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.