PUBLIC CONSULTATION HAS BEEN ABORTED, MANIPULATED, MURDERED AND GENERALLY TREATED WITH CONTEMPT BY WOOLWICH TOWNSHIP (& others)

 

You  would almost think that it was the apathy or love of polluters by local citizens that caused the cleanup failures to date based upon the behaviour and words of all guilty parties. They are all strutting around as if they are the saviours and the heroes of Elmira when in fact it is the reliance upon our governing structures combined with their refusal to stand up for the public interest that has doomed the cleanup of our drinking water aquifers and of our Canagagigue Creek. Two sellouts by the name of Pat McLean and Susan Bryant dragged CPAC in 2000 into and under the control of our municipal government. Esther Thur, Dr. Henry Regier and myself all spoke against that  direction and time has proven us correct. Susan and Pat knew that they would have support from both Uniroyal Chemical and Woolwich Township  forever more if they could deliver CPAC to Woolwich control and the company knew that they had far more influence with the municipality than they would ever have with individual citizens not working for them.

The best citizens group ever was disbanded by Chemtura, the Min. of Environment,  Sandy Shantz and Mark Bauman back in late August 2015. We volunteers were unceremoniously dumped precisely because we were so effective in insisting upon real cleanup and source removal (both on & off the Uniroyal/Chemtura site)  versus the slow and ineffective pump and treat that had been sputtering along for years. Going on eleven years later and only now is there discussion about enhanced and improved off site groundwater cleanup.  History shows the likelihood of that "discussion" going on forever. The Creek ("Gig") remains totally unremediated downstream of Uniroyal/Lanxess Canada.

Below is a partial copy of my complaint to the Ontario Ombudsman. No remediation done for the public interest versus saving the company money and for saving face for the Min. of Environment will occur until honest and knowledgeable citizens once again are in charge of local public consultation.  

Make a Complaint What's your complaint about? Ontario and municipal government and public services Your contact information First Name alan Last Name marshall Phone Number 519 6692801 Email Address agmarshall@rogers.com Address 99 Church St. W. Elmira, Ontario. N3B3K7 What is your complaint about? Describe your problem in 3 to 5 sentences. Include  the name of the organization you are complaining  about and what happened. Woolwich Township (part of Waterloo Region) refuse to  allow the public, citizens or residents either the right to   comment or ask questions at public meetings of TRAC,  a committee of Council. The Technical Remediation &  Advisory Committee (TRAC) advise on restoring the  town of Elmira's drinking water destroyed by Uniroyal  Chemical in 1989. All members are appointed by Council  and include non residents and even a non Canadian  (American) while refusing myself (& others) wholly  qualified and quite frankly better technically and historically  informed than current members. I have lived in Woolwich  Township for 32 years and in Elmira for 23 years plus I  led the charge to convict and imprison Severin Argenton,  owner of Varnicolor Chemical, for dumping solvents and  other toxic liquid wastes at his Elmira business. Varnicolor  has since been recognized as being one of three now  responsible for contaminating the Elmira drinking water  aquifers. Additional information Let us know if you need special support or have a  preference about how we contact you. This could be  something like braille, large text, a phone call instead  of email, an in-person meeting, or the best time for us  to call you. e-mail or phone calls during business hours please Yes, I want to subscribe to your monthly newsletter to  receive news about Ombudsman Ontario Yes Yes, please send a copy of my complaint to the email  address I provided above. Yes