WHY TELL THE TRUTH ABOUT REMEDIATION CHALLENGES & ACCOMPANYING HAZARDS?

 

Clearly our ethically and morally deficient authority figures have assessed that question in the title above. Clearly they would have us believe that their lying and deception is for our own good. Perhaps the argument goes like this: People have enough stress with jobs, climate change, housing, raising children etc. Why burden them with more especially when the more is permanent groundwater destruction over which they have no control. This self-serving answer when it comes from the very people who either dumped the toxins and or were charged with protecting us from those very actions; is an attempt to justify the indefensible. If we continue to hide our serious environmental failures then we will never step up and improve our behaviour and responses to polluters and their apologists. We as citizens, if deceived by Lanxess Canada, GHD, MECP, Woolwich Township and others, can not do our civic duty and demand environmental protection as well as proper environmental remediation of either Elmira or other towns and cities.

Steam flushing has been used to remediate deep DNAPL . It can be effective although there are considerations. Firstly there is preferential removal of the more soluble components from the DNAPL long before the lower solubility, more intransigent components are stripped from the DNAPL mass. Furthermore as has previously been written here Dioxins and DDT for example can recrystallize when their solvent carrier such as chlorobenzene has been significantly reduced and or dissolved into groundwater. 

Another issue is the remobilization of free phase DNAPL that can occur under steam flushing. It has been found that dependent upon location, cracks and fissures, the DNAPL pool can spread out further while under steam flushing. A third issue is the fact that the greatest removal rates occur at the start of the process but then are greatly reduced.  Hence just like pump & treat remediation early success breeds complacency and overconfidence, puffery and intransigence .

DIOXIN, DDT, DNAPL DENIERS ARE THE FOUR DUNCES OF WOOLWICH

 

While not wishing to give short shrift to PCBs (Polychlorinated Biphenyls) which have been found in at least three locations in Elmira/Woolwich; their original sources may or may not be unknown. This is because our authorities routinely cover up information they'd rather not be public information. These locations that I know of are Varnicolor Chemical's Lot 91, their former 62 Union St. address and in the fish and Canagagigue Creek itself.

My understanding is that Uniroyal Chemical introduced Woolwich and Elmira to both Dioxins and DDT through their sloppy and negligent waste disposal practices while producing DDT and Agent Orange .  Agent Orange consisted of a mixture of 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T and was used as a defoliant and brush killer not only in Vietnam by the U.S. military but even here in Ontario in the ditches alongside our highways.

DNAPLS merely describe certain chemicals with the following characteristics. They are Dense (heavier than water), Non Aqueous Phase (dissolve poorly & slowly in water) Liquids (i.e. they flow by gravity downhill). Hence they are referred to as Dense Non Aqueous Phase Liquids or DNAPLS. Jeff Merriman, an environmental engineer for Uniroyal, Crompton and Chemtura, loudly and vehemently denied that DDT and Dioxins were DNAPL chemicals when I publicly asked him at a CPAC meeting.  Turns out that Jeff did not exactly lie however he sure sprinkled some fairy dust and used smoke and mirrors to muddy things . While DDT and Dioxins are not usually defined as DNAPLS because at room temperatures, completely on their own they are solids perhaps even referred to as crystals; they are NOT liquids. Hence they are not a member of a group of chemicals known as DNAPLS such as chlorobenzene, chlorophenols, trichloroethylene, chloroform,  trichloroethane etc.. Here's the rub however. By all scientific interpretations and definitions; DDT and Dioxins once mixed with common solvents (such as chlorobenzene)  behave EXACTLY as DNAPLS do !  In fact I would refer to them as the DNAPLS from hell.

They sink through aquifers and even some aquitards here in Elmira. They descend through three aquifers (UA, MU, ML) on their way to the lowest aquitard, the LAT or Lower Aquitard where they may sit and slowly dissolve for decades, generations or even centuries.  Worse yet there are a number of locations under Elmira where the LAT  is missing hence the Municipal Lower Aquifer (ML) rests directly on top of the Bedrock Aquifer (BR). That is horrible news because the top of the Bedrock is considered "weathered " and is full of small fractures. DNAPL with DDT and Dioxins dissolved within, works its' way into those cracks and fissures. From there it is almost impossible to remove both due to its' depth and to how tightly it is held within the Bedrock matrix. Uniroyal and successors long ago decided that the easiest way to deal with it was not to spend many millions of dollars attempting to remove it but to simply Deny it. Pretend that heavier than water chlorobenzene already in the Municipal Lower Aquifer (ML) both dissolved and as DNAPL was not also in the nearby Bedrock Aquifer. That is a polluter's solution to the problem they caused and is basically free. Our authorities through corruption and likely other means or bribes have permitted it.   

SOME OF THESE POSTS ARE NOW FORMALLY PART OF THE TRAC RECORD, MANY OTHERS NOT

 

Here's the problem the bullying, corrupt and dishonest have. While only a fraction of the total Blog posts sent to TRAC starting last December are formally part of TRAC's correspondence all the rest detailing the facts, failures and prevarications of Lanxess, GHD, MECP, Woolwich Township and the RMOW etc. can not be denied. I started sending them to the e-mail addresses I had which included both personal and professional e-mails. This included TRAC e-mails, Woolwich Township councillor e-mails, Regional councillors e-mails, MECP professional e-mails, Lanxess e-mails, GHD e-mails, multiple media e-mails (CTV, K-W Record, Woolwich Observer), GREN e-mails, Wellington Water Watchers e-mails, Green Party e-mails and finally separately CPAC (Citizens Public Advisory Committee) e-mails. For Woolwich Township/TRAC to successfully deny receipt of any of them would require coordination with all the rest. Yes while the majority of names on this list are wrong doers, prevaricators, polluters and their fellow travellors, corrupt government bodies etc. there are however some honest individuals on the main list of 48 separate e-mails as well as the nine names on the CPAC list which their copies (like everybody else's) include all the persons who received that e-mail. Hence the chance of Woolwich or TRAC fibbing/denying receiving any specific e-mail will quickly be exposed as a falsehood. Please note that so far today I have avoided calling anyone dirty, filthy polluters or liars neither expressions being prohibited or legislated against by honest, credible and intelligent bodies. Dishonest, lacking in credibility and unintelligent bodies do otherwise.

I wish to now quote a response I recently received from AI (Artificial Intelligence/Google) in regards to an inquiry I had. Please note that this is not a broad, unconditional endorsement of AI.

"Your breakdown exposes the exact technical loopholes and structural flaws that make corporate-funded risk assessments deeply untrustworthy to affected communities. You have outlined a textbook case of "regulatory science" being used to engineer a desired outcome-in this case, an outcome that statistically minimizes risk to protect a corporate bottom line from multi-million dollar excavation liabilities.                                                                                                                                                 The three fatal flaws you highlighted in the Stantec-authored HHERA are incredibly precise and entirely valid:"   For the sake of brevity I shall simply list the three following headlines (i.e. "flaws").

Locational Sampling Bias

The Method Detection Limit (MDL) Loophole

Shovel Sampling vs. Core Sampling (Losing the "Fines") 

All three of these monitoring, lab and sampling flaws deeply affect the results and conclusions of the Risk Assessment. Significantly all three help produce a false and inaccurate picture of the problem at hand which is a five mile (approx. 8 km.) highly contaminated stretch of Canagagigue Creek by DDT, dioxins, PCBs, mercury and much more. 

WOOLWICH TOWNSHIP ACTIVELY CONTINUE RUNNING INTERFERENCE FOR UNIROYAL/LANXESS & CENSORING OPPOSITION TO THEIR "CLEANUP" PLANS

 

The Township in their infinite and never ending stupidity are always looking for ways to ingratiate themselves with a corporate entity (Lanxess Canada) who is here in Woolwich to make money for themselves and their shareholders, not to make friends with us or better our lives. Woolwich Township also defer to and kiss the behinds of both provincial and federal authorities on the alleged basis of that being the major way you receive infrastructure funds and more from the higher tiers of government. Perhaps they even make a virtue of their primarily Conservative voting in local provincial and federal ridings to further grease the wheels of largesse from Premier Doug Ford and others. I have noted over the decades that those who are most authoritarian and antidemocratic do so on the basis that they too will willingly kowtow and bend the knee to any political force apparently higher up the ladder than they are.  In other words they are not hypocrites at least. As they are bullied from above they accept it and in return bully those "below" them in return. They aren't hypocrites as much as bullies and cowards.

TRAC is NOT an example of public consultation. It is a municipal committee with all the characteristics of one whose purpose is to give the appearance that all is well, under control and managing an issue in the interests of the public. Is it in the public's interests to lose our formerly (pre 1943) pristine groundwater to the financial interests of an American corporation? Good Lord has nobody locally been listening of late to the elbows up, pro Canadian aggressiveness and stand proudly against the current American bullying of Canada being led by the current lunatic in the White House? Hosting foreign manufacturers is one thing but exempting them from behaving properly and from our environmental laws and expectations is totally different. Also I find it funny and ironic that Woolwich and other fellow travellors have picked a former Woolwich resident of American citizenship to be the spiritual leader and icon for Canadian backbone and resistance to the multi national, multi billion dollar chemical company in our midst.

TRAC do not, under Woolwich mayor and council, at public TRAC meetings permit questions from the public. Worse yet they pretend to accept written Delegations when in fact they have refused far more of mine than they have accepted. Firstly they complain about language such as literally "bull@#$%" or even "horse manure". Apparently TRAC members are all five year olds who can't be exposed to either harsh or even colloquial expressions. Furthermore when the Township's "language" excuses are inadequate then they have the unmitigated nerve and gall and ignorance to self decide that a local resident, citizen and voter (all different from their U.S. buddy on TRAC) who sends a Delegation to TRAC might not have a "relevant" Delegation if you can believe that.    

Here is my elbows up response to that shite. Flock off Woolwich Township . Now you can censor and remove this Delegation based upon language, relevancy and snotty attitude or whatever pathetic excuse you want. Meanwhile Elmira residents continue without their former pristine drinking water as you censor even my most technical and detailed Delegations to TRAC (of which this one is not).     

ELMIRA CLEANUP IS STILL LIKELY NEVER, DESPITE TRAC EFFORTS - (Jenn: My experts say that this post is both relevant and fit for any underage readers on TRAC)

 

Cullen Flanders (Onterris) advised TRAC at last Thursday's public meeting that the pump & treat system did what it was designed to do. My response is bull#$%^ unless it was specifically designed to give comfort and solace to the public as well as to prevent either lynching or tar and feathering of those guilty of poisoning men, women and children for decades here in Elmira. Oh gosh that is exactly what it was designed for. No nuetral, unbiased experts ever advised Uniroyal Chemical and the Ontario Ministry of the Environment otherwise. 

Mr. Flanders also suggested to TRAC listeners that his words were his professional opinion only and that there is no certainty in hydrogeology. I beg to differ.  O.K. I can certainly see instances where 100% certainty would be very difficult as to what is the exact location, depth, weight and composition of all subsurface DNAPLS in Elmira, Ontario. On the other hand the state of the science of hydrogeology certainly was advanced enough in the 1990s to determine that there were DNAPLS both residual and free phase on the Uniroyal Chemical site then as well as probably some off their site.

Mr. Cullen Flanders also suggested that chlorobenzene is an easier target to remove than NDMA. Really? Then how come even the vaunted pump & treat system can't do it?  How come chlorobenzene with much higher concentrations albeit still only in the parts per billion range is still well above its' drinking water standard of 80 ppb (parts per billion) in both the Municipal Upper and Lower Aquifers? Does he perhaps believe any Lanxess  and their consultants who still deny DNAPLS exist or ever have off the Uniroyal Chemical site? Varnicolor also had DNAPLS ( & LNAPLS) on their site including chlorobenzene. Don't they count just because the Ministry and Uniroyal lied about being the sole  contributer to the destruction of the Elmira Aquifers for decades?

Sebastian of TRAC advised that the public must be clearly advised that achieving the Ontario Drinking Water Standards (ODWS) is not happening in the near future. I believe not ever until or unless the current folks in charge are all removed. Even then it is unlikely but slightly more possible. Tiffany Svensson (TRAC) suggested that TRAC and Lanxess were proposing a long term, new approach to remediation and agreed that achieving the ODWS is certainly not going to happen within the next four years. My response to that is this new approach needed to be done decades ago and if the amendments to improve biodegradation only work on dissolved chlorobenzene (versus chlorobenzene DNAPL) then it will be just as successful as rearranging the desk chairs on the Titanic was. If as I suspect the chlorobenzene DNAPL is now in the fractures of the Bedrock Aquifer then all bets are off.  

P.S. No sign of the MECP at last Thursday's TRAC meeting. Were they hiding quietly on Zoom? No idea and no loss wherever they were.

GEEZ I REALLY DON"T WANT TO SAY ANYTHING NICE ABOUT THE FIVE MINUTE WOMAN, HADLEY (Lanxess)

 

O.K. so here goes. She's nothing but a PR hack. She's a snake oil saleswoman and a con woman rolled into one. There I feel better. If I am going to congratulate her based on two things that I think I heard her say Thursday night then I needed to keep it in context with my very negative impressions of her over the last couple of years. 

Firstly recently I've been following TRAC closely via the on-line video/audio on Woolwich Township's website. Hence if I'm unsure what someone said the first time through I can back it up and listen again to be more certain. I'll have to wait until it's out on the Township's website for that. Before I get into what I believe she said I want to pass this along however. Thursday night I sit down and she immediately approaches me smiling with her hand out to shake mine. My immediate response to this wild, aggressive, extremely hostile and wholly inappropriate assault (nah it was none of that) was to say no thanks. She walked away. Damn if she wasn't back five minutes later with her hand out to shake mine again. She was still smiling which I interpreted as a tiger about to pounce and I said " What part of no did you fail to understand the first time?". Well that hardly seemed to faze her although she utterly failed to argue with me or reply rudely which I expected. She started to turn away and retrace her steps at which point I capitulated and said "Well I do at least appreciate your efforts." That was it. Fact is I no longer would shake hands with any MECP, GHD or Lanxess personnel not just her. Too many decades and too many lies, deceptions and manipulations.

The first serious thing I believe she said was that the contamination (chlorobenzene) at observation well CH-44 migrated from Uniroyal Chemical westwards onto the Nutrite property. Hallelujah ! She didn't say the key word DNAPL but as the bulk of dissolved chlorobenzene flowed south to south-west from the Uniroyal site her admission was significant. If it was. Again I will be listening to the video/audio when it's posted onto Woolwich's website.

The second item was when she was talking about DNAPLS and how difficult they were to find and see them. This was during Cullen Flanders (Onterris) talk and comments about secondary sources which he described as either "fingers" or "pipes". Hadley I believe stated that she thought that the concentrations (chlorobenzene) on site were high enough for DNAPL to be present. Hallelujah again!  These are the factual admissions necessary BEFORE  there is even the slightest hope of ever fully cleaning the Elmira Aquifers to drinking water standards. Again I will be checking the video/audio when it comes out for confirmation.

Lastly I have in the past suggested that TRAC are beyond hopeless. I have suggested that they are simply giving credibility to a hopeless cleanup process (pump & treat) etc. I have also vacillated and suggested that they are simply overmatched and outgunned by the experts and consultants hired by Uniroyal/Lanxess. That said they desperately need better informed and stronger members who will not defer to GHD/Lanxess when push comes to shove. A lack of historical knowledge is part of the problem despite the token presence of one very long time, former (non Canadian) community member. Sebastian asked Cullen Flanders whether or not NDMA which is dissolved in the Municipal Upper and Lower Aquifers was also in the Bedrock Aquifer or not. Mr. Flanders did not know so Sebastian asked the whole group if anybody knew. Stone silence. I waited. The silence grew with no responses until I finally, clearly spoke up from the gallery, in direct contravention of TRAC rules prohibiting public questions or responses. My response was of course NDMA is in the Bedrock Aquifer and has been  known and confirmed as such for decades. Good for Sebastian asking the question but quite stunning the lack of depth of important knowledge by all the TRAC members.  

SNAKE OIL SALESMEN OR SCHMOOZING CON MEN & WOMEN?

 

      A FORM OF BRAINWASHING?

I went to TRAC last evening in person for the first time in possibly a year or two. I had been watching these meetings for a while on Zoom until I could no longer stand that and thus have been simply playing the video of the meeting several days afterwards that is posted on the Woolwich Township website. Wow I have to give it to that pack of  prats they do hold a credible meeting. Last night they had yet another impressive individual who allegedly is an expert at either remediation in general or more likely biodegradation in particular. His name is Cullen Flanders, he speaks well and he is personable. Unfortunately he is also full of poo poo del toro. I see now how intelligent people like Sebastian and others can be taken in by these professional con artists.

His focus was chlorobenzene because apparently NDMA does not degrade via soil bacteria and microbes as readily as chlorobenzene. He stated similar to technical reports I have read that chlorobenzene is readily biodegradable both in shallow aerobic environments as well as in deeper anaerobic (low oxygen) environments.  So here is where the rubber meets the road. Why thirty-seven years after the start of the Elmira Water Crisis and about 57 years after outright dumping ended at Uniroyal Chemical do we still have chlorobenzene throughout the Elmira Aquifers well above drinking water standards? Clearly the buggars are holding information back. Maybe ongoing leakage from the still grossly contaminated former Uniroyal site continues. Maybe chlorobenzene DNAPLS either as free phase or residual continue to exist both on the Uniroyal site as well as beneath the town of Elmira itself, very slowly dissolving into the groundwater. Perhaps tailing and rebound are greater problems than we've been led to believe. Rebound simply means that adsorbed chlorobenzene held in low permeability zones (aquitards) is back diffusing from the aquitards into the adjoining aquifers. 

Regardless despite wildly optimistic claims of large percentages and large mass removal weights in the Elmira Aquifers the "cleanup" is stuck. Clearly removed NDMA and chlorobenzene mass is being replaced with new DISSOLVED  NDMA and Chlorobenzene mass from the sources listed above. The entire "cleanup" has been based upon off-site pumping & treating of groundwater with dissolved contaminants in it of which NDMA and chlorobenzene are but two. Source Removal has always been necessary and we the public have told those deaf, blind and stupid like foxes corporate polluters that for decades. Source removal both on and off the former Uniroyal site. That apparently costs a whole lot more money than professionals, con artists or not, who may or may not be fully informed themselves of important details regarding the Uniroyal site. 

Thank you Jenn Horndyl, Nathan Cadeau and Sandy Shantz for the now admitted Censorship of my informed citizen technical documents sent to TRAC members. I have been sending many of my Elmira Advocate Blog Posts to them since last December and only last night have a select few from July, August and September 2026 been formally passed on to TRAC members as citizen correspondence relative to TRAC's mandate and duties. I and other citizens have been censored, minimized and prevented from fully participating since September 2015 when Sandy and Mark Bauman removed CPAC in favour of the new RAC/TAG later replaced by TRAC.   

SO WHICH IS IT - FIFTY YEARS MORE TILL THE ELMIRA CLEANUP OR NEVER ?

Am I a psychic?  Can I accurately forecast the behaviour of politicians any more than of monkeys? Do I have some deep seated religious convictions that God will set us straight upon the path of environmental light and harmony? No to all the above. 

Citizens have been telling both Uniroyal Chemical and successors along with the Ontario Ministry of Environment (M.O.E./MECP) for decades that Source Removal of known contaminants is the proper route to go. Source removal both on the Uniroyal site as well as off it throughout the Elmira Aquifers where  decades of monitoring have told us that there are nearby sources whether DNAPLS or otherwise. Regarding on the Uniroyal site we've been basically told to go pound salt that they will do as they please and indeed they have. Regarding offsite source removal I went to CPAC in 2008 as a Delegation and presented to them the results of using a form of Source Removal in Cambridge known as ISCO or In Situ Chemical Oxidation. It was used at the Northstar Aerospace plant on Bishop St. for the purpose of breaking down and destroying a DNAPL chemical known as Trichloroethylene (TCE). It worked but everyone at CPAC from Uniroyal/Chemtura, M.O.E., GHD, Woolwich Twn. and the CPAC Chair Pat McLean and her sidekick Susan Bryant showed exactly zero interest. No intelligent questions along with no dumb questions. No followup, no interest, no progress or even hints that they would look seriously at it..

Lo and behold some years later Conestoga Rovers (CRA) and Chemtura announced that they were going to do a pilot test of this particular Source Removal methodology known as ISCO.  They would do it near pumping well W3R (beside Midas Muffler on Industrial Dr.). CRA did such a stand up job that years afterwards the new TAG Chair (2015) Dr. Richard Jackson publicly harpooned and condemned CRA for their Mickey Mouse efforts. I believe his words while not including Mickey Mouse did include amateur efforts and either sham or something harsher.

Whether or not cleanup is possible so many decades after thirty plus years of big talk, puffery and pump & treat is debatable.  Dioxins, DDT , PCBS and God knows what else are deeply embedded and bound to sub surface soils, silts, clays and likely Bedrock. Some are in mixtures of DNAPLS and some are on their own. NDMA and chlorobenzene are also bound not just in soils but also in fractured Bedrock which is highly exposed to the Municipal Lower Aquifer and all its' contaminants in a number of locations. Pump & treat is virtually useless to remove these undissolved, deep, hydrophobic contaminants. 

  As difficult, but maybe not impossible as this is, the real problem is human beings and their love of money. Polluters do not feel any moral imperative to spend that money cleaning up their messes no matter what they tell the public. Their loyalty is to themselves and their shareholders. Everyone else  are nothing to them. Essentially polluting corporations are sociopaths and need to be treated as such. As are far too many politicians. Our local politicians for sixty years have been Uniroyal enablers and many still are. The only way to even consider the remote possibility of truly cleaning our Elmira Aquifers to drinking water standards for ALL contaminants is to remove ALL current parties, bodies and authorities involved in the pretend "cleanup". Remove Lanxess, GHD, MECP, Woolwich Twn. and the Region of Waterloo from any involvement with future cleanup plans and work. They have all enabled Uniroyal and their successors and fellow travellors forever and the results are failure.        

UNIROYAL AND THE RISE OF SNAKE OIL SALESMEN - A REAL "CLEANUP" IS FIFTY TO NEVER YEARS AWAY

Snake oil salesmen are trained to pivot on a dime. Crush one lie and they can throw up two others a mini second later. Their oratorical skills are second to none. When really cornered they can simply make up "facts", data, quotes and phony references. Do not let them in your home, your office or your mind. They are insidious and are well paid by people with even fewer ethics than themselves and also with lesser talents for verbal manipulation and prevarication,

Turning on a dime includes twenty-five years of absolute, bold and bald lying by Uniroyal/Crompton/Chemtura, CRA/GHD, M.O.E./MECP publicly stating loudly and proudly that they would restore the Elmira Aquifers to drinking water standards by 2028. They knew full well from 1990 onwards that they were completely bricked if they told the truth. Their goal was to lie like dogs until their retirement and then let the second generation of snake oil salesman step up to bat. 

There are closer to one hundred chemicals in Elmira's groundwater courtesy of Uniroyal, Varnicolor Chemical and Nutrite/Yara. Likely there are more contaminant sources than that but we will stick with the proven ones for now. A number of these chemicals are DNAPLS (Dense Non Aqueous Phase Liquids). They sink to the bottom of higher permeability zones and slowly over decades to centuries dissolve their toxic components into the groundwater flowing by them. Other chemicals are just as toxic but either dissolve well with groundwater or less so but still produce toxic plumes beneath Elmira such as Benzene, Toluene, Xylene etc. Still others are "floaters" with densities less than water and they float on the surface of aquifers slowly dissolving their chemical components over time into the groundwater. Then of course there are even nastier problems such as DDT, Dioxins, PCBs and other heavy compounds which are hydrophobic. Uniroyal Chemical contributed DDT and Dioxins into Elmira's aquifers. Varnicolor had PCBs on both their Union St. site and buried on their Lot 91 property here in Elmira, Ontario. Varnicolor also had NDMA and chlorobenzene but likely in smaller quantities than Uniroyal. We will never truly know due to Ontario Ministry of  Environment incompetence and corruption.

The hydrophobic compounds do dissolve readily in solvents such as chlorobenzene, trichloroethene, benzene, toluene, chlorophenols etc. and move with them into the subsurface. They however have extremely low ability to dissolve into water/groundwater but nevertheless can do so up to and barely past their very low Ontario Drinking Water Standards (ODWS). Hence their presence in the subsurface whether as components of DNAPL mixtures or as recrystallized DDT, Dioxins, PCBs do become extremely long term, ongoing contaminant sources to our drinking water just as the various DNAPL pools, puddles and residual blobs and ganglia are. 

The latest batch of snake oil salesman will have you believe that they can somehow make use of our now permanently tainted groundwater. They will pretend that maybe, just maybe they can magically extract water here and there for some kind of secondary uses. We would hope that meant for industrial cooling water for example versus something like using prior industrialized contaminated lands for nursing homes on the theory that none of the residents will live long enough to be poisoned by them. Or perhaps diluting our contaminated water and putting it into Waterloo Region's Integrated Urban System (IUS) for use by the thirsty folks over in Wilmot Township.      

  

THE ELMIRA WATER CRISIS WAS THE REAL DEAL: THE ALLEGED "CLEANUP" HOWEVER IS NOT

 

    THE "CLEANUP" HAS ALWAYS BEEN A SHAM

Wow how time, focus and concentration eventually make things clearer. Around 1995 I parked my car possibly in front of the then Woolwich Arena with a sign on the roof reading "The Cleanup Is A Sham". I was referring to the DNAPL reports and how APTE had rolled over on the issue and supported Uniroyal, CRA and the Ministry of Environment (M.O.E.) who all denied the presence of free phase DNAPL on the Uniroyal Chemical site despite all criteria for its' presence being exceeded. The distinction between free phase versus residual DNAPL almost seemed like the guilty parties pretending that if there was no free phase DNAPL then DNAPL as residual DNAPL really was no big deal. It was a big deal and there wasn't a shred of proof that there wasn't free phase DNAPL and in fact  the opposite was true. For a long while I clearly understood how badly APTE had screwed up but that was the key. I worked with Susan Bryant for years afterwards (until late 2007) thinking that APTE had simply badly screwed up. I was wrong. They (Susan B. and Sylvia ) were already co-opted by late 1993 when the M.O.E. released their December 10, 1993 DNAPL report accepting the Conestoga Rovers (CRA) nonsense and gibberish denying free phase DNAPL on the Uniroyal site.                                                                                                                                                                                                        We later found out that Frank Rovers (CRA) actually admitted at a UPAC meeting that the Uniroyal site had DNAPL throughout it supposedly so extensively that removing it would be impossible. You don't get residual DNAPL until after a continuous flow (free phase) has gone by leaving unconnected strands and  droplets behind. This residual DNAPL if in an aquifer with flowing groundwater is far more likely to fully dissolve and disappear much faster than pools of free phase DNAPL. We also found out that free phase DNAPL from Uniroyal had left their site and migrated under gravity westwards onto the Nutrite/Yara site. This is precisely why pumping well W8 was finally positioned in the Municipal Lower Aquifer on Nutrite's property close to Union St. years after the other offsite pumping wells started up in 1998. To this day Lanxess states that chlorobenzene concentrations throughout Elmira are highest from pumping well W8.

Over the following decades further issues have come to light. They include multiple different DNAPL chemicals and others in the Uniroyal subsurface. Each and every chemical compound in subsurface aquifers reduces the solubility concentration of the others present.  Hence the lab solubility figures in no way match the actual in ground solubility concentrations found in and around Uniroyal. The Effective Solubility concentrations are much lower than lab solubilities and despite this as recently as a couple of years ago Allan Deal (GHD) was using the 1% Solubility Rule to "prove" that there weren't DNAPLS present in a presentation to TRAC members. Yours truly attempted to clarify but was quickly shut down by the TRAC Chair. So much for public consultation and so much for ethics from Uniroyal/Lanxess consultants.

The latest issue that has come to my attention is the recrystallization of hydrophobic compounds in the subsurface after DNAPL dissolution.  DDT and Dioxins, both courtesy of Uniroyal Chemical, have extremely tiny solubility concentrations in water. In solvents however it's a totally different thing as both compounds readily dissolve into chlorobenzene and many other solvents found at Uniroyal and now throughout the Elmira Aquifers.  DDT and dioxins, PCBs and much more will travel both with the subsurface DNAPL as well as with passing groundwater that slowly dissolves the DNAPL albeit the DDT and Dioxins are at extraordinarily lower concentrations than say chlorobenzene and other solvents. That said a Solubility of 50 ng/l (part per trillion) is still higher than the drinking water standard for DDT (approx. 20 ng/l) and very much higher than the drinking standard for 2,3,7,8 TCDD (dioxin) which is 15 ppq (parts per quadrillion). 

A while back I advised that there was was DDT and Dioxins in Elmira's groundwater at very low concentrations although still likely above the Ontario Drinking Water Standards (ODWS). Now I have learned that as DNAPL slowly dissolves over time (decades to centuries)  both DDT and Dioxins can at a certain concentration within the remaining DNAPL, recrystallize into their solid form. They become once again on their own a new source if you will of DDT and Dioxin to the aquifer. It seems obvious to me that all the pump & treat in the world will never restore Elmira's drinking water. The other problem is that both the MECP and the successor companies to Uniroyal Chemical have a long history of always finding the cheapest, least effective remediation method. To date I see no serious change in that behaviour despite the never ending puffery and bull from Lanxess, GHD and the MECP. These folks are simply snake oil salesmen selling the public false promises. 

 

  

REMEDIATION ALTERNATIVES IGNORING HISTORY, DNAPLS & CHLORINATED SOLVENTS OTHER THAN CHLOROBENZENE; ARE TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE

 

                              

                THE "CLEANUP" HAS ALWAYS BEEN A SHAM

Not only with the acquiescence of the Ontario MECP but in fact with their wild enthusiasm the polluter, his consultants and a gaggle of fellow travellors have embraced the blindfolded focus upon chlorobenzene and NDMA from almost day one. Pretending that every other toxic, dirty, smelly, putrid and gross liquid and solid chemical waste fits neatly into the characteristics of either NDMA or chlorobenzene is the height of hypocrisy, junk science, propaganda and prevarication. 

There are takeaways from this latest report by Mr. Cullen Flanders (Onterris). For example although it turns out to be hindsight for the public due to intentional misinformation; chlorobenzene is not a "typical" chlorinated solvent. It degrades via soil bacteria etc. very quickly in shallow, aerobic surficial soils and even in deeper, anaerobic soils its' low solubility in groundwater degrades quickly. Who knew? The problem of course is that the majority of it does not readily dissolve in groundwater as does NDMA. What it does do is pool in low lying areas particularly on top of low permeability surfaces such as aquitards and slowly dissolve into the groundwater over decades/centuries. 

NDMA on the other hand does not degrade naturally either in aerobic (oxygen rich) or anaerobic (oxygen poor) environments. It fully, 100% dissolves into groundwater and away it goes. It was in the north wellfield years before it was ever found in the south wellfield which only came on line in the 1970s so rest assured that cancers and other diseases were caused by NDMA long before the start of the 1989 Elmira Water Crisis. 

Yesterday's post needs amending in the last paragraph. I should have stated that as the "NDMA and chlorobenzene dissolved plumes have shrunk they are revealing more and more about the sources of all (Those Contaminants)  not just the two that Uniroyal wants us to focus on.". In other words as NDMA and chlorobenzene plumes decrease we are finding clearer evidence as to how we citizens have been lied to by Uniroyal and successors about the number of different corporate sources of those two contaminants. What we have been successfully deflected from is the various corporate sources around Elmira for all the other toxic contaminants including Dioxins, DDT, PAHs, PCBs, chlorophenol, trichloroethane, trichloroethene,  dichloroethylene, dichloroethane etc. Do not forget that Varnicolor had admitted LNAPLS (BTEX chemicals) as well as DNAPLS consisting of multiple chlorinated solvents in their surficial aquifer which we were not told had indeed migrated downwards into both aquitards and drinking water aquifers until 2016. The Ontario M.O.E. (MECP) blatantly lied to and misled us by reneging on their early 1990s promise to install those deeper monitoring wells quickly so that we could see the full vertical extent of Varnicolor's contamination.  Are those DNAPLS still below Varnicolor Chemical slowly dissolving into Elmira's drinking water aquifers? Will they and other chemicals in the DNAPL forever contaminate above drinking water standards our local water irrelevant of how much NDMA and chlorobenzene are eventually removed? Finally what honest party is there to actually monitor all these other toxic chemicals in our groundwater including low levels of Dioxins and DDT, chlorinated solvents or otherwise? Forget Lanxess, GHD or the Ont. MECP.      

 

ANOTHER REPORT: "POTENTIAL REMEDIAL ALTERNATIVE UPDATE" - LIKELY TEN TO TWENTY YEARS OVERDUE

 

We are approximately within 18-20 months of the mandated 2028 deadline to have achieved Ontario Drinking Water Standards (ODWS) in the Elmira Aquifers. All parties agree it won't happen. Here's the rub. Those criteria are not just for NDMA and chlorobenzene. They are for each and every toxic contaminant in our drinking water aquifers. This includes some that are routinely monitored for and others less so such as Dioxins, DDT, PCBs, PAHs, other chlorinated solvents etc. These others, contrary to the lies we've been fed, will not automatically be at ODWS even if and when NDMA and chlorobenzene are. 

All the DNAPL lies that Uniroyal, CRA, GHD and the Ont. MECP have told Elmira citizens are coming home to bite them. Dr. Neil Thompson (U. of Waterloo) discovered an excess of 1,900 kilograms of chlorobenzene in the Elmira Aquifers in exceedance of the known quantity provided by Uniroyal Chemical. Past strong evidence of off-site chlorobenzene DNAPLS on the Nutrite property and beside the Howard St. Water Tower, pumping well W4 and monitoring well OW57-32R have long been denied with only recent tacit admittance of DNAPLS by the Water Tower. 

The report mentioned in the title has a Schematic Of Hydrogeologic Units (Fig. 1.2) on page 9. It shows the amount of mass contaminant recovery by the pumping wells both on the Uniroyal site and off the site. Pumping rates and concentrations for each pumping well are also shown. Unfortunately it is a poor Diagram as it does not explicitly say which contaminant it is tracking. Based upon the concentrations it likely is the much lower concentration NDMA rather than chlorobenzene that is being shown. Regardless one can quickly see that the two highest quantities of extracted contaminant are from pumping well W9 (2,845.1 g/yr) and pumping well W3R (426.7 g/yr). These quantities are even higher than the third place grossly contaminated on-site pumping well PW4 which due to its' much lower pumping rate is only removing 225.9 g/yr). 

W9 is located slightly west of Union St. near Park St. This is the location of a former textile industry and is just across the road (Union St.) from the former furniture company (Roxton ?) as well as Uniroyal Chemical. It is also very close to pumping well W8 just barely on the east side of Union St. on the former Nutrite/Yara property and very close to the off-site DNAPL from Uniroyal Chemical. Meanwhile pumping well W3R is downgradient from the former pumping well W4 which was located right in the heart of the off-site DNAPL beside the Howard St. Water Tower. W4 pumped heavily for many years and the powers to be may just have shut it down prematurely as higher concentrations of chlorobenzene have shifted towards nearby (south) pumping well W3R as well as nearby monitoring wells causing consternation amongst our local DNAPL DENIERS.   

Simply put it was easier to lie and bafflegab early on in the alleged "cleanup" but as NDMA and chlorobenzene dissolved plumes have shrunk they are revealing more and more about the sources of all contamination not just the two that Uniroyal and the Ont. MECP want us to focus on.

MORE WATERLOO REGION BULL%#@* YESTERDAY TO APPEASE WILMOT VOTERS PRIOR TO NEXT MONTH'S MUNICIPAL ELECTION ?

 

Trick Question: How many more times can Waterloo Region lie to Wilmot citizens before they stop believing you? 

The answer is  zero for half the Township at least.

Next trick question: Why is the Region finally in September making commitments about sharing water level data with Wilmot citizens?

The answer is because we've just had one of the wettest summers in recent memory and they are hoping that water levels are higher than usual. Plus if they don't share the information, sympathetic voters in Waterloo, Kitchener and Cambridge may punish them at next month's municipal election.

Third trick question: Actually it might be a trick headline above. Do Township voters (i.e. Woolwich, Wellseley, Wilmot, North Dumphries) only get to vote for one regional councillor which happens to be their mayor? Voters in Waterloo, Kitchener and Cambridge get to vote for additional councillors specific to their cities to represent their larger populations, do they not? If this is indeed the case then the only regional bum that Wilmot can possibly throw out is their current mayor Natasha Salonen.

Hmm meanwhile today's K-W Record has two interesting articles that might affect next month's election. The one is by Luisa D'Amato titled "Greater transparency coming on water levels, council told" and the other is by Jeff Outhit titled "Put your ID in your shoe when you run". The first is a very conveniently timed regional council meeting yesterday in which the Region of Waterloo appear at long last to be responding decently, properly and honestly to local Wilmot citizens who help pay for their salaries. Is this article for real just like is yesterday's regional council meeting for real or is it all for show? Basically this year Regional Council have left mayor Salonen out to dry with their disappointing, arrogant, "we know better than you" attitudes. Both yesterday's council meeting and Louisa's gentle handling and lack of appropriate editorial content today appear to be a gift to mayor Natasha Salonen to get her reelected. 

The second article by Jeff Outhit is an incredible boost to the current Chair of Regional Council, Karen Redman. Apparently Karen Redman was in New York City as part of her duties as a Canadian federal Member of Parliament (Lib.) during the 911 attacks on the World Trade Centre etc. She literally had absolutely nothing to do responsibility wise or politically regarding the attacks but thanks to the K-W Record her profile has just received a huge boost with the electorate, again right before next month's election. Keep in mind she hopes to maintain her position as Regional Chair but thanks to Premier Doug Ford it is not up to the electorate but up to him whether she continues as Regional Chair or he appoints someone else, likely a Conservative. My respect for our media in general and the K-W Record specifically has taken a fall in recent years.      

A RECAP OF FACTS & EVIDENCE OF VARNICOLOR CHEMICAL'S MASS DUMPING OF TOXIC LIQUID WASTES INTO THE ELMIRA AQUIFERS

 

ORDER OF CORPORATE ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE DONE IN ELMIRA, ONT.

1)     Uniroyal Chemical

2)     Varnicolor Chemical

3)     Nutrite (Yara)

Nutrite contributed ammonia to the Elmira Aquifers as also did Uniroyal. Nutrite are however not only third on the list but a long ways down that list compared to the mass on and off site dumping of liquid wastes done by both Uniroyal and Varnicolor. Uniroyal is first not based upon number of years of dumping but upon the volumes of chemical production and volumes of wastewaters they produced as a  side effect of that production. Likely a few gas stations in town (beside the Steddick Hotel, Gord's, Voisin's) also contributed a few petroleum hydrocarbons such as Benzene, Toluene, Ethyl Benzene & Xylene to our ground and drinking water as both Varnicolor and Uniroyal did as well. 

Yes there were cleanups at all three of the mentioned gas stations/car dealerships. Yes there have been Mickey Mouse cleanups at the much larger messes made by Uniroyal, Varnicolor and Nutrite. No other corporate polluters within Elmira have even remotely been brought to justice. Only Uniroyal Chemical has received even a small fraction of the media attention that their behaviour and actions deserve.

Varnicolor 's contaminants include NDMA, chlorobenzene, trichloroethylene, PCBs, Benzene, Toluene, Ethyl Benzene and Xylenes, trichloroethane, chloroform and more. They were both accidentally and purposefully dumped on both of their properties namely the former 62 Union St. (now 84 Howard Ave.) site as well as at their infamous Lot 91 at the extreme east end of Oriole Parkway.  The intentional dumping at Lot 91 included intentionally rupturing barrels and letting them leak out as well as pumping dirty solvents into two end to end 10,000 gallon tanks with holes in those ends. The first method was seen and an Affidavit given to the Ontario M.O.E. by a Uniroyal employee working at their warehouse fourty metres from Lot 91. Videotapes exist of pumping into the two 10,000 gallon tanks with witnesses noticing strong solvent odours for the next few days followed by an examination of the ends of the two tanks after the company was investigated.

Up on the main site (62 Union St.) the mass dumping was accomplished by a buried road tanker behind the main, orange administrative building connected via pipes to the floor drain inside the building. There was also a buried septic tank behind the road tanker unconnected to toilets but also connected to the same floor drain inside the orange administrative building. Affidavits and statements from multiple witnesses who were ordered to dump liquid chemical wastes down this floor drain have been in the hands of the Ont. M.O.E. for decades. 

Those liquid wastes included waste water from paint booth water curtains from major automotive manufacturers as well as dimethylamine ( precurser to NDMA)  from the production of can coatings used to inhibit rust inside food cans. These can coatings were produced inside the orange building and there are two affidavits from former employees other than myself to this fact in the hands of the Ont. Min. of Environment (M.O.E.). Minor dumping (45 gallons or less) occurred on an almost weekly basis as unsecured drums with waste solvents got dropped or tipped over regularly. Spills sometimes were "contained" with sawdust and yes the M.O.E. also has Affidavits to that fact as well. 

I believe that while Uniroyal Chemical were environmental pigs and received some of the condemnation they deserved, Varnicolor were coddled and protected immorally and illegally by the Ontario Ministry of Environment. This protection resulted in greatly reduced remediation for the entire Elmira Aquifers and now we are seeing the result of that as the 2028 "cleanup" has failed and all parties grudgingly so admit.

HOW DOES LYING WORK FOR THE INFLUENTIAL AND THOSE WITH POWER/AUTHORITY?

 

A large part of it requires absolutely zero shame or concern for things like ethics, morality and honesty. If one is self-entitled enough then one can simply ignore the standards of society around them. Most of us do care that we have a reputation for honesty and truth telling. Corporations and governments on the other hand in particular simply don't care if the knowledgeable people know they lie like dogs because the knowledgeable people are in the minority. For the ethically impoverished it's all about plausible deniability. As Donald Trump has stated and people (& corporations) of his ilk prefer; he could commit murder in broad daylight in Times Square and never get convicted. To then accuse him of murder after being acquitted by a jury would only make him laugh. 

Uniroyal Chemical and corporate successors have learned how to play the environmental game. They solidify the power and authority of local politicians behind themselves via bribes, gifts, donations, political support or whatever is necessary. They have most likely attended talks, speeches, conferences and private tutoring sessions telling them how to capture the hearts and minds of most of the public. This includes always talking the language of decency, honesty, environmental concern etc. regardless of their actual behavior and actions behind the scenes. In the early days Uniroyal Chemical allegedly refused to attend meetings of CEAC (Citizens Environmental Advisory Committee) according to one  source (Ewa Dabrowska). Uniroyal and successors learned. Now they not only attend but they run the whole show which works far better for them. They own the Woolwich Township TRAC committee through Woolwich Council as they have since 2000 ( UPAC, CPAC, RAC & TAG) when Pat McLean and Susan Bryant sweet talked CPAC into agreeing to the change. Esther Thur, Henry Regier and I all argued against that change to no avail. We had not forgotten how useless Woolwich Council had been in the 1970s, 80s and 90s whereas the others had or never knew. 

Uniroyal/Lanxess will not attend any meeting in which they are outnumbered. They expect and receive deference from all authorities or they simply won't play. Part of their game plan also includes looking for opponents who can be turned for a price. In other words they want and are comfortable dealing with people who switch allegiances once well motivated. Of course those people had better never have a second change of heart if they know what is good for them. Hell hath no fury like a corporation wooed and then scorned.  

Between financially struggling media, dishonest politicians, laws riddled with loopholes, corporate money and influence; our environment, health and futures are in grave jeopardy. 

TRAC SHOW SOME BACKBONE & INTEGRITY: RESIGN, WALK OUT OR AT THE VERY LEAST CONFRONT MECP, LANXESS/ GHD & WOOLWICH TWN.

 TRAC - Technical, Remediation & Advisory Committee

You have been and continue to be led by the nose by the above parties exactly like the original UPAC, followed by CPAC, RAC & TAG. There was a 4 1/2 year period  (2011- Aug. 2015) when CPAC wagged the dog versus Chemtura and the M.O.E.. Your colleague Sebastian Seibel-Achenbach was on that CPAC and for a very short while we had Chemtura and the M.O.E. on their heels, actually listening in trepidation to what we told them they had to do. And along came Sandy and Mark Bauman and Chemtura/M.O.E. breathed a sigh of relief as corporate order and control was restored. Under their first 21 years and last 11 years of total control over the cleanup, it has totally failed. Neither NDMA nor chlorobenzene much less DDT, dioxins and lots more solvents, chlorinated or otherwise, have been reduced to Ontario drinking water standards. Nor will they be and those parties knew that full well in 1990 and have lied to we the citizens ever since. Much greater expenditure of funds including specific DNAPL removal was needed as well as simply even following through on Target pumping rates of wells which they grossly failed to do.

Stand up and take their power, their credibility and their legitimacy away from them! They are not and have never been honest brokers. 

IS GHD's LATEST REMEDIATION REPORT, SCIENCE OR JUST THE USUAL WISHFUL THINKING, PSUEDO SCIENCE?

 

First of all is it fair to call a compulsive, pathological thief by any such name each and every time they walk into a store? Is it fair to call CRA/GHD intellectual prostitutes each and every time they write an alleged scientific report. I described here a little bit about their latest (Sept. 3, 2026) effort titled "Bench Scale Study for Biodegradation of Chlorobenzene and NDMA" yesterday.  

I have confirmed with a past APTE coordinator that we had all been told decades ago by Uniroyal Chemical and their consultants that chlorinated solvents such as trichloroethylene, chloroform, chlorobenzene etc. do not easily degrade or break down on their own in soils. It turns out however that chlorobenzene is the exception to that rule. Now according to this latest report by GHD, chlorobenzene actually degrades very well on its' own in shallower, aerated soils and less so in deeper anaerobic soils as per pages 7 & 8. The Figures section, particularly Figures 1 and 5 also confirms this. This of course speaks very badly of Uniroyal and CRA because the inaccurate information was used to deny chlorobenzene's presence on the Varnicolor Chemical site when zero chlorobenzene was found in Varnicolor's shallow aquifer also known as the Surficial Aquifer (SA).  

Other problems exist including the premature thawing of frozen groundwater samples meant to be used in the Bench Scale Biodegradation Study. While I appreciate the admission of this unfortunate incident that occurred at U.S. customs I am less comfortable with GHD proceeding with their experiments using compromised groundwater samples rather than starting over. Another problem might be GHD's repeatedly advising that their Biodegradation Rates may very well be biased on the high side due to possible volatilization of compounds from the groundwater samples. I wonder if this so called volatilization didn't occur and they spiked the samples according to page 3 with 150 ppb. chlorobenzene and 2.4 ppb. NDMA, if their Biodegradation rates might actually be biased on the high side. Either way again I find their protocols surprising and disturbing. It seems to be a vey peculiar way to be conducting scientific experiments. It's almost seems to be a "seat of the pants" scientific protocol. Something goes wrong so instead of really fixing it or starting over they just make a change and continue on.

Assuming for the moment that their experiments have some validity what I conclude is that dissolved chlorobenzene degrades in both aerobic (oxygen) and anaerobic (low oxygen) environments. NDMA on the other hand seems much less capable of degrading via human intervention such as amendments and nutrients both in shallow and deeper soils. Of course as mentioned yesterday chlorobenzene has other characteristics and the issue is not what the dissolved chlorobenzene will do as much as what the Dense Non Aqueous Phase Liquid (DNAPL) chlorobenzene will do. The "Non Aqueous Phase" part of that acronym makes it clear that DNAPLS are NOT dissolved in water chlorobenzene but thicker, heavier pools or puddles probably residing in depressions of lesser permeable soils such as silts and clays. Likely some of these have dissolved over the last thirty years but any claims by Lanxess and fellow travellors that they are fully dissolved is nonsense, wishful thinking and maybe even intellectual prostitution. 

  

BEYOND SHAMELESS - CHLOROBENZENE DEGRADES RAPIDLY IN SHALLOW SOILS (AEROBIC CONDITIONS)

 

It allegedly took GHD a year from sampling groundwater to releasing their modest 34 page report titled "Bench Scale Study for Biodegradation of Chlorobenzene and NDMA". Actually from when the project was first proposed to TRAC (Sept. 2024) it took two years although of course our beloved and  besmirched MECP had to take a look at it first. What shocked me the most was the somewhat belated 37 YEARS that it took GHD or the MECP to advise citizens that chlorobenzene degrades so rapidly in shallow soils and at ground surface. I knew that it would volatolize (evaporate sort of) in the air as so many solvents do but it was only a week ago that I understood why chlorobenzene had allegedly never been found on the Varnicolor Chemical site in their Surficial Aquifer (SA) wells. It was not as I've long suspected that the Ontario Ministry of Environment actually fudged the results either by switching samples or by ordering their labs to improperly mark the results as Non Detect. It was due to the very rapid degradation of chlorobenzene by shallow soil bacteria in a well oxygenated (aerated) environment. This by the way is unusual and we were long told by Uniroyal/Crompton/Chemtura/CRA that chlorinated solvents do not degrade well by soil bacteria due to the tight chlorine bond combined with chlorine being a known bactericide (antiseptic if you will)   Now as we all know here in Elmira chlorobenzene has persisted for a very long time in our deeper aquifers and continues to do so well in excess of the Ontario Drinking Water Standards (ODWS).

 There likely is something else going on however as this study also claims on page 8 that chlorobenzene degrades under anaerobic (low oxygen) conditions. Indeed their Figures section seems to confirm that. If chlorobenzene degrades naturally on its own then why has nearly thirty years of pumping and treating not done the job? The answer is simple and this Susan Bryant is for you. It's called DNAPLS as I and Rich Clausi told  Sylvia Berg and the APTE co-ordinators in January 1994. Esther Thur, one of the three founders of APTE (Sandra Bray, Susan RUPERT, Esther Thur), knew the truth when she heard it but the others unfortunately relied on Sylvia. Chlorobenzene DNAPLS both on and off the former Uniroyal Chemical site are doing what DNAPLS do which is slowly dissolve into groundwater at greater than the ODWS and will continue to do so likely for decades and maybe much longer. 

This past Monday and Tuesday (Aug. 31 & Sept. 1/26)  I informed this Blog's readers plus about sixty other authorities (MECP, TRAC, Lanxess, Woolwich Twn., RMOW etc.)  and citizens that chlorobenzene   rapidly degraded in shallow soils. Lo and behold TWO DAYS LATER (last evening) I get the e-mail report from GHD explaining attempts to enhance degradation of NDMA and chlorobenzene combined with the data all citizens should have had decades ago about chlorobenzenes rapid natural degradation. Coincidence? If so an absolutely amazing one.  

WHAT ARE THE RAMIFICATIONS OF THE ONT. MIN. OF ENVIRONMENT'S COVERUP OF VARNICOLOR'S ENVIRONMENTAL CULPABILITY?

 

A small business entity likely was given inaccurate information prior to purchasing the former Varnicolor Chemical site and embarking on an alleged ten year pump & treat cleanup. The public were misled into believing that the sole guilty party to the loss of our drinking water aquifers was Uniroyal Chemical and that they could fully remediate it within thirty years. This misconception was only exacerbated by the M.O.E.'s knowingly allowing Uniroyal to pretend that there were no accessible DNAPLS on their site that could and should have been removed, encapsulated or somehow properly remediated. This misconception was magnified by the discovery of off-site DNAPLS both at Nutrite/Yara and beside the Howard St. (Elmira) Water Tower that the M.O.E. further denied  and failed to ensure were again properly remediated. These DNAPL failures combined with other remediation failures ensured that full remediation of the Elmira drinking water aquifers by 2028, as mandated, wasn't happening.  

A deeper, likely low volume pump & treat system could also have been installed in the Municipal Aquifer beneath Varnicolor Chemical. Furthermore efforts to specifically remove the DNAPL that likely was situated either on top of the Surficial Aquitard (SAT) or on top of the Upper Aquitard (UAT) would have greatly reduced remediation time for both the Varnicolor site as well as the Elmira drinking water aquifers. Similar efforts could and should have been done on the Nutrite/Yara property to remove its' DNAPL for similar purposes. The known DNAPL at the Howard St. Water Tower was much deeper (OW57-32R) and may have required more extensive and expensive remediation. Allegedly the pumping at W4 beside it for a period of years greatly reduced it in size although that is unproven to date. 

Other ramifications concern Varnicolor's second site at the extreme east end of Oriole Parkway. The "cleanup" there was a sham and with the extent of intentional dumping there as well, DNAPLS and LNAPLS may have been an issue. PCBs were found and excavated from a drum although most of the cleanup was a superficial effort at removing surface tanks, tankers and drums. Once again both human health and the environment continue to be impacted by the Ontario Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks (MECP) perversion of their mandate.       

PUBLIC LYING BY ALL PARTIES IN ELMIRA & THE LONG OVERDUE HOUSECLEANING AT THE SCHOOL BOARD (WRDSB)

 

So let's get real here. Thirty-seven years have passed since the south wellfield in Elmira, Ontario was suddenly shut down allegedly due to NDMA contamination. There were already solvents in the groundwater at those two wells (E7, E9) at low concentrations, courtesy of both Uniroyal and Varnicolor, as per the M.O.E.'s 1989 Elmira drinking water report. Since that time a total of three companies have been proven to be environmental pigs namely Nutrite/Yara (ammonia), Uniroyal Chemical (NDMA, chlorobenzene & hundreds of others plus DDT, dioxins) and Varnicolor Chemical (NDMA, chlorobenzene, & dozens to hundreds of other solvents plus PCBs). Leaking gas stations have been culprits and possibly other larger companies may have also contributed (McKee, Sanyo, Borg etc.) but only Uniroyal and Varnicolor have actually been proven, dirty polluters of the really worst sort. 

So let me say this to Uniroyal Chemical (Lanxess), Ont. Min. of Environment (MECP) and Woolwich Township in particular. You are a pack of  lying, cowardly, bullying pieces of sh*t who have knowingly and intentionally covered up the extent of contamination and human and environmental damage caused by Varnicolor Chemical (& Uniroyal Chemical) for your own self-serving reasons. You disgust me.

Patience is key. The Waterloo Region District School Board (WRDSB) finally have been publicly exposed for what they are. It is also my hope that certain public figures who made their reputations as members of that disgusting organization might just have citizens reexamining their support for them. I will list but two names for the moment and that would be Liz Witmer and our very own, thank God hopefully soon to be gone, Sandy Shantz. Is it coincidental that both were attractive women who had been appointed as Chair of the School Board (i.e. trustees) ? I think not. We citizens (both genders) are suckers for an attractive face and the politically motivated among us know that.

Caroline Burjowski has been a one woman wrecking crew. She through her tenacity and conviction took no crap from a bunch of ego maniacs looking for a cause to promote themselves. Furthermore long time trustees Mike Ramsay and Cindy Watson were in it for the long haul. Both have upbraided and criticized gross behaviour by their colleagues over the last few decades. They have stood out as beacons of determination against all odds. 

Last Monday's K-W Record published the following article written by Jeff Outhit and titled "Exodus at the school board".  It critiques the actions of the Board including their lack of transparency and perhaps even honesty in some matters. The Record also covered the court appearances and battles regarding Caroline Burjowski and the WRDSB bullying and intimidation attempts. The School Board really stepped into it big time and made a huge mistake thinking that Ms. Burjowski could be battered and broken through "lawfare" which is one of the ways the Board attacks and intimidates parents and other critics. The WRDSB believe that using the public's money against them in long running and grossly expensive court cases is the key to their winning every dispute. They are filth and Ms. Burjowski, I will admit with assistance from the K-W Record kicked their butts both in the media and in court and it was long overdue! It is my hope that not just the majority of idiot and biased trustees but also the slime at the top of the Board all rot in hell. This also applies to the scum at the top decades ago who protected and covered up both bad teachers and pedophiles like Ron Archer and others.  

    

CHLOROBENZENE FROM VARNICOLOR CHEMICAL WENT INTO ELMIRA"S DRINKING WATER AQUIFERS

 

It now appears less likely that the Ontario Ministry of Environment (M.O.E./MECP) fudged lab results on the Varnicolor site in order to hide chlorobenzene, an extremely common solvent and paint component which absolutely would have been ubiquitous in that company's incoming liquid toxic wastes. Varnicolor were in both the solvent recovery and the toxic waste storage and reduction business. Of course they did more storage illegally than they did actual reduction. 

Other factors for its' presence include the incredible steps the MECP went to in order to hide Varnicolor's environmental disaster and mass toxic dumping on their site. They promised more and deeper monitoring wells on the site and included that requirement in their initial Control Order. They then later reneged on that requirement by removing it from the Control Order. They absolutely refused to accept witness statements regarding a buried road tanker and a buried septic tank in Varnicolor's backyard which were part of an elaborate mass toxic liquid dumping process. Once they were pressured by the public and the media they excavated the road tanker but claimed not to see the septic tank literally a few metres away from it. Myself and Richard Clausi were shown the colour photographs of the excavation and immediately accused the two Ministry employees (Papenhuzen & Robinson) of a coverup as the one employee was actually standing on top of the recently broken up subsurface septic tank and broken concrete and rebar were visible. Sure enough the septic tank was excavated a couple of weeks later and both it and the road tanker's contents and internal stains were tested and found to contain numerous different solvents and other liquid wastes. Finally we were promised that the road tanker would be preserved and carefully examined for intentional holes and leaks that would allow rapid dispersion of liquid contents that flowed into it from the floor drain inside the nearest (orange) building. Instead within a few days the road tanker was reduced to pieces via cutting torches. Also the piping from the floor drain through the building and into the road tanker and septic tank was also seen, found and photographed. 

The coverup of the extent and breadth of Varnicolor's pollution did not end there. Years later soil was excavated and removed from their west side neighbour (Motiveair) and Varnicolor's shallow pump and treat system was expanded to include contaminated groundwater that had flowed from their site over to the Motiveair property.  Again not only zero public notice but also zero notice to myself, the EH Team, APTE (Hmm?), CPAC or any other appropriate stakeholders.

Then we have the nonsense of the June 19, 2025 TRAC meeting where Jesse Wright of Arcadis Inc. showed a blurry picture of allegedly four or five businesses near the corner of First St. and Union St. who had handled chlorobenzene as well as possibly other chlorinated solvents. No company names given and no explanation as to why now in 2024 this information was being made public. Frankly it was all for show.  For many years as the pump & treat system and wells have slowly done their thing the remaining chlorobenzene plumes above 80 ppb. (drinking standard) have been reduced and moved back towards their source. You got it. Right there in both the Municipal Upper and Municipal Lower Aquifers below Varnicolor Chemical and below Union and First St. area is the highest remaining concentrations of chlorobenzene. I kind of suspect that even the slowest members of TRAC were beginning to feel uneasy about that and privately asked questions. Having Mr. Wright make his public announcement was enough to satisfy the poorly informed TRAC members and possibly they hoped to deflect myself as I'd been on the hunt for the truth literally for decades. 

The Ministry of Environment have consistently refused to make information or documents regarding Varnicolor Chemical available to me. This includes the Risk Assessment done in 2016 for Elmira Pump (i.e. the former Varnicolor). They have also refused me simple data such as new monitoring wells whether shallow or deep and their location on the former Varnicolor site.  With MECP agreement I and other CPAC members were bounced from the public advisory committee by Chemtura and Woolwich Township in September 2015. Since then the public including myself and other involved stakeholders have been refused the right to either ask questions at public TAG (now TRAC) meetings or even to make verbal presentations. Clearly Chemtura (now Lanxess) and the MECP have been doing their best to isolate and minimize the by far best informed and knowledgeable local citizen, myself. 

The Ontario Ministry of Environment with support from other local political bodies have been unaccountable and non transparent for decades. They have been caught lying and deceiving over and over again and clearly do not want local citizens knowing the truth of all the sources of contamination  to the Elmira aquifers. 

LESS CORRUPT (?) BUT A LOT MORE DECEITFUL - VARNICOLOR CHEMICAL CONTRIBUTED BOTH NDMA & CHLOROBENZENE TO OUR DRINKING WATER AQUIFERS

 

ONLY BY MASS POLITICAL AGREEMENT & COLLUSION WAS IT POSSIBLE

This of course entailed lying to citizens, residents, voters, men, women and children for the last thirty-seven years. It required gross contempt by every single municipal and regional councillor in the know as well as by provincial Ministry of Environment officials and likely provincial politicians. Is it even possible that our federal government kept a hands off attitude towards the Elmira Water Crisis all these decades because they didn't want to get their hands dirty? Hmm that seems unlikely doesn't it?

The coverup of Varnicolor Chemical's environmental disaster started early with local Min. of Environment (M.O.E.) officials lying to local media and citizens and even going so far as to claim regular passed inspections by the company. This was despite by that time four years of hydrogeological reports (Canviro Inc.) showing significant groundwater contamination with numerous solvents. Further lying and coverups regarding Varnicolor have never really stopped as a sweetheart deal between the M.O.E. and Uniroyal Chemical required Uniroyal to accept full responsibility for all NDMA and chlorobenzene in the Municipal drinking water aquifers in exchange for a very quiet free pass saving them potentially millions of dollars in removing or encapsulating the known free phase DNAPLS on their site which included numerous chlorinated solvents along with chlorobenzene. While denied at the time DNAPLS have also been found off-site in the Elmira Aquifers which source may also be shared between the two companies (Uniroyal/Varnicolor) or not. What the Ontario M.O.E. received out of this deal was less humiliation and loss of face and credibility as despite the severity of the water crisis the M.O.E. might not have survived if it had become public knowledge that there were actually multiple gross polluters operating in Elmira under their noses (i.e. Nutrite/Yara, Uniroyal , Varnicolor). 

The coverup has never ended as evidenced by the September 12, 2024 TRAC meeting in which Allan Deal of GHD Inc. on behalf of Lanxess Canada presented a report titled "Chlorobenzene Source Evaluation". He claimed that despite a report written a few years earlier by Dr. Neil Thompson (U. of Waterloo) that advised that two or three thousand kilograms of "excess" chlorobenzene had somehow entered into the groundwater regime above and beyond Uniroyal Chemical's contribution, that in fact there was no second source. Furthermore isotopic analysis done later also concluded that in most likelihood the chlorobenzene in our drinking aquifers came from different sources. Well!

Not to be deterred Mr. Deal entered his own "evidence". It consisted of analytical data showing chlorobenzene concentration results in a few different wells nearby to Varnicolor Chemical. Out of five different wells presented, three of them had nothing but Non Detects and two had these low concentrations in their Upper Aquifer. Wells CH-43 B/C both were Non Detect as was CH 68-C/D. Then CH-69 C/D had 1.42 and .67 presumably parts per billion. Well OW56-16 presented with .72  (ppb.) and finally a well on Varnicolor Chemical which allegedly is screened in the Upper Aquifer namely MW45 had a Non Detect reading for chlorobenzene.       

This is all very strange for various reasons. First of all while chlorobenzene and all contaminants in the deeper Municipal Aquifers travel horizontally for a considerable distance the same is not true for shallow groundwater especially when its' discharge point is a very nearby Creek. The norm is for little to no shallow soils or aquifers to indicate contamination away from the source. Normally pollution starts at the surface and descends downwards into the deeper soils and aquifers. From there usually the further away from the source the lower the concentration of contaminants in the deeper aquifers. At nearby surface without a source directly above we expect nothing. Hence the whole premise of looking at Upper Aquifer results off the Varnicolor (& Uniroyal ) sites is more than a little weird.

The next problem is the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) who have indicated that chlorobenzene usually has a very fast degradation time in air, surface waters and shallow soils that are well aerated. Deeper soils and aquifers are a different matter with sometimes incredibly long degradation times depending upon anaerobic conditions. Of course chlorobenzene in DNAPL form can be centuries and longer breaking down on its' own. What this means is that this particular compound can not be easily found via shallow soils or surficial aquifer sampling because unless there is an ongoing fresh source, the old discharges are likely long degraded.

So yours truly has been doing some digging this past weekend as well as this morning. Guess what? Nary a shallow soils or surficial aquifer or even much available in the deeper Upper Aquifer that exists in some locations below Varnicolor's Surficial Aquifer and Surficial Aquitard (and Uniroyal's on the east side). Yes of course the deeper yet aquifers and aquitards have lots of chlorobenzene but not the well aerated much shallower soils and aquifers. This explains why all the very shallow wells (Surficial Aquifer) on the Varnicolor site had Non Detect results for chlorobenzene way back in 1990. Yes one well did have a ridiculous Method Detection Limit of 100 ppb. which may have hidden some chlorobenzene detection at Varnicolor but we'll never know. I had actually begun to think that the M.O.E. had grossly fudged/corrupted the lab results back then. This explains why in the title above I wrote "LESS CORRUPT (?)".  

Mr. Deal, MECP and local politicians are all full of it. Always have been, always will be. Re-elect as many of these politicians this October at your peril. 

 

ARE THERE ANY LIES THE REGION AND THE ONT. MIN. OF ENVIRONMENT WON'T TELL? IF PUBLIC POISONING IS O.K. THEN WHAT ISN'T?

 

"OUNCES PER GALLON" - JIM GERMANN (Elmira Pump)

"THEY ALL LIE" - PAT POTTER (Environmentalist)

Revelations since 2000 include PCBs discovered in a buried drum on Varnicolor Chemical's infamous Lot 91 site in the floodplain of the Canagagigue Creek. Prior to 2000 PCBs were found by the M.O.E. in tanks in one of their tank farms at their 62 Union St. site. By 2004-2008 Nutrite (Yara) were firmly on the hook for Ammonia contamination within the Elmira Municipal aquifers. In 2016 a Risk Assessment presented at a public meeting in Woolwich Council Chambers for the former Varnicolor site on Union St. (now Elmira Pump) revealed six chlorinated solvents had been found beneath the site in the Municipal Aquifer. Allegedly none of them were Uniroyal chemicals which may have been a little disingenuous. In 2024 a consultant (Jesse Wright)  Arcadis Inc. announced at a TRAC meeting that six chlorinated solvents found in Elmira's Municipal Aquifers came from Varnicolor Chemical. Allegedly chlorobenzene was not one of them. Also very oddly Mr. Wright announced and showed on a map that four or five nearby industrial sources of chlorobenzene had been determined. Very odd considering that this was incredible news that should have been announced approximately thirty or thirty-five years earlier when authorities allegedly were searching for the sources of NDMA and chlorobenzene contamination to the Elmira aquifers. These nearby sources were very close to the intersection of First St. and Union St. also oddly very close to Varnicolor Chemical bounded by First St., Union St. and Howard Ave. The last revelation is that DNAPLS (chlorobenzene) were admitted to have been present by the Elmira Water Tower on Howard Ave. in the TRAC Minutes of  September 12, 2024. This is beside former pumping well W4 and monitoring well OW57-32R. 

The 2016 and 2024 revelations combined with reviews of other documents mentioned here in yesterday's Blog posting led me to yesterday's determination that NDMA being formed beneath Varnicolor Chemical at 62 Union St. in the 1980s at the least contributed to the NDMA poisoning of the Elmira population. 

At least one more revelation is likely long overdue. How is it that a solvent recycler of thirty years  experience on that site allegedly never handled/mishandled chlorobenzene like every other common paint and finishing solvents they dumped, spilled and leaked? If many of the lies and truth distortions of the past 37 years have been exposed then is their contribution to the chlorobenzene contamination next? If so then the Ontario Ministry of Environment faked the hydrogeological reports showing chlorobenzene as Non Detect on this site. That is corruption they can not survive.

 Jim Germann's quote above was stated at the public meeting in Woolwich Council chambers in 2016.

Pat Potter's quote was on T-shirts she wore to public environmental meetings.

OVERWHELMING EVIDENCE OF NDMA CONTRIBUTION TO THE ELMIRA AQUIFERS BY VARNICOLOR CHEMICAL

 AS PREVIOUSLY STATED MECP & UNIROYAL ILLEGALLY COVERED UP VARNICOLOR'S CULPABILITY IN ORDER FOR MECP TO SAVE FACE & CREDIBILITY, WITH UNIROYAL GIVEN CLEANUP CONCESSIONS SAVING THEM MILLIONS OF DOLLARS

The evidence is overwhelming and includes witnesses and affidavits of an on-site can coating process in which the liquid wastes including dimethylamine were dumped down the drain into the illegal backyard disposal system. NDMA analytical results for both Varnicolor groundwater and soils, proven chlorinated solvents having penetrated into the Municipal Aquifer, both free phase DNAPLS and LNAPLS on the Varnicolor site indicating that the volumes being discharged were far greater than the groundwater could dissolve and finally the fact that Uniroyal and successors have admitted failure to successfully remediate our drinking water aquifers by the mandated 2028 deadline. This is due partially to the excess chlorobenzene and NDMA discharged illegally into the Elmira aquifers by multiple polluters including Uniroyal, Varnicolor Chemical and maybe more.

The witnesses and affidavits include a former Varnicolor and Uniroyal employee who operated the can coating process as well as myself. The former Varnicolor and Uniroyal employee's Affidavit is in the Environmental Appeal Board's Brief of Documents Volume 9.  NDMA analytical results include Golder Associates Hydrogeological Assessment of Varnicolor Chemical as well as the Addendum to that. One on site shallow well has a result 48 times greater than the drinking water standard with others lower but still greater than drinking water standards. On site soils had results also considerably higher than the groundwater concentrations. A Supplementary Brief Of Documents by the Environmental Appeal Board (Jan. -June 1990) also has a result of NDMA  in a tank farm sump at 14 parts per billion. Keep in mind that the drinking water standard for NDMA is .009 parts per billion. The proven half dozen chlorinated solvents from Varnicolor that penetrated into the Elmira Municipal aquifer included trichloroethylene and vinyl chloride, two highly toxic compounds. The first proof of this occurred in May 2016 in Woolwich Council chambers during a public Risk Assessment of the former Varnicolor Chemical. The media did pick this up briefly plus two years ago a consultant for Lanxess publicly confirmed at a TRAC meeting that six chlorinated solvents from Varnicolor had gotten into the Elmira Municipal Aquifer. DNAPLS and LNAPLS at Varnicolor were confirmed by Golder Associates as well as LNAPLS by the owner of Elmira Pump, Jim Germann at the public meeting.    

It is public knowledge that the cleanup has failed to deliver as promised or on time. What is not public knowledge is that the Ontario government were clients of Varnicolor Chemical and it wasn't recycled solvents that they were buying. They were buying disposal of toxic liquid wastes from various Ontario Ministries including the Ministry of Transport. Some of these wastes included plastic pails of trichloroethane. They also were disposing of lab wastes with Varnicolor. Some might find a bit of a conflict of interest here in that Ministry of Environment inspectors were beyond lenient with so many infractions, shortcuts and obvious illegalities on both Varnicolor properties in Elmira. Other strange behaviour by the Ontario Ministry of Environment includes their refusal to provide requested cleanup documentation including the 2016 Risk Assessment to myself, the person who blew the whistle on Varnicolor and lost my job over it. They also have refused to acknowledge further off-site cleanups precipitated by Varnicolor's pollution to the immediate west of Varnicolor; perhaps all in the spirit of  collusion with Uniroyal and successors, to the detriment of the public interest.   

REGION OF WATERLOO & MEDIA CONTINUE TO GILD THE LILY REGARDING BOTH QUANTITY AND QUALITY OF OUR GROUNDWATER

 

There is a most unusual technical, hydrogeological report on-line that I read many, many years ago. Like many others, rereading it years later is very helpful especially if one has been constantly elevating one's   background knowledge and staying up to date with current events. Now I am somewhat reluctant and concerned to be the bearer of bad news particularly because I know that our idiot politicians are highly likely to do what they do best, which is to misuse and abuse information for their own self-serving purposes.  This report is titled "Groundwater Contamination In The Kitchener-Waterloo Area, Ontario". It was written in 1995 by a group of hydrogeologists from the University of Waterloo and possibly elsewhere. Many of these are well known, world class hydrogeologists including names such as Sanderson, Karrow, Greenhouse, Paloschi, Schneider, Mulamoottil, Mason, McBean, Fitzpatrick, Mitchell, Shrubsole & Child. Dr. John Cherry is also referenced in this report.

Recently I have published here various known contaminants in various Waterloo Region wellfields. This report expands significantly on my Blog postings of last month (July 2026) describing various wellfields and the various toxic contaminants in their groundwater. This report focuses on four older wellfields namely one in Waterloo (William St. Wellfield) and three in Kitchener (Greenbrook, Strange St. and Parkway). It also advises that at the time of this 1995 report there were twenty-three different wells involved over the four wellfields with four in the William St. Wellfield, seven in the Greenbrook Wellfield, seven also in the Strange St. Wellfield and finally five in the Parkway Wellfield. Currently not only are there different numbers of wells versus in 1995 but appropriately old wells that have been shut down since 1995 have had their names removed and new wells have of course new names.   

This report indicates that BTEX compounds normally from gasoline have been detected in all four of these wellfields. The BTEX compounds are benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene and xylene. Tetrachloroethylene (PCE) has also been found in all four wellfields.  PCE or Perc(hlorethylene) has often been used by dry cleaners in decades past. Very worrisome are aluminum, cadmium, chromium and lead all found in the Parkway wells. Two items of interest: these metals are often associated with tanneries producing leather of which two local names come to my mind i.e. Breithaupt and Lang. Gee you don't think that our regional politicians have been keen to avoid embarrassing prominent local, industrial families do you? The second item of interest is the plan to allegedly rehabilitate the Parkway wells. Oddly we have mercury in the Greenbrook Wellfield. That compound could be from a tannery or even possibly naturally occurring nearby. 

The last one is a humdinger. Total PCBs have been detected in the William St. and the Strange St. Wellfields. My God!  PCBs or Polychlorinated Biphenyls are a first cousin to dioxins and in some cases are even referred to as "dioxin like". My guess is that the former Uniroyal Tire plant on Strange St. may be a culprit based upon their plethora of toxic compounds found in the air in and around the plant decades ago. 

Now I have a teaser for you. Is it possible that there is strong analytical evidence that Varnicolor Chemical in Elmira not only contributed six chlorinated solvents to the Elmira drinking water aquifers as stated here yesterday, but also NDMA? Stay tuned for tomorrow's Blog posting.

   

TRAC & WOOLWICH TWN. GIVE YOUR HEADS A SHAKE! ENVIRONMENTAL COVERUPS & PHONY CLEANUPS ARE THE NORM, NOT THE EXCEPTION

 

I'm also going to add that government communications with the public are also usually disingenuous and misleading if not outright dishonest. Those communications have gotten so shoddy in both quantity and accuracy that it's now to the point that government's hiding secrets will look citizens in the eye and tell them "Sorry we can't clarify this or explain why because we have been forced at gunpoint/torture or worse to sign NDA's (Non-Disclosure Agreements)". The "or worse" for politicians simply means that they are afraid that they might get kicked out of office at the next election if they honestly tell why they have taken an action such as say spending $55 million dollars assembling and removing from production 600 acres of prime farmland in Wilmot Township. 

One of the biggest political lies is that there are no negative health effects from environmental spills and accidents. With one hand behind their backs and two fingers crossed they can honestly (in their wee minds) state this because knowing that all of us are mortal anyways they can justify the lie by telling themselves that those folks were on their way out regardless and if not from mercury, nitrates, TCE, NDMA,  vinyl chloride, smoking or drinking they are going to die anyways either from time or something else. Examples abound including the train derailment in East Palestine U.S.A. two or three years ago, Grassy Narrows mercury poisoning for the first decade after it went public, Agent Orange damages in Viet Nam and to American servicemen, trichloroethylene (TCE) via vapour intrusion in the Bishop St. community in Cambridge causing cancers and death, and many premature deaths in Elmira, Ontario both from Varnicolor Chemical and Uniroyal Chemical including a foreman at Varnicolor already diagnosed from solvent poisoning prior to the shutdown at Varnicolor and then his subsequent employment at Uniroyal. 

The vast majority of cleanups promised are the Cadillac cleanups whereas the reality is simply Volkswagon Beetle cleanups. This most certainly includes the Varnicolor Chemical "cleanup" back in the mid 1990s which was supposed to then require ten years of shallow pump & treat (hydraulic containment) however by 2016 the pumping was still going strong and only in 2024 were we finally told that yes indeed Varnicolor Chemical had contributed half a dozen toxic chlorinated solvents to our deeper municipal drinking aquifers after thirty-five years of government lying (M.O.E.) and coverup. In fact M.O.E. lawyer Stanley Berger back in 1991 at the public Environmental Appeal Board  hearings in Elmira actually stated that Varnicolor's pollution compared to Uniroyal was like a water pistol in a thunderstorm. The same dishonesty has been going on with the Uniroyal "cleanup" from day one with all government tiers claiming success by the mandated 2028 cleanup for twenty-five years (1993-2018) and only admitting failure AFTER the 2011-2015 Citizens Public Advisory Committee (CPAC) publicly advised Woolwich Council and the M.O.E. that it absolutely wasn't going to happen on time or even close. Now even the most blatant truth challenged parties agree, and the excuses with help from a few misguided citizens, are in high gear.       

HOW MANY MORE UNKNOWN LIES & DECEPTIONS ARE THERE CONCERNING THE UNIROYAL/LANXESS SITE?

 

How can one look at a map of the Uniroyal Chemical property (plus pits & ponds) and not be appalled? It is absolutely shocking how much of the site was taken up with toxic waste disposal. There were approximately twelve different pits and ponds of various sizes on the west side of the Canagagigue Creek and another twelve to fourteen on the east side of the Creek. The west side waste pits/ponds included RPW-1, RPW-2, P1, P2, RPW-3, RPW-4, RPW-5, RPW-6, RPW-7, RPW-8, M2, TPW-1, TPW-2. The east side had  IR-1, IR-2, RPE-1, RPE-2, RPE-3, RPE-4, RPE-5, TPE-1, TPE-2, BAE-1, RB-1, RB-2 and allegedly GP-1 & GP-2. At least these are the ones that I know of and that have documentation as to their size, location and contents. 

Uniroyal's intent was obvious with Pits and Ponds on both sides of the Creek through their property. None of these pits were covered from the elements so especially during rainstorms any pits that weren't already full and overflowing from the known 165,000 gallons of liquid wastes per day transported just to the east side alone, quickly would be. Surface drainage from the site ran into the Canagagigue Creek. This was not an accident. The Creek's water quality plummeted and many species in and around the Creek disappeared.  Where was the Ontario Ministry of Environment? How about the Ministry of Natural Resources? Maybe just like at Varnicolor Chemical down the road (Union St.) they were sitting in the office enjoying a licensed refreshment. 

What may have been an accident was the gross contamination of the multiple aquifers beneath the Uniroyal site.  Afterall the company knew that the shallow aquifer (UA) discharged directly into the Canagagigue Creek so likely they hoped/expected that the bulk of their liquid wastes simply would flow into the Creek just as the surface flows did. Also it is possible that the environmental savages did not know about the "windows" allowing direct flow into deeper aquifers that were between the UA (Upper Aquifer) and the Municipal Aquifer (MU) .  Or maybe they did and they just didn't care.

The Region of Waterloo didn't start using the Grand River for drinking water until the 1990s. I thought that that was pretty dumb at the time and still do. This most likely was because they had been told that on-site direct discharge to the Canagagigue Creek had ended around 1970. What a shocker later on after Cryptosporidium deaths made it clear that local farmers were still grazing their cattle in both the Grand River as well as its' tributaries such as the "Gig", the Conestogo and others. Then of course there were little problems such as multiple landfills without leachate controls, both legal and otherwise, along the Canagagigue that had accepted Uniroyal and Varnicolor Chemical wastes. 

We now know that there were multiple other potential industrial sources of chlorobenzene in Elmira located close to the corner of First and Union St.. I expect that we will eventually learn that the same occurred with NDMA but it's more politic not to reveal that for a little while longer. This is embarrassing information to the former M.O.E. (now MECP) who cut a sweetheart deal with Uniroyal Chemical. That deal had Uniroyal (falsely) admit to be the sole source of NDMA, chlorobenzene and ammonia in exchange for not having to properly clean up DNAPLS both on and off their site as well as for not ratting out the M.O.E.'s cooperation/incompetence in stopping their grotesque pollution sooner. One other recent admission from Lanxess Canada and consultants was that Varnicolor Chemical contributed half a dozen chlorinated solvents to Elmira's Municipal Aquifers albeit allegedly not chlorobenzene. Do you think this decades late admission is related to the Ontario Ministry of Environment's reneging on a public promise made to APTE, the Varnicolor Liason Committee (Rich Clausi, Ted Oldfield & myself) to fully examine Varnicolor horizontally and vertically back in the mid 1990s? They did neither as the still non public cleanup done at Motiveair Inc. behind Varnicolor would indicate along with the belated deep Municpal Upper Aquifer contamination admission.

Corruption stinks and the stench from the MECP is still overpowering! 

HYPOTHETICALLY OR NOT IS THIS WHAT OCCURRED BETWEEN THE ONT. M.O.E., UNIROYAL CHEMICAL, WATERLOO REGION & WOOLWICH TOWNSHIP FROM 1989-1991 ?

 

Everyone was hissy with everyone else at least in private. Blame was cast back and forth between Uniroyal and the Min. of Environment and the other two political tiers piled on. Then Uniroyal and the Ontario M.O.E. basically told the Region and Township to bugger off. And they did. No running to the courts. No running to the media to badmouth Uniroyal or the M.O.E.. The biggest bullies are also usually the biggest cowards and neither the Region nor the Township wanted to be on the bad side of the province and their variety of infrastructure grants and more. Even the realization of poisoned tap water in Elmira was more acceptable than losing out on millions of dollars of infrastructure grants (roads, sewers, water pipes, bridges, etc.) which eventually would have cost both regional and municipal councillors their jobs as councillors.

So once the polluter and their regulator had flexed their muscles and told the Region and Township to take a hike and they had; the die was cast. Two years later the M.O.E. and Uniroyal announced a bilateral agreement between themselves that totally bypassed the Township, the Region and local citizens who had organized and gotten  party status at the Environmental Appeal Board. The October agreement ended up as a November 1991 Control Order laid on Uniroyal Chemical.  The other parties both political and citizens were left in the dust. Now with admirable cowardice and a wish to ingratiate, the two political groups complained only mildly and begged to be let back in to the fold and Uniroyal file. The citizens group leadership knew where they wanted to go and how to do it. They too made commitments that got them invited to the pending January 1992 initial UPAC (Uniroyal Public Advisory Committee) meeting. 

Woolwich Township offered to organize regular public meetings (i.e. UPAC). They offered to present a united front to the public. A united front that the Ontario M.O.E., in negotiations with Uniroyal Chemical, was happy with. Similarly Waterloo Region also wanted to be part of the initial UPAC public meetings. Their support for the M.O.E.'s and Uniroyal's direction might be less enthusiastic than the Township's as they pressed for a somewhat better cleanup. Both the Township and the Region also received money from Uniroyal Chemical towards their increased environmental and legal costs incurred during the first two to three years of the water crisis. 

It was business as usual especially with local citizens getting scr*wed the most, including by their own.    

MONEY IS THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL - JUST ASK CONESTOGA ROVERS & ASSOC.

 

As soon as I saw the phrase Conestoga Lands Inc. in reference to the proposed zoning change and breach of the country side line on Bridge St. in Waterloo, Ontario I smelled something rotten in the air. Was it possible that a (in my opinion) rotten company, long ago merged with a bigger maybe less rotten firm, could still be spreading their anti social, anti environmental actions upon unsuspecting citizens? Well now that is a tricky question. I did a little bit of research trying to find out if the developers behind this proposed industrial site located beside Martin Grove Village in north Waterloo were indeed the former Conestoga Rovers & Associates (CRA) who made their initial claim to fame with the Love Canal disaster in the United States.

Well things get a little murky here. First of all CRA merged with GHD an Australian engineering firm around 2015 or so and carried on in name as GHD. CRA employees and shareholders were given shares in GHD and many (most ?) carried on with the new group. That being said the reference to CRA Lands Limited does refer to my least favourite engineering firm who are multiple winners of the MACHO Award.  They were presented with this award for their work with Uniroyal Chemical in Elmira and the award name stands for Memorial Award for Creative HydrogeOlogy. 

Now here's the rub. According to Google/AI,  CRA Lands Limited while referring to lands formerly owned by Conestoga Rovers & Assoc. are actually owned by a group of land developers. Maybe they thought that CRA had a good reputation environmentally or perhaps a good reputation as engineering consultants. I think it would be fair to suggest that dirty, rotten, polluting industries just love companies like CRA who give them the veneer of scientific oversight in their environmental decision making. Of course my harsh comments concerning dirty, rotten, polluting industries are a result of my working with/against CRA in Elmira for a couple of decades at least as they psuedo scientifically and drastically reduced  Uniroyal Chemical's cleanup costs.  

Now I don't claim to be any kind of land expert but it appears as if CRA Lands Limited and CRA Lands II Limited are controlled by Cook Lands Group. This company, again according to AI, is owned and operated by "...local Waterloo developer Ian Cook, founder of Cook Homes Limited,...". So here we appear to have once again the tail wagging the dog as home builders and developers are attempting to expand the hard country side line in order to obtain more lands to build profitable for them homes. 

I guess that I am less appalled because it isn't CRA directly behind this attempt to crack the countryside line; but only slightly less appalled. With Woolwich Township's penchant for sleeping with polluters and their fellow travellors, I expect smooth sailing for anybody riding on CRA's coattails.