Tuesday, October 1, 2024

LEGITIMIZING FAILURE OR PUTTING LIPSTICK ON A PIG

This is what  authorities do. Unlike the rest of us who make errors  and both acknowledge them and pay the consequences, our authorities do neither. Firstly they lie either bluntly about their failures or they gild the lily by suggesting that in fact it really was a success for the following ridiculous reasons. Then, post failure they rewrite plans, documents, procedures or whatever is necessary to make the failure prettier and more palatable. They will always find the mythical rainbow at the end of their screwups.

The province of Ontario mandated 2028 cleanup to drinking water standards of our Elmira groundwater is simply the most obvious and glaring failure. It has been admitted to by Chemtura, Lanxess and MECP since 2016 and 2017. Of course over the last five years there have been lots of excuses suggesting acts of God, misfortune and other impossible to forsee factors. These have included "back diffusion",  the extremely low drinking water standard for NDMA (.009 ppb.), "asymptotic behaviour", lunar eclipses and ingrown toenails . Oh alright but if Lanxess, their consultants GHD or the Ministry (MECP)  had suggested those last two would you have jumped on them as quickly as you did me?

Here is what Lanxess and fellow liars have not admitted to:

Lack of on and off-site pumping

Lack of on-site DNAPL cleanup

Lack of off-site source removal

Lack of overall on-site source removal

Lack of strong, unbiased, non-deferential citizens on RAC, TAG & TRAC 

The new paperwork will be aided and abetted by Lanxess's partners in pollution namely the MECP and Woolwich Township. It will include position statements, new remediation plans, new Control Orders or equivalents and new public consultation always fully controlled by the mayor and CAO and butt kissing councillors. Of course nothing about the cleanups of water, sediments or soils will be improved, merely the further delays "justified". 

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