/Lanxess  plus Conestoga Rovers (CRA). Now Uniroyal/Lanxess is somewhat awkward in that the date is around 2006/2007 when Uniroyal's name was either Crompton or Chemtura.  Despite the fact that the lying about DNAPLS (Dense Non Aqueous Phase Liquids) was at it's height back then the reality is that Lanxess know perfectly well that they've had and still have both residual and free phase DNAPL both on their site and off their site. The irony is that Dr. Neil Thompson whom they hired to produce a proper CSM (Conceptual Site Model) is the one who first publicly announced that there was something like an additional, unexplained 1,900 kg. of chlorobenzene in the Municipal Aquifers. By the way that weight is by memory and even so I believe it could well be low. Also chlorobenzene is a classic DNAPL chemical with a high density (> 1), a relatively low solubility plus other characteristics including being a chlorinated  (chlorine) solvent.

Courtesy of Pat McLean and Susan Bryant (plus the other dimwits on CPAC (Chemtura Public Advisory Comm.)) , combined with the biased and ignorant Bill Strauss, Sandy Shantz, Mark Bauman, Murray Martin perhaps & other councillors I was kicked off of CPAC for allegedly slowing down the Ammonia Treatment System (ATS)  construction. To my surprise my only ally on Council was Ruby Weber.  The allegation was bullsh*% then just as it is now.  I did appeal a MOE/MECP document due to a proven flaw in one of the on-site/off-site corresponding groundwater elevation wells that was proven then to hydrogeologist Wilf Ruland and later confirmed by the Environmental Review Tribunal (ERT) in their ruling.  Dr. Henry Regier assisted me with a brief , biased meeting with CRA, MOE and Chemtura whereas Mr. Ruland rolled over under pressure like a wet sack of mud. 

The reality is that Pat and Susan knew I had the goods on DNAPLS, especially helpful from the January 2007 meeting with U. of Waterloo Drs. John Cherry and Beth Parker.  They, Chemtura, CRA ,  mayor Strauss and the Min. of Environment were terrified that from my pulpit on CPAC I would expose the entire DNAPL coverup. That was the real reason I got bounced not some stupid technical error I found and proved with the already under construction ATS .

So by all authorities and parties agreeing to pretend that DNAPLS were not on or off site they saved millions of dollars in excavation and removal costs and substituted long term lesser pump & treat costs. 

CHEMTURA  THANKS YOU SUSAN, PAT, BILL, MARK , SANDY & WILF FOR YOUR SERVICE TO THEM VERSUS TO THE PUBLIC

And now the chickens have come home to roost. Currently with barely four years to the deadline chlorobenzene has an average concentration of 123 ppb. in the Municipal Upper (MU) and 173 ppb. in the Municipal Lower Aquifer (ML). The criteria is 80 ppb. So folks ask yourselves this question: NDMA is at much, much lower concentrations namely an average of .091 ppb. in the MU and 1.6 ppb. in the ML. Why are the chlorobenzene concentrations so much higher even after 26 years of pump & treat?  Secondly why is the location of the chlorobenzene plume in the ML in such a bizarre location? It is just east of Varnicolor Chemical. Part of the answer is the characteristics of DNAPLS with their very slow dissolving into groundwater combined with pumping wells W5A/B. There has been an underground tug of war between pumping well W4 (near Howard St. Water Tower) to the west of Varnicolor's former Union St. site and W5A/B to the east of Varnicolor, for decades. W4 has been discontinued while W5A in the ML is still pumping and pulling the slowly dissolved chlorobenzene from the free phase DNAPL found in well OW57-32 R  located beside W4. 

Also how did chlorobenzene DNAPL get so far down in the subsurface? It was discovered in the wellscreen of OW57-32, one hundred feet below ground surface, just the same as Bob Hillier, M.O.E. hydrogeologist, discovered free phase DNAPL on the Uniroyal site (west side) in OW62/PW4 around 1992 and brought a sample to UPAC.  There are "windows" through the aquitard by the Howard St. Water Tower. These "windows" allow ready access of heavy DNAPLS downwards through the aquifers where the UAT (Upper Aquitard) between the UA (Upper Aquifer) and the MU (Municipal Upper) is very thin and where the MU and ML are actually joined with zero aquitard between them.  

Once into the Municipal Lower Aquifer (ML) the slowly dissolving chlorobenzene  can somewhat gravity flow south-west with the natural gradient or depending on which pumping well affects it most, can be pulled towards either W4 (very close to it) or further east to W5A especially after W4 was shut down. This is also why W4 as shown recently in Joe Ricker's somewhat bizarre presentation to TRAC has the highest rate of all off-site pumping wells in removing chlorobenzene.  The off-site source is right there. Similarly this is why on-site pumping well PW4 has removed far more chlorobenzene than PW5 ever has. PW4 is right on top of the free phase DNAPL.

So Woolwich Council you are up against it yet again.  None of you have dedicated enough time or energy to becoming competent on these matters. Therefore it is very easy to rely on expensive but readily volunteered  "assistance" from client driven consultants, a long embedded CAO, Lanxess and or the Min. of Environment. All are compromised whether by money, fear of loss of reputation, guilt (especially the M.O.E./MECP) . The old adage of follow the money should be obvious but apparently hasn't been so. 

One get off your duffs and do your own serious research and reading .

Two hire a truly independent, certified hydrogeologist paid other than by yourselves . Maybe the Feds?  Maybe somebody else but if the money goes through the Region, CAO or mayor you'll likely just get their opinions gift wrapped  with a bunch of additional degrees behind them.

Three have this independent hydrogeologist sit down with me for likely at least several hours. If I'm prepared to yet again donate several hours of my time to the cause then by God I'm going to have serious input into the process before I make any commitments to any twits or their fellow travellors.

   

FOLLOWUP TO A SUCCESSFUL (Public?) MEETING

 

Wednesday morning prior to the appearance of the three elected Woolwich folks and of Mark I met a gentleman at Donuts & Deli by the name of Paul. He was from Heidelberg and after asking if he could sit with me and being told yes, however I was expecting four more shortly including two councillors and the mayor,  he somewhat jokingly asked if he could listen in.  Now he had already pointed out that mayor Shantz was his mayor as well because part of Heidelberg is part of Woolwich Township. Therefore I immediately said "Heck yes" .

Yesterday Mark followed through and sent Nathan, Eric, Sandy and myself on-line links to a lot of information  regarding specific remediation companies and their products. He also included some financial information comparing costs with pump & treat technology. A number of these companies are located in Kitchener possibly including Cascade and Vertex. I hope I've spelled that last one correctly.

I would suggest that with Mark's assistance and serious and sincere interest by Woolwich Township that the potential for progress to the slow, tedious, excuse ridden pump & treat efforts to remediate our aquifers is possible.  I do however forsee possible roadblocks namely the Ontario Ministry of Environment (MECP), Lanxess, and GHD. Vested interests and face saving in regards to a thirty-five year failure to remediate our aquifers may be impossible to overcome.  Afterall when the other parties and stakeholders abdicate responsibility and hand ALL decision making to the polluters (Uniroyal/Lanxess & the MECP) while at the same time removing ALL transparency and accountability; public interest success becomes nearly impossible.

It has been suggested to me that Lanxess however are a corporation interested in making money and that includes not spending it frivolously.  Hence if Mark is correct that these technologies are both superior to pump & treat AND less expensive then maybe, just maybe Lanxess might actually step up. 

SO THE WHOLE MEETING WAS ACTUALLY A SET UP?

Back on Monday I posted what I viewed as the purpose at that time of the proposed (by Nathan) meeting initially between he and I with the later addition of Eric Schwindt and mayor Shantz.  I felt that it was just councillors wanting to defend their positions and actions regarding Lanxess Canada and the non cleanup of our aquifers and Creek (Canagagigue). I considered (foolishly) that they might even want to discuss the latest junk science claiming "asymptotic behaviour" was the reason that they could not achieve drinking water standards in our aquifers. Later  Monday I had begun to realize who I was dealing with and that he who goes into a meeting fully knowing everybody's Agenda and is fully prepared for that as well as their own Agenda, will emerge with some positives from the meeting. Now I believe that Nathan had e-mailed me via the Reply button on my e-mail to him and council titled "Public Denunciation".  Hence perhaps Nathan thought that that title was sufficient notice to me as to what the purpose of the meeting was. He certainly did not clarify or specify within the text of his e-mail.

Regardless I thought it over and was not keen on a two or three on one bitching session . Until Mark K. decided to attend with me I was ready not to accept Nathan's invite. However when Mark agreed to attend while most of the rest of the former CPAC members were not interested remotely in talking to Nathan and colleagues, I changed my mind. Mark has a serious message and this seemed like an opportunity to lay it on some Woolwich councillors.

Now keep in mind all three (Nathan, Eric & Sandy) were attentive and respectful during Mark's presentation including asking pertinent questions. Eric and Mayor Shantz had to depart for further township business whereas Nathan then made his second ill advised attempt to  "correct" me.  The first was at the start of the meeting which I had quickly diverted into introducing Mark etc.  Now at no time did Eric or Sandy join Nathan's brief nonsense but it does seem clear that they were cognizant of the plan to do so. Bad idea but they were smart enough to adjust on the fly whereas Nathan clearly wasn't, including a later evening e-mail..  A five minute wonder with endless B/S can smoke people less knowledgeable of the facts than he but certainly not those who are much more lnowledgeable than he. Another five or ten years and he could be a serious threat to the public interest here in Woolwich Township.   

  

REMEDIATION MEETING HELD AT DOUGHNUTS & DELI THIS MORNING

 Seriously it was!  Myself and Mark K. sat down with councillors Nathan Cadeau and Eric Schwindt as well as with Mayor Shantz. It was prearranged between myself and councillor Cadeau and I had made it quite clear that I was bringing Mark to speak to the councillors and mayor about local companies (Kitchener) with world class expertise in remediating highly contaminated soils.

Overall I view it as a very good meeting. For nearly two hours we listened to Mark and asked questions as well. In my opinion Mark presented very well and likely has convinced maybe two and maybe three of the attendees that the latest remediation technologies have advanced to the point that maybe Lanxess themselves might feel that they are better than never ending pump & treat technology.

At the start of the meeting Nathan Cadeau made it clear that  he had a bone to pick. This was fully expected by myself and hence I cut him off at the pass by advising him and others that I was only there to facillitate  Mark's presentation to councillors and mayor. Nearing the end of the meeting both councillor Schwindt and mayor Shantz had other engagements and departed. I was getting ready to depart as well when councillor Cadeau asked me to stay for a couple more minutes. Mark also stayed. Well Nathan as I expected was all upset about various communications I've had with Sebastian, Woolwich Council and or my Blog postings.

While glad that we got Mark's presentation done first I still wasn't interested in a she said, he said with Nathan . I've talked to him before both verbally and by e-mail and he has an uncanny ability to ignore facts that don't support his position while dredging up the weakest, most irrelevant drivel to bolster his position. Seriously I don't argue with children no matter their age. Sure enough he accused me of gaslighting him (i.e. being deceptive or lying) at which point I told him to "fuck off" and I departed but not before advising Mark that he had made good inroads today and I felt he had a rapport with Nathan and should continue on.

So all in all a great meeting despite Nathan's nonsense and bullsh*& at the end of it.

CHEMTURA & MOE/MECP CONFIRM FAILURE TO ACHIEVE 2028 CLEANUP IN JULY 2016

 The article in the July 26, 2016 Waterloo Region Record is titled "Water cleanup won't meet deadline" and is written by Paige Desmond. The following folks are all interviewed including councillor Mark Bauman, Jeff Merriman (Chemtura), Terri Buhlman (MOE) and TAG Chair Dr. Richard Jackson.  Dr. Jackson has suggested that a significant part of the problem is back diffusion whereby contaminants that have migrated into clay and silt aquitards will slowly migrate back into the groundwater as it becomes cleaner. He also suggests that this information has only been known "...in the last twenty years or so..." which means that even before the off-site pumping system was up and running (1998) they knew that more needed to be done. 

Dr. Jackson also suggests that another fifty years will be needed to clean the water. Terri Buhlman at that time (2016) stated that Chemtura must meet its' deadline. Funny thing how it was a deadline then but now they are trying to call it a goal. Lying garbage as always. Chemtura have suggested that no further means will be taken although promised increased off-site wells are scheduled . Those turned out to be tiny pumping wells that only assisted tiny off-site hot spots in the aquifers. 

In fact Chemtura/Lanxess have never achieved significantly higher pumping rates and in fact have gone months and years with pumping rates below their own consultants Target Rates since learning that their 2028 cleanup date will not occur.

FEEDBACK FROM THE OTHER SIDE OF THE FENCE

I mentioned in my Saturday  post, two days ago, that I had received positive feedback from a number of citizens. Well I've also received a little from a local politician. It has been polite with a hint of assistance being suggested. We are currently working out details such as when, where and with whom. Of course all politicians have had thirty-five years to get this overloaded, overweight monstrousity back on the tracks, unsuccessfully.

There have ben a thousand meetings, a thousand promises and at least ten thousand lies.  Hundreds perhaps thousands of reports have been written. Most have been trash as they were paid for by Uniroyal and successors. Many have been written by the Ontario Ministry of Environment albeit usually months or even years too late. The polluter and newer corporate entities have run the "cleanup"  from start to finish. The "finish" is pretty well here and it's a stinker. NO Creek (Canagagigue) cleanup to date and no groundwater cleanup anywhere close to drinking water standards to date or likely within the next thirty or more years.

So why more talk? Well because! That's what politicians do. They talk. Every once in a while they solve something but that's primarily decades along when all the original victims and complainants are dead and buried. It is so much easier negotiating with second and third generations because they have fewer first hand memories of the lies, pain, death and betrayal by our authorities.  Maybe the Elmira cleanup is ready to join those ranks. I won't be holding my breathe waiting.   

IS PUSHING BUTTONS WITH WOOLWICH EXPANDING MY READERSHIP?

 Good question. Lets just say that more people tune in when I am directly confronting Woolwich Township's behaviour. That said I often wonder how much decision making occurs behind the scenes (CAO especially) versus in Council Chambers. My thoughts are that the mayor and CAO decide privately first what they want to feed to councillors and then look for ammunition, fake evidence, alleged comments from local business leaders etc. If necessary reports can be solicited whether from consultants or staff to support their final position all the while attempting to mold councillors' positions to their own. It really is a poor example of democracy and over the decades I have heard former councillors take on the entire process. It includes lobbying either the dumb on council and or your supporters and only after you've got a majority to then present it to the likely holdouts.  

I am already receiving feedback from various sources regarding yesterday's posting titled "Thirty-five years of Professional Lying Agreed to by Current TRAC Member Sebastian". Two points on that : firstly there was a typo in the first sentence with the date. It should have been August 26, 2023 NOT 2013. Sorry folks. Secondly what Sebastian has "agreed to"  is not the specific words "professional lying" but more accurately he has agreed to some consultants being client driven or in his exact words "...unduly influenced by the company's interest; "he who pays the piper calls the tune"".

Overall the feedback I am receiving is very positive. Citizens do not like being lied to and surprise, surprise, liars really hate being called liars. It's almost as if they feel that lying is a right and that their status or authority should infer some immunity upon them from direct charges of being liars. Good luck with that Woolwich & fellow travellors.   

THIRTY-FIVE YEARS OF PROFESSIONAL LYING AGREED TO BY CURRENT TRAC MEMBER SEBASTIAN

 I believe he did this initially on October 26, 2023 when he had TAG member and councillor Eric Schwindt read his written words into the October TAG Minutes. Sebastian repeated it this past spring both at TAG and when he gave myself a copy. While I have found Sebastian's delicate balancing act with TAG/TRAC and CPAC/public very difficult to fathom nevertheless I know that Sebastian has somehow squared the circle of working within a co-opted, tame and deferential alleged "citizens" committee. I could not and will not do it.

Sebastian's presentation to TRAC speaks volumes. It is both well written and smoothly written to minimize angst and anger from TAG & TRAC.  That said it is also honestly written from the heart and the mind and deserves a second appearance here and frankly should be read to TRAC at every public meeting. Don't hold your breathe on that one. Here it is again:

"Being on TAG and predecessor CPAC, for over 12 years now, I have experienced first-hand what transpires in terms of the citizens review process. It is deficient, in large measure because of the imbalance between the company, the MECP, and the citizen representatives. This is partly because of the capitol the company has at it's disposal and, related, the technical expertise it can command. The sad reality is for third parties (e.g. GHD) to be unduly influenced by the company's interest; "he who pays the piper calls the tune". The reports and presentations over the years have been favourable to the company.  All of these are placed in a format of irrefutable and wholly "objective" science. There is rarely a critical word. Against this, a committee of laypersons- most of whom are not technically proficient in hydrogeology- are overwhelmed with detail and outmanoeuvred. Not surprisingly, they become deferential to appearance rather than really expose the substantive. And what is that?  We are just five years away from when the remediation of our groundwater was to be completed. We are at least several decades away from coming even close to achieving that.

To decrease that timeline, TAG or equivalent need to have more means to challenge the company's performance. Getting more specialists who are not beholden to give truly independent reports would be a start. If that is too much, than at least allow TAG o have whatever report comes from a company-funded consulting group subject to a third party peer review. These could come from academe or they could come from genuinely autonomous environmental consultants, i.e. out of province. What should also be considered is allowing the silenced to be heard. There are individuals who have first-hand knowledge about the company's activities who have a non-disclosure covenant. They should be allowed to speak publicly. The closer the scrutiny, the more likely that some of the self-serving assumptions and hypotheses can be exposed. Only then will a degree of balance return in our relationship and some genuine progress be possible.

-Sebastian Siebel-Achenbach "

Neither Woolwich Council nor TRAC have made any acknowledgement to CPAC, the public or likely even themselves as to the veracity of my, CPAC's and Sebastian's submissions to them about the dishonesty of the alleged review process, citizen's committee and alleged "cleanup".  This ignoring of the facts screams corruption, loud and clear, to the informed and honest. Once again I expect that I will be sending this post along to Woolwich Council and TRAC.  I expect nothing honest from either but am simply laying the written groundwork for their future exposure and repudiation.

BLATANT CORRUPTION BY MECP GOES UNFETTERED & UNCHALLENGED

 Ten years ago I personally "discovered" the Stroh Drain.  Of course my discovery didn't mean that the guilty parties didn't know about it. How could they not? I believe that it was part of the extensive work being done on and nearby the Uniroyal Chemical site during the mid to late 1980s  trying to minimize the public outrage all knew was coming when our authorities finally announced the inevitable namely that decades of Uniroyal Chemical dumping of toxic wastes had destroyed Elmira's Aquifers. 

Other discoveries followed including the likelihood of Interceptor Trenches being used to intercept contaminated groundwater and carry it off-site to the Stroh property where it discharged from a sub-surface pipe into a surface Drain and then eventually past a kids' swimming pond and into the Canagagigue Creek. 

Since then NDMA has been found in deep aquifers more than 100 metres off-site to the east and dioxins and DDT compounds found in the sediments of the Stroh Drain, Ditch & Berm not to mention lots found on the Stroh property along their west side border with Uniroyal/Lanxess. 

The order of the decade has been minimal soil  and sediment sampling at minimal depths with nothing but junk science and wishful thinking used to "characterize" the extent of contamination, both areal and vertical. It is much like the MECP's lies about examining the depth of contamination on the Varnicolor Chemical property in Elmira. In 2016 more than twenty years later we found out that there were still half a dozen solvents deep in the soils beneath Varnicolor Chemical.

Accountability and transparency of the alleged "cleanup" are a joke in Elmira thanks to many authorities including Woolwich Township. Frankly anyone thinking about ever being on Woolwich Council best reconsider. Eventually all will be tarred with the same brush of environmental corruption. 

JUNK SCIENCE & FADS ARE SHARED BY MIN. OF ENVIRONMENT AND BY THE MIN. OF EDUCATION

 Baseball has a term which so well describes the behaviour of the Min. of Environment for sure and maybe also the Min. of Education. It is "defensive indifference" and refers to a baseball team taking exactly zero action to attempt to block an opposing player from stealing a base. This "defensive indifference" also applies to the two mentioned Ontario ministries as they go about their business essentially giving at best marginal supervision to School Boards and the environment. For example how could a so called professional Ontario ministry (Education) permit School Boards to drop phonics as a proven reading methodology back in 2003 and then wait 21 years to bring it back after many years of reduced student reading capabilities consistently demonstrated at the public school level as well as at both the high school and first year university level?

The Ontario Min. of Environment has been sitting back and barely scratching the surface of junk science and psuedo science inflicted upon the public and the environment by client driven consultants constantly finding ways to save their polluting clients from spending money on cleanups. Even to the most biased citizens wanting to believe in the Min. of Environment it has become obvious that the Ministry don't aggressively stop the junk science because they don't really care about the environment, hence "defensive indifference". Elmira, Ontario is a prime example.

Today's K-W Record has a front page story titled "We know we need something different". Duh so do parents. Sometimes it is just plain embarrassing to hear and read twenty year olds attempts at the English language. Plans by the Waterloo Region District School Board (WRDSB) are described by one scholar from the University of Toronto as "verbiage and word salad" followed by "This is a marketing brochure filled with lots of nice words." Ouch! He also suggested that "...education is very susceptible to fads,".  I recall years ago comments that the latest WRDSB initiative was merely "the flavour of the month" fad.

The Human Rights Commission has stated that the new way of teaching reading  "...failed, leaving too many students unable to read." They have called on schools to revert to phonics.

One of the supporters for the new WRDSB plan suggests that "We're kind of flying the plane while trying to figure it out." Really? Isn't that reassuring to parents of young children today who want their children to have a first class education in order to be fully involved in society as educated employees, business owners, entrepreneurs and professionals?  Here in Elmira we put lipstick on a pig (TAG & TRAC) whereas the WRDSB took a wise old owl and replaced it with a particularly slow pig without even lipstick on it.

CITIZENS ARE LIKE LEMMINGS LEAPING OFF OF INTELLECTUAL CLIFFS FOLLOWING EXCUSES, LIES & JUNK SCIENCE

DNAPLS, Optimization, Asymptotic Behaviour, Pump & Treat (Dump), soil samples only 5.9" deep on the Stroh property, elevated Method Detection Limits (MDL) are all examples of  these excuses, lies and junk science. One more needs to be added to the list. That is the mournful, soulful whine of the harshly criticized professional liar.  "Oh if only you had treated us with the respect we deserve we would have  a) done the job properly in the first place   b) talked to you respectfully and at the very least acknowledged your legitimate concerns c)  made substantive amendments and changes to satisfy your legitimate concerns."

Professional liars have one playbook and it is very simple. If one lie works then ten lies to back it up are just dandy.  Hence just like a professional spy, actor, politician you never break cover. You never break character. If you are a soft spoken, calm liar then even under pressure you maintain that facade. The credibility of your lies depends upon it. Also factual compromises are dangerous. If you admit to any flaws or errors in your methodology then you open the door to further questions and criticisms.  Far better to slam the door immediately even if your lies are weak.

Recently a presumed, well educated citizen has come to the defence of QPs (Qualified Pe****s) and alleged other experts whom I have dealt with verbally harshly.  This presumed, well educated person actually defended their right to NOT respond to my May 14/24 Delegation to Woolwich Council. This Delegation was a serious, technical critique of Joe Ricker's (WSP) "asymptotic behaviour" nonsense that TRAC members have appeared twice now to accept at face value. This would be at the initial TRAC meeting of April 25/24 followed by the next TRAC meeting of June 13/24 when they failed to ask questions, make comments or even acknowledge the legitimate concerns expressed by myself.  Just as they have done for the last nearly nine years they have refused to discuss or debate any and all written  Delegations I have made to them. They have by their actions expressed their contempt for me, CPAC and all members of the public.

This behaviour by an alleged "citizens" committee is unacceptable however it jives perfectly well with the behaviours of Uniroyal Chemical, Crompton, Chemtura and Lanxess all of whom refuse to discuss, debate or negotiate in good faith with independent, unbiased citizens whom Woolwich Council prefer not to hear from. Any disagreement from  anyone is verboten to them unless worded incredibly softly and sweetly. Deference to authority is first and foremost. Deference to truth is merely a joke to them.   

DOES TRAC & WOOLWICH COUNCIL LOOK LIKE COWARDS & WIMPS TO YOU?

 More than two months after Lanxess, Joe Ricker and other deceivers tried to sell one of the biggest piles of crap to TRAC and the public I am still waiting for a response to my May 14, 2024 Delegation to Council. To date there has been nothing in writing and zero formal response.  There was a question or two about DNAPLS immediately after my Delegation was presented. 

Woolwich Council did send my Delegation to themselves onto TRAC without any request from myself.  I was making a point by speaking directly to Council rather than to TRAC on the matter. TRAC's utter failure to either speak to my Delegation directly with myself or at the next public TRAC meeting (June 13/24) cemented my point very nicely. No questions, comments or response whatsoever when my May 14/24 Delegation came up on their Agenda. Complete fools and idiots hence my direct approach to those councillors hiding behind a tame, deferential, wimpy committee of council. Shame on the pack of you.

My Delegation neatly skewered Joe Ricker's bull%*&^  about "asymptotic behaviour" being the alleged cause of the failure to clean the Elmira Aquifers. So neatly that Council and TRAC haven't even got the guts to respond in writing including from professional BS artists like Ramin, Dave Brenneman (CAO) and Nathan (councillor) much less from Joe himself . I include Dave Brenneman's name as I give him the appropriate discredit for his part in manufacturing the new (old) TRAC committee

Cowards, liars and wimps are a dime a dozen and they are embraced here in Woolwich Township. Our tax money has been supporting them for decades courtesy of dishonest mayors and some councillors. Too chicken to even respond to citizens formal comments, complaints and observations.

I will be sending this Blog posting on to TRAC, Woolwich Council, MECP, RMOW and other guilty parties.  

DID WOOLWICH SOLICIT HONEST, PROFESSIONAL HELP PRIOR TO REBUILDING AT THE GEORGE ST. & HIGH ST. SUBDIVISION IN ELMIRA?

 No I am not talking about professional help regarding infrastructure such as gas lines, water lines, sewer lines , phone lines etc. I'm talking about professional geoscientists,  hydrogeologists and  experts in methane production, ventilation and migration. Why is this important? The former Bolender Landfill has a more than fourty year history of methane production well in excess of health and safety criteria. It also has a more than fourty year history of incompetent and negligent monitoring and supervision of this methane. Methane is explosive which is exactly why it needs to be understood and properly monitored which it has not.

One of the fundamental concerns with methane is its' horizontal migration. Venting methane at the ground surface while not great for the environment  (a greenhouse gas), nevertheless in the absence of pilot lights for fireplaces, gas water heaters etc. and buildings in general, generally is not dangerous via fire or explosion.  However it is well known that underground disturbances as in replacing or adding new gravel lined trenches to hold service pipes, as mentioned earlier, can allow a change in the horizontal flow of methane gas. This man made change or extension of horizontal flow can be deadly if it allows methane gas to approach and enter basements of residential homes with sources of ignition inside.

Hence the question. Did Woolwich Township have experts and professionals specifically in regards to methane migration study the potential for a man made disaster in the area of the ongoing subsurface excavations? If not why not?

ARROGANCE & UNPROFESSIONALISM AT WOOLWICH TOWNSHIP

I believe that bad attitudes come from the top. If  staff and administration view  inquiring citizens as either a nuisance or a threat then it's because they've learned that on the job from their superiors. I sent Jared Puppe a polite e-mail a couple of months back inquiring about the distance residential homes can be from former landfills. Not even so much as an acknowledgement. No response and no suggestion if and when he would decide to answer my question.

Perhaps Woolwich are not so in the clear on this environmental stupidity as they pretend to be. It has taken serious mismanagement, negligence and incompetence to get to this point in time. The stupidly placed landfill in the first place is still producing methane gas far in excess of the health and safety criteria. Likely much of the known industrial liquid wastes have already discharged into the Canagagigue Creek just upstream of Uniroyal/Lanxess Canada. This landfill like most (all?) in Woolwich has no leachate controls and once again no methane controls allegedly. 

Woolwich and the MECP rely on tried and proven technologies primarily DILUTION IS THE SOLUTION TO POLLUTION. Hence the mess.

 

WHETHER A "MAGIC BULLET" OR NOT, THERE ARE EFFECTIVE REMEDIATION METHODS

 Much has been made of the cheap and ineffective remediation done here in Elmira since 1992 known as hydraulic containment , also known as pump & treat also known as pump & dump.  Source removal has long been the cry of intelligent and honest Elmira citizens. In fact there are a myriad of various technologies involving heat, steam, chemical oxidation (in situ or ex situ), encapsulation, direct pumping, likely radiation and numerous other possibilities.

It turns out that there are two or three local companies located in Kitchener-Waterloo with long and successful track records in cleaning up contaminated sites. Why is it you ask that they have not been brought to the attention of Elmira citizens by our local polluters (Lanxess & others)  and or by the Ministry of Expanded Corporate Pollution (MECP) oops I mean (sort of) by the Ministry of Environment , Conservation & Parks? You might also ask why a world renowned groundwater institute located at the nearby University of Waterloo has been ignored by Woolwich and Region of Waterloo politicians for so many decades?

The answer is simple. A sweetheart deal was struck between the province (MOE/MECP) and Uniroyal Chemical way back in 1991 and despite safeguards within that Control Order they have been ignored, amended and obliterated by the MOE/MECP and their fellow travellers. All the guilty parties sat at the table and excluded all the innocent parties. That is how business is done in a psuedo democracy.  Meanwhile a local citizen (Mark) has been researching these local and viable cleanup methodologies.  Whatever you do Woolwich, Lanxess, TRAC, RMOW make sure you isolate and ostracize him the same way you did CPAC in 2015. The last thing guilty and ignorant authorities want is assistance from unaffiliated, ordinary citizens. It makes all the bureaucrats, politicians and alleged credentialed "experts" look merely human and fallible.   

CLOSE & INFORMED EXAMINATION OF THE MONTHLY PROGRESS REPORTS TELLS THE STORY & EXPOSES THE DISHONEST

 Linda was assigned that task on TAG years ago. She has likely done her best but frankly her expertise I believe is in Planning not in contaminant hydrogeology. Hence some better informed TAG (now TRAC) members should have either stepped up and assisted or taken over years ago.  Now of course then TAG Chair Tiffany, who is a hydrogeologist, took no such actions. She left Linda to her own devices I believe without even pointing her in the right direction.

I've just finished looking at the April and May 2024 Progress Reports. Wow the groundwater contour lines for the Municipal Upper Aquifer are frankly horrid. As planned and premeditated the top half of Uniroyal's contaminated groundwater is flowing off-site en masse. No it is not all getting drawn back either on site (PW4 & 5) or off-site into say W5A/B. There is also leakage from the south end of the site. Of course the years long pumping failures at PW5 have exacerbated that problem. Finally which property owners on the west side of Elmira ever agreed to contaminated groundwater being allowed to leave the Uniroyal Chemical site and flow onto their property decades after the site had been ordered hydraulically contained?

Then we look at the failure to hydraulically contain the Upper Aquifer (UA) discharging directly into the Canagagigue Creek from the west side of the company. The May Progress Report admits serious leakage but Figure C.1 is a bombshell. Effectively the majority of the month had higher groundwater levels discharging Uniroyal contaminants directly into the Creek. Now the Creek water levels were also high hence so was the dilution factor. Yet again Lanxess in conjunction with the Ontario MECP are following the real game plan which is "DILUTION IS THE SOLUTION TO POLLUTION". That folks is the reality of the alleged "clean up" and "remediation" of the aquifers and Creek in Elmira.

WHERE IS A REAL CHAMPION ON TRAC ?

 Clearly it isn't Sebastian. He wants to be on there but between family, career, job etc. he doesn't have the time to do it justice. If he did he'd have been REGULARLY in touch with both myself and other CPAC members over the almost last nine years and that has not happened. Even getting timely e-mail responses from him pretty much since September 2015 has been impossible.  I'm finished with that.

It has been over two years since even a single month of pumping has achieved the on-site municipal aquifer Target pumping rate.(i.e. PW4 & 5). That is beyond pathetic and NOBODY ON TAG OR TRAC HAVE PUBLUCLY SAID BOO. Hence my contempt for the pack of them.

For the last six months the off-site pumping in the MU and ML has not even achieved the OLD, reduced Target pumping rates. Over the last year, eight of the twelve months have failed to achieve the lower, reduced pumping rate way back in 2012 much less the alleged doubling or tripling of rates we were promised by Chemtura and CRA.  Again barely a peep out of TAG or TRAC. Contemptible and exactly what Sandy and  fellow travelleors are there for. To serve and protect the status quo, Lanxess and the MECP.  

LYING & DECEPTION IN ELMIRA INCLUDES FOR VARNICOLOR CHEMICAL

 The May 26, 2016 Woolwich Observer carried the following story titled "Environmental assessment the first step in development plan for former Varnicolor site". Keith Metzger, an engineer with Peritus Environmental Consultants stated "The findings were that, although the site used to be quite contaminated, the contamination has been mostly removed, and it is just trace contaminations that are remaining on site, and that is the focus of the risk assessment".  The upper soils were not only excavated but a shallow pump and treat system did a reasonable job of cleaning the shallow aquifer. "However, the upper municipal aquifer still had a number of contaminates that are above drinking water standards."   Further discussions between Elmira Pump, the current owner, and Chemtura and the Min. of Environment are scheduled so as not to conflict with their cleanup plans beneath Elmira.  

Supposedly the full report of the Risk Assessment was to be made public for review in the coming months. Eight years later and I still haven't been gifted a copy. Hence the ongoing lying and deception.

HOW MANY LIVES ENDED PREMATURELY & HOW MANY YEARS LOST FOR FAMILIES?

Most of the victim's are unknown to me. Others however I did know including a family member as well as Esther Thur. She had repeat cancers over the last twenty years of her life and she felt that Uniroyal Chemical bore some responsibility. Other family members here in Elmira, Ontario have had cancer and survived  to date at least. Today's Record carries an Obituary of a former Elmira resident who just recently passed away. I was told that cancer was the cause of death. The property he lived on was/is contaminated with Uniroyal waste products.

Courts don't like hearsay evidence. Esther telling me that she blamed Uniroyal Chemical carries little to no weight in court. Esther would have to tell the court directly which is pretty difficult after she's gone. Polluters have long used the defence that cancer is ubiquitous i.e. everybody's getting it. In one sense the more people who get cancer, yes from a myriad of different causes, the more difficult it is to pinpoint one single polluter. Uniroyal Chemical however can not hide the fact that they have discharged carcinogenic compounds into the soil, air, groundwater and surface waters all in Elmira, Ontario over a period of decades .

Where is the accountability? Where is the justice? Certainly not here. Certainly not from the Ontario Ministry of Environment and certainly not from our judicial system.

LANXESS CANADA (Elmira) PLANS FOR THE FUTURE

 

Continue to sell and propagandize what a swell, environmentally conscious company Lanxess are. This means them shedding all blame for themselves mostly and their predecessors at least a little bit for the toxic mess they are responsible for.  I expect that for a small amount of money paid out they have obtained NDAs (Non Disclosure Agreements) from downstream residents.  I also know that they made a self-serving sweetheart deal with the Ontario Ministry of Environment.

They want a new, non binding Control Order or equivalent without hard dates or demands. They want a Control Order that refers to "historical" contamination nicely ignoring the fact that alleged "historical" contamination exists today throughout their site as well as downgradient and downstream. 

They want  to end their potentially life long pump & treat fiasco but they sure as hell don't want to actually get involved in a real life clean up of their site or their neighbours. That could cost them a lot of money.

They want a co-opted, friendly, allegedly "citizens" committee that they and Woolwich Township fully control. Sebastian and perhaps one other may continue to point out the company's and their consultants failures but all to no avail. The committee is impotent and fully intended to remain that way.

They want their cake and to eat it as well. Just because they bought a money making chemical company doesn't mean that they ever had any intentions to do anything serious regarding the grossly contaminated property.  Maybe the MOE (now MECP) gilded the lily when advising them of how much or how little work and money was required to keep them off the hook of real cleanup. Maybe Lanxess are upset with the MECP.  Or maybe they are still best bedfellows.

HOW MANY MORE LIES WILL BE EVENTUALLY UNCOVERED AT THE UNIROYAL CHEMICAL SITE ?

 Not just lies but outright coverups I'm confident will eventually be proven. Not just DNAPLS and not just overland flow of contaminants onto both the Martin and Stroh property but significantly more. A recent Blog commenter advised that there are other highly toxic chemicals worse than dioxins and NDMA buried on the site. Certainly we know about DDT, many other herbicides, PAHs, parathion etc. What other surprises might there be?

The whole verbal story about gravel pit 1 & 2 has pretty much been a croc from the very beginning. Old maps have not just failed to clarify the truth they have actually clouded it more than ever. Interceptor trenches further north may have been installed after decades of massive leakage southwards, for the purpose of deflecting the toxic mess eastwards off-site (Stroh property), so as to somewhat cleanup the low lying stinkhole just north of the North-West to South-East diagonal ridge of high ground on Lanxess's east side.  

The alleged Stroh property investigation was pitiful and full shame to CRA, GHD and Lanxess for the scam.  Further deceptions include the original location of GP-1 as per official maps versus the multiple, ever changing shifting of GP-1 by CRA and GHD. 

The west side also has some tales yet to tell. Testimony at the Environmental Appeal Board hearings in the early 1990s was never followed up on. Buried drums, raw product and chemical wastes all found their way into the M2 landfill on the Uniroyal/Lanxess site. Again they are still there but only hydraulically contained in theory. Our MECP are knowingly and wittingly complicit.

Someday the site will be remediated and then we will see the full extent of the professional lying that Elmira and citizens have been subjected to over the decades by all parties.

TRAC CHARACTERS NOT ALL BAD, BIASED OR INCOMPETENT

 

I stand by my characterization however that TRAC really stands for "Totally Rotten and Corrupt".  This is because just like RAC and TAG, that is what they were designed to be and the proof is in the pudding. For eight and a half years RAC & TAG marked time, spoke politely and behaved deferentially towards Lanxess, GHD and the Min. of Environment (MECP). This is by my personal observations as well as by the opinion of one of their own members Sebastian Seibel-Achenbach who so publicly proclaimed it in writing. Those written comments are currently on the Township's website, possibly the October 2023 TAG meeting, unless the Township have shifted it again.

 Ramin was awful in that he was slick, smooth, soft spoken and much like Joe Ricker had a voice that was confident and reassuring.  His replacement (?) Hadley has no such built in advantages. Her voice is loud and grating at least to my ears. Her knowledge base is infinitesimal compared to Ramin's.  None of that is her fault or directly indicative of character flaws. That tends to tell me that Lanxess feel the public relations war has been won and Hadley is simply there for mop up.

I view Councillor Cadeau as beyond hope unless of course he really is a CPAC secret agent (see yesterday's post). Susan Bryant's decades of double dealing Elmira citizens, APTE and the Elmira EH-Team put her in an unflattering league of her own. Thank God Pat McLean is long gone and good riddance to bad rubbish. Eric Hodgins formerly a hydrogeologist with the Region of Waterloo has me perplexed. He disappeared literally for years maybe decades and now he's back by invitation as a retiree. I don't think he lives in either Woolwich or Elmira but then neither does Susan. So much for local citizens being on this highly scrutinized and vetted municipal committee. 

Ryan Prosser seems to be on the ball and doesn't let stupidity go unchallenged. He clarified yet again what needs to be done to get clams and bio-monitoring back to the Lanxess site.  Councillor Eric Schwindt seems willing to follow the bullsh*% doled out to him but perhaps he's quietly building a knowledge base before seriously challenging the self-serving propaganda copiously available. Linda Dickson has me stumped. She works hard on looking at the monthly Progress Reports but clearly does not have the environmental background to put the months to years long pumping failures into perspective.  Too bad. Sebastian did step up at the end of the TRAC meeting and proclaimed that there was significant disagreement within TRAC on some matters.  That is good but TRAC is supposed to keep the public fully informed. Many more details please Sebastian.

I feel badly for the two students from Conestoga College. Frankly they got used by Nathan Cadeau (TRAC Chair) as well as by Lanxess and the MECP. Seriously why would you ask for free technical expertise from community college students at the same time as you are paying small fortunes to GHD, Stantec and more?  The answer is simple. The credibility of bought and paid for consultants is low as it should be. Stantec are experts in a number of fields but Risk Assessments is not one of them and it shows. So they bring in honest students just trying to pass their courses and attempt to use them to bolster their own credibility. Both pathetic and disgusting. 

INFORMED RESPONSE TO THE PACK OF MOSTLY AMATEURS ON TRAC

 

                                                                                                                         June 13, 2024

                                                                TRAC MEETING

Kind of an inauspicious start when the presenters apparently can not pronounce Lanxess. It is neither Lanex nor Lanexs. Similarly NDMA or N-Nitrosodimethylamine is NOT MDMA nor MDNA. Finally sub-surface remediation is known as in situ not in- su just as remediation of contaminants brought to the ground surface for treatment are known as ex-situ not ex-su.. Minor points yes but they reflect poorly upon TRAC's alleged professionalism.

It appears if one of the latest Lanxess recruits has made a serious error. Hadley claimed twice in the TRAC video that one can drink the discharge water going into the Creek. Well I suppose one can drink arsenic, cyanide, bleach or whatever one wants but really she should have warned unsuspecting people about the consequences. I believe her drinking suggestion was based upon reduced NDMA concentrations in the discharge water. Yes they are reduced but NOT to drinking water standards. Somewhere I noticed ND (.2) ppb. and somewhere else (likely in the monthly Progress Report) a discharge to the Creek criteria for NDMA of ND (.14) ppb. Even this lower number is approximately fifteen times higher than the drinking water standard of 9 ppt or .009 ppb. Then of course there are all the other chemicals in the soup that are above the drinking water standard. What for me is the most horrifying is that no one corrected her. Nathan and Hadley for example are newbies. Allegedly Susan, Eric H., Sandy, Tiffany etc. are not. YET NO ONE CORRECTED OR CLARIFIED HER. That is incredible beyond belief. Are they all grossly ignorant or simply too well trained to contradict Lanxess???

TRAC Chair Nathan asked Nadia and Sadie of Conestoga College if in their research they had come across “asymptotic behaviour” by NDMA i.e. NDMA never achieving a concentration of zero over time. I believe that Nathan was trying to dispel or disprove my written comments that Joe Ricker's (WSP) theory of “asymptotic behaviour” was junk science or worse. On the other hand maybe Nathan is secretly either an agent of CPAC or an eco warrior and he was hoping that the ladies would respond in the negative as they did.

The discussion focusing on a pilot test of ISCO (In Situ Chemical Oxidation) totally failed to hit the most significant point. Not only was it a failure under the direction of Conestoga Rovers and Chemtura but according to the first TAG Chair, Dr. Richard Jackson, the failure was due to a completely inept and amateurish effort by those two. Several former TAG members were present back then including Sebastian, Linda and Susan but apparently their memories or courage failed them. I have previously sent the references (TAG Minutes & date) to both Woolwich Council and TAG but if you are unable to access them promptly then rest assured I will so provide for a minimum administrative fee solely to ensure appreciation for my efforts. After all you Woolwich Township have a history of dumping on and scapegoating well informed citizens who work for free, literally for years in the public interest.

I am curious as to whether the admitted loss of hydraulic containment to the Creek is solely a function of normally higher ground and surface water levels in the spring time. Could there not also be an element of continued reduction in shallow aquifer pumping along Uniroyal/Lanxess's south-west corner also contributing to this loss of containment?

So has Hadley stuck her foot in it again? Personally I kind of like her based upon her honesty about being a newbie and being on a steep learning curve. Regardless I was a little non-plussed to hear her advise TRAC that the 2028 deadline actually was neither a deadline nor a timeline. Hadley rather strongly referred to it as a Target !!! My recollection both verbally and in writing (June 2000- Kal Hannif MOE) was that 2028 was a mandated deadline and that we at CPAC were so advised many times of that as was TAG from 2015 onwards. Now if that mandated deadline is not a mandated deadline anymore than that's O.K. This is Woolwich Township and clearly black is white, white is black and any and all Ministry Orders etc. are mere suggestions totally amenable to unilateral amendment, revocation and reinterpretation upon the whim of his/her Majesty the Crown.

There was discussion by Hadley and Eric Hodgins regarding “magic bullets” i.e. a remediation technology that could inexpensively do a masterful job of destroying contaminants and cleaning up aquifers etc. Hadley suggested that Lanxess would likely be the first to ever hear about any magic bullets. Eric agreed that such a magic bullet was not likely to show up. Unfortunately Hadley's five minutes of experience with Lanxess really doesn't give her all that much credibility to date.

Ryan Prosser clarified a lot of misconceptions regarding obtaining acceptable clams for bio monitoring at the Lanxess site i.e. the Canagagigue Creek. As had previously been discussed in detail there are a number of native clam species with adequate populations to use here in Waterloo Region versus going back and getting the clams (eliptio complanata) from Balsam Lake which is outside of our watershed. Jason Rice of the MECP blathered on about a new source of clams and Ryan Prosser again set him straight.

For some reason there was discussion about prematurely cleaning part of the Creek. Prematurely, really more than seventy years after the company started killing it? Hadley, Linda and Susan were involved with that discussion. Susan wanted the Risk Assessment finished first.

Susan frankly shocked me which at this point in time I thought that I was well past. In discussing the proposed new MECP Order with Eric Hodgins (former RMOW) Susan stated that the new Order should NOT first be presented to the public. Instead she wants the public educated first. Educated presumably in the ways of sweetness, lightness, obfuscation, deceit and manipulation so that they will not oppose the plans of the discredited non-saviours of the Elmira Aquifers. She and Eric also discussed six allegedly relevant questions regarding cleanup that some idjit may have proposed. Susan did however make one very interesting comment that I do tend to agree with. She asked why a volunteer group should have to be figuring out where the cleanup needs to be going. She referred to that as being too much and unfair. As she stated both Lanxess and the MECP have the funding and the expertise. Unstated may have been that those two have failed and maybe the only purpose of RAC, TAG and TRAC is alleged “citizen” involvement and hence some responsibility for the final failure.

Dr. Klees the faculty adviser to the Conestoga College students suggested that the Ontario Drinking Water Standards (ODWS) might be old and out of date. Jason Rice, Eric H., and Hadley all joined in. She repeated her silliness about allegedly dumping clean drinking water into the Creek. Mayor Sandy Shantz made a comment similar to Susan's about “We need to educate the public.” after first saying that the Township needs input from the public. Two entirely different things.

To my relief Sebastian stepped up and rather bluntly suggested that TRAC be careful with their upcoming “Update” to Woolwich Council. He suggested that there were some fundamental disagreements going on within TRAC. WELL!

There were four pieces of correspondence to TRAC including my Delegation to Council back in May about Joe Ricker's "asymptotic behaviour" junk science, self-serving, face saving groundwater pumping failure excuses. There were the usual zero comments, questions or concerns expressed by TRAC.

Alan Marshall EH Team

DOES TWO PAGES OF EXCUSES JUSTIFY NEVERENDING PUMPING FAILURES?

 On-Site pumping of the Uniroyal/Lanxess Municipal Upper and Lower Aquifers has NOT achieved GHD's Target Pumping Rate in OVER TWO YEARS!  January 2022 was the last time they actually pumped the recommended 4.7 litres per second of groundwater in order to achieve hydraulic containment of the site only in those two aquifers. Their site is leaking into the rest of the Elmira Aquifers because they can not or will not pump a miserable 4.7 litres per second on -site and whether TAG or TRAC they won't offend anybody by demanding compliance.

Meanwhile the off-site pumping has been up and down for the last two years as well with a number of months higher than the GHD instigated Target Pumping Rates as well as far too many months well below even the minimum pumping rates as far back as 2012 . The result is that the higher off-site pumping rates (60-70 litres per second ) draw contaminants off the Uniroyal/Lanxess site and into the Elmira Aquifers but the lower off-site pumping rates (25-45 litres per second) fail to remove anywhere enough contamination to reduce groundwater concentrations of NDMA, chlorobenzene and so much more.

Every monthly "Progress Report" gives a listing of excuses as to why pumping rates, both on and off site, are not achieving the CRA/GHD determined Target Pumping Rates. The latest excuses cover two pages and are a litany of this pump is broken, this pipe is plugged , this part is on back order, the aquifer despite more rain and less pumping allegedly no longer supports this rate of pumping etc. etc.

The May 2024 Progress Report indicates that both on-site wells (PW4 & 5) are below Target pumping and four of the off-site wells are as well namely W3R, W5A, W5B and W9. I believe that this is intentional between the MECP and Lanxess knowing full well that TRAC can be relied on to always defer to smooth talking, client driven consultants and suits.

 

TRAC MEETING LAST NIGHT

 I've already posted here why I did not attend and that the meeting is simply more about face saving for Lanxess and the Min. of Environment (MECP) than about actually, honestly cleaning up the Elmira Aquifers or the Canagagigue Creek.  Interestingly there are a couple of dates already on the Woolwich Council Calendar for future TRAC meetings namely September 19, 2024 and October 10, 2024.  No need to worry about the next three months, as with or without meetings, there will be minimal on and off-site pumping combined with most likely zero Creek cleanup.  Afterall if and when Lanxess and the MECP  decide on a token cleanup of one or two "hotspots" in the Creek they will want to  ensure that the whole world applauds them as they allegedly, voluntarily clean up 1%  or less of the disgusting mess they've made of the downstream Creek. 

THE CLEANUP ALWAYS WAS INTENDED TO BE A SHAM

 The Feds, the Province, the Region and Woolwich Township all decided privately, decades ago, to just let it all go downstream, downgradient and up into the air.  At the same time they understood there would be serious political fallout if they came clean with the public. Amongst unfortunately a smallish number, those political entities have lost all credibility as they should. They are all a pack of professional liars and each and every responsible one should do quality jail time. Only then will conspiracies such as the Elmira Water Crisis not be repeated.

O.K. maybe I should have figured out the big picture a long time ago. The way DNAPLS were handled and mishandled way back in the 1990s should have shown me the light. The fact that Sylvia Berg and the APTE coordinators blanked out on the entire DNAPL scam involving Morrison-Beatty should have rung serious collusion alarm bells. Instead I wanted to think that only Sylvia and Glenys were involved when in fact it included Susan Bryant directly and the other coordinators indirectly. They were too busy with their own lives and families to put the necessary effort in to see through Sylvia's Bullsh*%. 

Tonite TRAC will do as it is supposed to do which is build credibility for both Lanxess and the MECP. They will discuss Agenda Items 6, 8.1, 8.2 and 9. all for the purpose of face saving. Afterall despite twenty-five years plus of professional lying, all parties now agree that they can't restore the Elmira Aquifers by 2028.  So their only hope is more lying. It's what they do best, it is their forte. 

I will not be attending in person tonite for fear of throwing up in disgust with what they say.  

THE DISGUSTING DNAPL COVERUP BY UNIROYAL, WOOLWICH & THE ONT. MIN. OF ENVIRONMENT

It started as early as the 1980s. Frank Rovers of  Conestoga-Rovers & Assoc.( CRA) allegedly told UPAC in the early 90s that the site was filled with both residual and free phase DNAPLs or Dense Non Aqueous Phase Liquids.  Now as a consultant to Uniroyal he also stated that it was least expensive to simply leave them where they were at on site. That excuse should have gone out the window in January 2007 when world renowned hydrogeologists Dr. John Cherry and Dr. Beth Parker set Susan Bryant, Pat McLean and Wilf Ruland straight at a meeting (including myself) at the University of Waterloo. They made it very clear that the most up to date understanding was that DNAPL should be removed from the sub-surface whenever possible in order to reduce groundwater contamination for decades to come.

DNAPL whether residual (scattered patches intermittently filling pore spaces in soil) or free phase ( solid lumps or blobs beneath the surface often resting on the surface of less permeable clay/silt aquitards) both dissolve slowly in groundwater. That slow dissolution can result however in groundwater contamination above drinking water standards for decades to centuries. This is precisely what has been happening with the failure to achieve chlorobenzene drinking water standards of 80 parts per billion (ppb.). 

In hindsight the intentional coverup of the presence of DNAPL both on and off the Uniroyal site was a clear indication that our authorities decided very early on in private NOT to clean up the Elmira Aquifers despite their claims to the contrary.  The entire efforts have been primarily  a public relations exercise to fool the public into thinking that a cheap pump & treat cleanup on its' own could do the job. Literally for twenty-five years Uniroyal/Crompton/Chemtura and the MOE/MECP lied to us. Only in the last few years have they come somewhat clean saying they can't do it albeit blaming it on "Asymptotic Bullsh*% " oops sorry they blame it on "Asymptotic Behaviour"  essentially the same thing as junk science and Bullsh*%.  

WOOLWICH TOWNSHIP EXIST IN A FANTASY LAND OF THEIR OWN MAKING

Hence RAC, TAG and TRAC.  It's all about fooling the public. It doesn't have to be all the public, just enough of them.  Yes our local media, the Woolwich Observer, took their measure accurately back in 2015 but that didn't stop them. Similarly the Observer have spent decades warning Woolwich citizens about always increasing municipal taxes mostly to pay for unnecessary extras including staff raises and hires with little success.

Currently TRAC are selling the idea of giving Ramin,  Lanxess and the MECP a soft landing in 2028 the year that our drinking water aquifers were to be fully restored. No blame, no guilt, no shame it's all about friends pulling together to hornswoggle the public. The new Control Order from the MECP will be kind to Lanxess.  The Joe Ricker nonsense about "Asymptotic Behaviour" being responsible for remediation failures will cast blame for cheapness and laziness onto  more junk science. The amateurish "Advancements in NDMA Remediation" from Conestoga College will further deflect blame as the impression (false) will be given that Lanxess are still trying. Any revisions to the Risk Assessment of the Creek allegedly from TAG/TRAC or the MECP will be superficial at best and or mere window dressing as the vast majority of "revisions" have been. Alleged "hotspots" in the Canagagigue Creek have been nothing more than nonsensical, intentional, locational sampling biases from the beginning that TAG, co-opted Susan and others have jumped upon for an easier fix of five plus miles of grossly contaminated, downstream Creek.

It's all been a sham folks. Very little Source Removal either on or off site. Very little DNAPL removal either on or off site.  Limited pump and treat with promises for much more never occurring. Manipulated and strict control of which citizens our authorities will listen to with a strong preference for the ignorant, co-opted, deferential to authority and those with an agenda to advance themselves versus the public interest. To date not a single shovel of dioxins, DDT, lindane, PAHs, PCBs, mercury etc. has been removed from downstream of Uniroyal/Lanxess. 

   

YET ONE MORE ITEM ON THIS THURSDAY'S TRAC AGENDA

 That would be the likely "Get Out Of Jail Card Free" from the Ontario Ministry of Environment (MECP) to Lanxess Canada. After all nothing has been achieved as promised. The 2000 Amending Control Order insisted upon aquifer cleanup by 2028 and has NOT been complied with not via the junk science Joe Ricker explanation of "Asymptotic Behaviour" but due to laziness, cheapness, incompetence and negligence.

"The Cleanup Is A Sham" was written by myself and put on a sign on the roof of my car way back in the late 1990s. Truer words were never spoken. Personally I seriously doubt that anyone sincerely ever intended for the Elmira Aquifers to be properly cleaned up. They certainly have never taken the actions necessary to achieve that mandated goal by the MOE/MECP.

Hence a new Control Order needs to be written that exonerates Uniroyal, MECP and the successor chemical companies . On this Thursday's Agenda I believe it's referred to as the 2028 Control Order. 

TRAC MEETING THIS THURSDAY AT 6 PM.

 

TRAC is scheduled for this coming Thursday at 6:30 pm. TRAC of course stands for Totally Rotten & Corrupt and is yet another brainchild of Mayor Shantz. Gad but she has really put herself into the Woolwich and Region of Waterloo history books with her deferential and subservient abdication of responsibility and authority on the Uniroyal/Lanxess file.

There are three items of interest on the upcoming Agenda namely a Student Research Paper regarding groundwater remediation possibilities which I've already read and pointed out a number of weaknesses with it here a few days ago.  

The second item is in regards to updates with the HHERA or Human Health and Ecological Risk Assessment.  This was done by Stantec and I've been advised that Stantec are totally out of their depth on this one. Now I do know that Stantec have extensive experience dealing with municipal infrastructure projects such as water, electrical, waste water etc. and that they are respected in that field. 

The third Agenda item deals with the so called "hot spots" which is deceptive and misleading in it's own right. There are far more than just three "hotspots" but when you do 90% of the samples in three areas where do you think your highest concentrations are likely to be? It's called a locational sampling bias and is very effective in getting the results that you want.

WOOLWICH BIOGAS MOVING FROM ELECTRICITY GENERATION TO (Natural?) GAS GENERATION

 O.K. so today's article in the Waterloo Region Record took me two or three reads to figure out what was going on. The "Opinion" piece is from Susan Koswan and is titled "Say no to a new pipeline in Elmira". Now yes I was vaguely aware from earlier newspaper ads etc. that Biogas were expanding again and that they were branching out from producing biogas from organics (foodstuffs) to run generators producing electricity to intentionally producing even more biogas (methane/natural gas sort of) to feed into the natural gas pipelines in the area. 

The local pipeline is allegedly around 2.9 km in length and according to Ms. Koswan's article is to connect with the Owen Sound Transmission Pipeline. Frankly I wasn't overly concerned as it didn't seem like a big deal other than conveniently local citizens probably have been bullshit*% right from the start years ago regarding the company's and province's plans. 

Now Ms. Koswan's Opinion piece is doing what it's supposed to do namely getting people thinking. Regardless of the volumes involved why exactly are we still building any infrastructure (a pipeline) with public funds to maintain or expand the use of natural gas versus renewables when the world are right now suffering from climate change  effects exacerbated by burning of fossil fuels like natural gas? It really doesn't make much sense and local citizens were sold a Bill of Goods yet again to provide profits to local entrepreneurs at the expense of  taxpayers and the environment.

FOOD WASTE TO PRODUCE ELECTRICITY DOES NOT EQUAL FOOD WASTE etc. TO PRODUCE & DISTRIBUTE NATURAL GAS

TWO PAST RECORD EDITORIALS REGARDING UNIROYAL CHEMICAL

The first is titled "Toxic Time Bomb must be defused" dated May 4, 2016 and the second is titled "Our waterways need protection" dated May 9, 2016.  The first one describes the use and abuse of Agent Orange in Vietnam as well as describing signs that have been erected along three stretches of the Creek warning people not to eat fish caught in the Creek.  It has been heavily contaminated since the very late 1940s yet it took over 65 years to post warning signs. What does that tell you about local transparency and accountability?

The second Editorial advises that Woolwich Township have asked the federal government for help in cleaning up the Creek (Canagagigue). Dioxins from Agent Orange combined with DDT and so much more are the biggest problems. To date the federal government have done nothing but pass the buck. No surprise there when even the Ontario Ministry of Environment have corruptly abandoned their mandate and their responsibility through backroom deals and sweetheart deals with Uniroyal. 

These Editorials make it obvious that our governments are ignoring health risks to their own citizens. This is exactly what they have been doing at Grassy Narrows in northern Ontario since the 1960s. There mercury poisoning by dumping in the English-Wabigoon river systems were the problem. Here in Elmira it is industrial/commercial pesticides, herbicides, solvents and more. Shame on all levels of our governments from municipal, regional, provincial to federal.  

IS DISRESPECT TOWARDS OUR ELECTED POLITICIANS RIGHT, WRONG OR INAPPROPRIATE?

Lately there have been  a number of articles regarding politicians leaving politics due to unpleasant public disgust being expressed towards them. I think of past local incidents from chocolate milk being poured on Stockwell Day by local activist Julian Ichim to stones or gravel being thrown at Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's bus. Now I am sure that some of the behaviour has been over the top which in Canada is still more likely to be verbal than violent. I also don't condone hate speech against politicians based solely upon gender, race, religion or skin colour.  Now hate speech against politicians for their ubiquitous lying is entirely different.

Today's Waterloo Region Record advises us that the governments of both Ontario and Ottawa are being sued by the Grassy Narrows First Nation regarding mercury contamination in the English-Wabigoon river systems. Both environmental and human costs of this contamination have been high for many generations with mostly hot air, bullsh*% and obfuscation being the governments' response to this past and even present industrial pollution. 

The title of the story is "Ontario, Ottawa sued over mercury contamination" and the decades after the fact lawsuit likely is directly caused by the failures of our governments to provide citizens with honest and timely justice.  It frankly is amazing to me generally how Canadians are so unlikely to commit violent offenses against blatant lawbreakers who have killed and maimed innocent citizens simply going about their business.  Meanwhile our governments weigh votes and look carefully at the politics rather than at either the law or justice, to their shame.

My take is that our politicians have earned every bit of disrespect  coming their way and  it is totally appropriate.

 

IS IT EVEN POSSIBLE TO DISCUSS/NEGOTIATE WITH LONG TERM PROVEN LIARS?

 TRAC is kind of an attempt. RAC and TAG were kind of an attempt. Sort of. Maybe. The problem is the grossly uneven negotiating positions.  Lanxess are a multi national, multi billion dollar corporation. RAC, TAG and TRAC are somewhat individual citizens and employees who are appointed by a grossly biased Woolwich Township who will not offend or alienate the province of Ontario via the MECP . 

Lanxess are first and foremost interested in shareholder profits and price shares. It has recently been suggested to me that perhaps they were misled by the Ontario Min. of Environment into believing that the Uniroyal/Lanxess site plus the Elmira Aquifers and Creek (Canagagigue)  were not as badly contaminated as they are. This would somewhat cast Lanxess as victims. Personally I am skeptical as surely they read all or most of the reports written over the last three decades or so.  Yes the reports conclusions are sugar coated but a lot of the data is quite damning especially to educated, intelligent readers.

From Uniroyal through to Lanxess Canada the lies have never stopped. Maybe there are fewer now and maybe not. Regardless the few remaining informed and intelligent people have absolutely zero confidence in any good faith discussions ever coming from Lanxess or the Ontario Min. of Environment (MECP). Perhaps there is some kind of sweetener to interest Lanxess in serious, good faith discussions.  I mean talks would have to benefit both parties. I just don't know right now what that benefit could be. Afterall when you own both the process and all the participants it doesn't get much better.

SORRY NATHAN & LANXESS BUT YOUR STUDENT RESEARCH PAPER HAS SOME ISSUES

 O.K. I know that the latest trends in education include more flexible, less rigid attempts at grading student knowledge of subjects.  This may or may not be simply "the flavour of the month" nonsense that has been ongoing in education for some time now. When your basic English and Mathematics at the public school and high school level are unchanged for decades to centuries, then overpaid, inquiring minds are always looking for ways to enhance, complicate things with new acronyms, new teaching methods, the very latest in advanced educational hooey.

There are a number of fairly minor errors in this paper produced by two Environmental Science students seeking a DEGREE not a Diploma from Conestoga College presumably here in Kitchener, Ontario. I will not go into all of them despite my joy at pricking Lanxess, Woolwich Township and the Ministry of Environment's bullsh*% balloons, junk science and more.

In fact I'm even going to suggest that there is a fairly logical reason for the following significant error in the report listing a number of different remediation methods available to remove NDMA from groundwater.  The long time criteria in Ontario for drinking water is a maximum of 9 parts per trillion (9 ppt. (ng/l) ) also known as .009 parts per billion (.009 ppb.) Well it certainly appears as if this research paper has however screwed up the CANADIAN criteria by listing it as  4 ppt. (ng/l) when in fact multiple on-line sources suggest that it is actually  .04 ppb or  40 ppt. (ng/l). The Conestoga College report claims that the Canadian standard is less than half as high as the Ontario criteria or standard when in fact the Canadian standard is more than four times higher than the Ontario standard (i.e. 4 ppt versus 40 ppt.).

Now why am I being so generous suggesting a fairly logical reason for this mistake? That is because the on-line Canadian criteria/standard for NDMA in drinking water is written somewhat bizarrely as follows:   .000 04  mg/l. Yes there is actually an empty space between the third and fourth zero. What the hell. Therefore it could be a forgotten zero???  Or not???? Regardless if it is supposed to read .00004 mg/l then it means  .04 ppb and  40 ppt. (ng/l).  Otherwise if that extra zero is included (.000004 mg/l ) then it reads .004 ppb. and  4 ppt. (ng/l). 

The website for the Canadian criteria advises that the  .000 04 mg/l or .04 ppb. or  4 ppt. (ng/l) are the accurate numbers.  While confusion is certainly understandable both can not be correct.  So did the Conestoga College folks screw up or is all the blame on our federal government twits writing the concentration in a funny manner?