ELMIRA IN SUMMARY THIRTY-FIVE YEARS LATER

 

CITIZENS ARE BOTH  DYING FROM CANCER LIKE FLIES AS WELL AS SURVIVING MULTIPLE CASES

OUR TWO MUNICIPAL AQUIFERS ARE STILL WAY ABOVE DRINKING WATER STANDARDS WITH MULTIPLE CONTAMINANTS

THE DOWNSTREAM CANAGAGIGUE CREEK IS TOXIC TO MULTIPLE BIOTA INCLUDING FISH & HIGHER FOOD CHAIN PREDATORS

THE COMPANY (LANXESS) & MECP CONTINUE THEIR STRANGLEHOLD ON ALLEGED CLEANUP WITHOUT SUCCESS BUT LOTS OF EXCUSES

THE TOWNSHIP (WOOLWICH) CONTINUE THEIR STRANGLEHOLD ON PUBLIC CONSULTATION AND HAVE AMASSED THE FRIENDLIEST, MOST DEFERENTIAL, MOST RESPECTFUL & POLITE  GROUP TOWARDS PROFESSIONAL LIARS I"VE EVER SEEN.  NEITHER THE MECP NOR LANXESS HAVE RESPONDED IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST TO THIS BEHAVIOUR

TWO CPAC MEMBERS HAVE ATTEMPTED TO JOIN TRAC CLAIMING THAT SITTING AT ANY  TABLE IS BETTER THAN NONE. YES IT IS BETTER FOR THE MECP & LANXESS. PERHAPS DR. DAN & SEBASTIAN BELIEVE THAT THEIR INTEGRITY & VIRTUE WILL SHINE ABOVE THEM BLINDING EVILDOERS AND REDUCING THEM TO QUIVERING, WHIMPERING BLOBS OF YELLOW JELLO.  GOOD LUCK WITH THAT!

THE POLITICAL COVERUP CONTINUES UNABATED WITH DEVELOPMENT SHIFTED TO THE EAST SIDE WHERE I BELIEVE UNIROYAL CONTAMINATION ON THE STROH & MARTIN FARMS WILL BE BURIED UNDER ROADS & BUILDINGS

MANY GUILTY LOCAL POLITICIANS HAVE RETIRED PRIOR TO THE 2028 DEADLINE HOPING  TO AVOID BLAME.  SANDY, NOT TO BRIGHTLY HAS STAYED ON AND WILL LIKELY EVENTUALLY BEAR LOTS OF THE BLAME

THE ELMIRA INDEPENDENT FOUGHT TO THE END. THE WOOLWICH OBSERVER OCCASIONALLY TELL IT LIKE IT IS BUT THERE HAVE BEEN CRUCIAL GAPS IN THEIR COVERAGE ALLOWING THE PUBLIC COVERUP TO GAIN TRACTION

BRIEF DESCRIPTIONS OF A COUPLE OF IMPROVED REMEDIATION METHODS FOR GROUNDWATER

 The following two methods were used in downtown Indianapolis to destroy a plume of TCE (trichloroethylene) migrating towards a nearby river. These methods were used concurrently, with ISCO (In Situ Chemical Oxidation) being injected at the source area to break down the TCE (DNAPL & dissolved) by removing the chlorine and the second method namely PRB (Permeable Reactive Barriers) using iron filings and more to break down the fully dissolved TCE in the groundwater. Much greater detail is in the video linkage that I provided here last Saturday.

Neither of these remediation methods are brand new although certain "amendments" and fine tuning may have been used to enhance their efficacy. Lest we forget here in Elmira, Ontario, Chemtura and Conestoga Rovers went through the motions around 2009-2010 in producing an intentionally feeble Pilot Test of ISCO. They injected it near current pumping well W3R, perhaps slightly east near CH75.  According to Dr. Jackson the first and only excellent TAG Chair, their attempts were pathetic bordering on the amateurish. In my opinion almost as if they wanted the pilot test to fail so that they could claim that they at least attempted something other than Pump & Treat.

I'm not certain but I seem to recall that PRBs may have first been developed at the University of Waterloo. It is beyond shameful that our authorities were allowed to proceed with second and third rate cleanup methods versus the best available which basically meant some form of source removal whether excavation, ISCO,  ex-situ Chemical oxidation, PRBs or many other options. Pump & Treat has failed and now they really aren't even trying hard as their pumping rates both on and off site are generally pathetic.

  

 

INCESTUOUS BEST DESCRIBES THE METHOD OF EXCLUDING ALL AUTHORITIES & CITIZENS WHO AREN'T ON BOARD

 

By keeping the Feds out and by limiting and controlling local media Uniroyal and corporate successors have drastically reduced criticism of their second (or third) rate cleanup of the Elmira Aquifers. Then through pressure on Woolwich Township they have also determined who can and who can not be directly on the public consultation body. In other words simply be eliminating almost all CPAC members in 2015 from TAG and then continuing their practice of carefully vetting non aggressive, highly deferential individuals with an employment incentive to go along to get along, they have culled out those with greater knowledge and hard earned experience from greater involvement. The word you may be currently looking for is "shysters".  While arrogant and hypocritical they pretend to be polite, respectful and honest. Professional liars have no politeness, nor respect for others and are grossly dishonest.

Last Saturday I mentioned the M2 landfill still on the Uniroyal/Lanxess property. Where do you think the ongoing and never ending discharges of DDT and dioxins into the Creek are coming from? Today I'll mention the somewhat phony cleanup of GP1 & 2. First of all GP-2 was merely "capped". It was never cleaned up. Secondly GP-1 's location was manipulated and relocated at least a few times. CRA/GHD never could settle on exact boundaries and over decades came up with different sizes and shapes and locations particulaly for GP-1. 

Old maps show an entirely different story for GP-1. They both show intentional diversion of overflowing Uniroyal east side pits onto the Stroh farm to the east as well as possible pumping attempts to drag back the wastewaters from running down the east side of the diagonal, elevated NW to SE ridge of land that crosses over to the Stroh property. This pumping certainly would have contaminated parts of the pretend GP-1 located on the west side of the diagonal, elevated ridge of land.  That would have made cleanup of the pretend GP-1 location worthwhile although it helped hide and further the conspiracy between our authorities to lie about Uniroyal's eastern and southern off-site contamination of the Stroh and Martin farms. 

Keep on lying! Professionals not beholden to Lanxess (and the MECP?) know what a shoddy cleanup has occurred here and the lying behind it. 

 

WHAT A WASTE OF TIME, EFFORT & RESOURCES

 THANK YOU UNIROYAL/LANXESS, MOE/MECP & SO MANY OTHERS FOR SO MANY WASTED DECADES

The following link was sent to me by Mark. It is an excellent video on groundwater remediation.

While the webinar is a full hour, it explains in detail what I'm trying to get across, and why I'm feeling so optimistic about the possibilities.  If you can take the time to watch this video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCoW2FqGxV4. This is a great view of what capabilities exist and what we could be promoting.    

So will any of our authorities get their butts in gear?  

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.