This particular Podcast (Old Grey Mare) is an hour long and was transmitted on May 14, 2022. Full disclosure I had a small bias in favour of Rob Deutschmann based upon his persistent kicking sand in the WRPS and their stupid "civilian" Board's face. Gerry Thompson, former CAO of Waterloo Region, I doubt I've ever met although I have a tiny bias regarding his perceived closeness to Ken Seiling (in my eyes).
The very early question from Rob to Gerry was why the Ministry of Environment (MOE) had not found NDMA much sooner than 1989. Oddly Gerry hummed and hawed but never said what the public had been told namely that the MOE had never tested for NDMA before. Personally I've always believed that the MOE lied about that (and so much more) and maybe Gerry forgot or he simply didn't want to repeat the lie.
Gerry also responded to a question about the MOE 's behaviour and actions thusly: "The MOE talk but do nothing." Furthermore he said that "...the MOE has neither the ability nor the will to do anything...". Gerry also suggested that Uniroyal burying drums was "probably illegal". Now by this time I'm wondering if this interview done in May 2022 was past Gerry's prime however he certainly sounded confident and sharp with his words.
Oddly Gerry hinted that the other parties to the legal action for costs seemed to be primed and ready to go. He suggested that Uniroyal already had Conestoga Rovers (hydrogeological consultants) on board as well as a number of Bay St. lawyers. My comment is that it's almost as if they'd been waiting for the MOE's announcement for months.
Gerry also suggested that initially it was thought that NDMA could be absorbed through the skin hence showers and baths were dangerous. Later on Gerry felt that this characteristic of NDMA was found to be false. Now that is not my recollection however that one I'd prefer to check out properly before calling Gerry nuts or wrong. By the way by this time in the podcast I'm really enjoying Gerry's comments but I've repeatedly screamed in frustration at my monitor because of Rob's constant interruptions. His comments are not remotely as interesting as his guest's are but O.K. by the end of the podcast his interruptions had become less egregious.
Regarding dealing with Uniroyal and David Ash Gerry stated that "they argued over everything..." and that David was a company man.". Now at one point Rob said something about "early detection" of NDMA which made absolutely no sense in the context of this whole interview.
Now this next one by Gerry is a whopper and one reason over the decades that I've lost respect for the Region of Waterloo. Gerry said that the contamination into the "Gig" was greatly reduced before "it could begin to migrate into the watershed (Grand R.)". Sorry Gerry but Uniroyal's toxic crap had been flowing down the Canagagigue Creek and into the Grand River since the mid and late 1940s a whole four decades before it was allegedly "discovered" in the Elmira south wellfield (E7/E9). Also the hydraulic containment of the aquifer discharging into the Canagagigue didn't begin until 1997. Therefore more than fifty years for the dissolved contaminants as well as the undissolved but attached to sediments DDT and dioxins to also migrate a measly five miles downstream.
Another huge problem for me is Gerry's claim that NDMA was a by-product of herbicide Agent Orange production. My knowledge is that NDMA was a by-product of a couple of different Uniroyal product groups such as ADAM and another which escapes me at the moment. Probably what Gerry was thinking of was dioxin (2,3,7,8 TCDD) was a toxic by-product of Agent Orange .
Gerry did O.K. even for someone so closely involved in the crisis thirty plus years ago. If he did zero preparation for his podcast then the errors are somewhat explainable. Otherwise not so much. Fortunately there are still a few citizens around who can hold the history true.
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