Dan, Richard & Ken: Intellectually I agree with you so why is it so hard for me to do it in practice?

I have been blessed with friends and colleagues who do their best to keep me grounded and aware of the bigger picture. Whether or not they agree o% or 100% with my opinions nevertheless they often are able to point out to me how my energy and enthusiasm could be misinterpreted. In the heat of writing this Blog I always attempt to be painfully honest whether criticising the Ministry of the Environment, Chemtura or local politicians. The problem arises with personal criticism of individuals. Perhaps my wee mind thinks that if the responsible individuals are willing to accept praise for their actions they should also be willing to accept personal criticism. Nevertheless I have accepted the overall principle that the three individuals above have suggested to me. Therefore as a start I am going to remove a couple of rude comments/adjectives/nouns that I used in yesterday's posting. I will endeavour to remain honest and direct while being less personally critical of individuals. In other words as I am advised, criticize the behaviour not the person. If only it were easier to do but I will continue to try.

OVERWHELMING ARROGANCE

Is there a better term to describe a Mayor who would appoint a panel of intelligent, worldly citizens to a very difficult committee with the expectation that he and he alone could absolutely control their decisions, their direction and their conclusions? Did he believe that by unilaterally cancelling both private orientation meetings as well as public CPAC meetings that he could continually keep them off balance? Did his control of the process through appointing himself Interim Chair make him feel omnipotent and invincible? This process includes Agenda items, Minutes and whether or not to reschedule meetings. Finally did his removal of one of his appointees early on (last May) make him think he had intimidated the rest of them? What an absolute ... he has shown himself to be.

The question is why. If he believed that the old CPAC were co-opted and had strayed from their mandate of restoring the Elmira drinking water aquifers; then why is he behaving badly and treating this CPAC disrespectfully? In hindsight I believe that he got rid of the old entrenched CPAC members because he knew he couldn't control them. His private reason given to me and others was indeed correct and a good one but not his real reason. His disrespect and ... behaviour towards the new CPAC extends further than what I have written here today or in the past. In my opinion his arrogance and disrespect have put him on a collision course with his own handpicked Chemtura Public Advisory Committee. These are honest, intelligent people who sincerely want to fulfill their mandate. This includes working in the public interest regarding cleaning up the local aquifers. They are not interested in saving Chemtura money nor in saving face for the Ministry of the Environment.

On two (Editor's note: now appears to be only one) occasions within the last eight days the Mayor has indicated that he is not on board with the notion that the October 7, 1991 Settlement Agreement is also a blatant sweetheart deal which indemnifies Chemtura from liability for their decades of local pollution. He may be misleading CPAC by claiming that the silence and secrecy he has demanded around this sweetheart deal is for the purpose of quietly negotiating with the M.O.E. in order to gain concessions. Horsefeathers ! What I believe he is doing is helping them and Chemtura prepare their defence for the March 29/12 public CPAC meeting. I have been e-mailing advice and observations concerning the November 1991 Control Order and the Settlement Agreement to both CPAC members as well as the local media. I have not been including the Mayor in my e-mails. Chemtura and the M.O.E. have money and decades of manipulation under their belts. They don't need any other help.

WOOLWICH DRINKING WATER

Last Saturday's Woolwich Observer carrys this story: "Clean bill of health for Woolwich's water". You know the easiest way to put this in perspective is to remind residents of all the assurances they were receiving during the 1980's in regards to Elmira's water. Everyone could taste how bad it was yet the assurances from the M.O.E. especially just came on flowing. Then allegedly out of the blue, immediately AFTER Uniroyal completed their cleanout of their west side ponds in 1989, the M.O.E. decided to test for some different compounds. Wowser they found NDMA and less remarkably a half dozen other common industrial solvents.

So I'm telling Woolwich rersidents to take this article and more importantly these water reports with a healthy dose of skepticism. I have posted numerous articles during March, February and probably January describing in detail the omissions and discrepancies in these reports produced by the Region of Waterloo. Do not blame Woolwich Councillors here. They want good news, the Region delivers it and the Councillors aren't looking for problems nor do they want a fight with the Region. Just like the recently exposed sweetheart deal between the M.O.E. and Chemtura; the big shots get what they want and the public takes it again in the ear.

JIGS HOLLOW GRAVEL PIT BACK BEFORE COUNCIL

Last Saturday's Woolwich Observer carried the following story: "Conestogo residents want more study into impact of Jigs Hollow gravel pit; inadequate to date". Bill Norrish a resident of the Golf Course Road subdivision spoke at last Tuesday's Council meeting. He and his neighbours dispute an assertion that the proposed Kuntz Landscaping pit by the Grand River and between Conestogo and Winterbourne will not have unacceptable visual impacts. Apparently the study of same by the pit applicant only used one nearby vacant property in it's assessment. As a reminder our old Council approved a zone change application for the pit, as one of it's last acts. There is an O.M.B. mediation session scheduled for May 8, 2012.

DELEGATION TO WOOLWICH COUNCIL (March 6, 2012)

For many years it has been obvious to CPAC members and citizens of Wolwich Township that the so called "bible" for the cleanup, namely the November 4,1991 Control Order was a paper tiger. It was ignored at will by both Chemtura and by the Ontario Ministry of the Environment. I have for a number of years been advising CPAC, the public and the media that a sweetheart deal existed between Chemtura (Uniroyal) and the M.O.E. Indeed current CPAC member Ron Campbell has found and shared this document with the rest of CPAC. Amazingly this document was written right in the midst of the Elmira water crisis, while the story was national news. This document is dated October 7, 1991 and is a bilateral agreement between Uniroyal Chemical and the Ministry of the Environment. At the top of the first page this document is referred to as Schedule H of the agreement between Uniroyal, the M.O.E. and the Region of Waterloo which was dated March 1993. These two documents explain many things including the Region sending their designated denier, Eric Hodgins, to a private Woolwich Council meeting a few years back to refute my claim of "other sources" here in Elmira.

I am assuming that the Interim Chair of CPAC (Todd Cowan) has shared this incredible news with Woolwich Council (Editor's note-he hadn't) . I am also disappointed that to date Woolwich Council have not shared this information with the general public. The sweetheart deal was signed one month prior to the signing of the Amended Control Order of Nov. 4, 1991. It has been kept a secret from CPAC members and the public for over twenty years. That is not to say that one or two co-opted CPAC members might not have known about it. The rest of us present at CPAC meetings either as formal members or not had no knowledge of this secret sweetheart deal. What this document does on page 15 is to release Uniroyal Chemical from all liability, legal and financial, on its' Elmira property due to contamination. For twenty-one years Chemtura and the Ontario Ministry of the Environment have been playing a game with the citizens of Elmira. They have deceived, manipulated and lied constantly. They have lied through omission and through commission. They have shamelessly led this committee of Council around in circles all the while knowing that Uniroyal/Chemtura didn't have to lift a finger. As this document was in the possession of Woolwich Council most likely for the entire last twenty-one years, one could jump to a conclusion that Woolwich Council are also guilty of deception. On futher thought while it is entirely likely that past Councils had full knowledge of this contemptible sweetheart deal, I have no reason to believe that the current, barely over a year old Council knew of it. Regardless the public have been lied to, deceived and manipulated and treated with the utmost contempt and disrespect by the Ministry of the Environment and by Chemtura. My expectation of this Council is twofold. I expect you to immediately advise the public of the existence of this document and the significance. Secondly I expect some action from this Council directed towards both Chemtura and the M.O.E. You (Council) at the moment have the moral high ground as I believe that you do not share blame for this betrayal of the public. Some appropriate and significant action including expressing your condemnation of the reprehensible behaviour of these other two parties is required . After twenty-two years of having to deal with these persons/wor.. I do not think I, nor the public, should be expected to be patient any longer. Woolwich Council what are you prepared to do?

Alan Marshall Elmira Environmental Hazards Team

LOTS OF LOCAL HOT ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS

First off Chemtura have failed their most recent *Responsible Care* verification. This isn't a big surprise. For me the surprise is that the CIAC (Chemical Industry Assoc'n of Canada; formerly CCPA) are insightful enough to realize that giving Chemtura the go ahead would tarnish the CIAC's credibility overall. I emphasize that this is my take on the situation only and I acknowledge that local folks were involved in the verification process last summer. This Report is dated February 24, 2012. A very big part of their failure relates to their relationship and communication with the community.

The next news relates to the Hawk Ridge Homes Ontario Municipal Board (O.M.B.) hearing which I posted about earlier here in the Advocate. There is an article in this week's Elmira Independent titled "Residents present concerns about Hawk Ridge Homes". These three residents are all former members of the old CPAC although Sandra Bair had only been a member for a short period of time, possibly a year. That being said I had been impressed with her performance overall at the old CPAC and she and former member Ken Driedger were the only two former CPAC members that I had recommended be kept on the new CPAC. Unfortunately they both eventually decided to join their collegues in removing their Applications from the new CPAC even though the other old CPAC members by that time knew they weren't going to be reappointed anyways. At the O.M.B. hearings these three spoke to the Board about the safety of putting a new subdivision so close to Sulco and Chemtura. The former Chair of CPAC who I believe was much to palsy with Chemtura for years sang a somewhat different tune at the O.M.B. stating "The company (Chemtura) doesn't really seem to care about Woolwich residents". Why weren't you this honest and forthcoming when it really mattered Pat?

The third news of course deals with the sweetheart deal between Chemtura and the Ministry of the Environment (M.O.E.). It is appropriate that there is an uproar and I believe it will only get bigger. The story has been carried, somewhat poorly, but nevertheless carried in the Woolwich Observer. On-line I have added one comment to that story and this morning I note there is another comment consisting of a story from here (Elmira Advocate) that was picked up by the Cambridge Advocate. At the moment I don't know who posted that comment. The hits here in the Advocate have been off the charts lately and yesterday was no exception. I have the 22 page sweetheart deal as an attachment on an e-mail and I will be posting it in it's entirety soon. It is my hope that CPAC will also be addressing this issue shortly. The next regularily scheduled public CPAC meeting is Thursday March 29/12 at 6 pm. in the Woolwich Council Chambers.

LET THE "SWEETHEART DEAL" LYING BEGIN !

Firstly Thank You Woolwich Observer for finally publishing the most momentuous news regarding the Elmira non-cleanup in decades. Today's front page story is titled
"20-year-old agreement causes a stir". It's not on-line yet but when it is I will add a link to it. Yes you appear to have naively accepted the words of the two recipients at face value, namely the Ontario M.O.E. and Chemtura. This I find strange as I've become a fan of Steve Kannon's insightful Editorials. Of late he has taken accurate and penetrating shots at politicians, money men, corporate elites and how ordinary citizens are taking it in the ear from our so called authorities.

On page 7 Steve quotes parts of section 16(releases). He stops prematurely however. Here is the rest of the sentence: "...and the province are presently aware, which against Uniroyal... the province ever had, now has or which the province or its assigns, can, shall or may have by reason of or arising out of contamination on the Uniroyal site in Elmira." Keep in mind the "presently aware" part. This was signed during the SECOND Environmental Appeal Board hearing and AFTER both the 1984 and August 1990 Control Orders. Both parties had excellent knowledge of the current horrid state of the Uniroyal site which was at least partially responsible for the shutdown of all the municipal wells in Elmira.

Dwight Este of Chemtura and Steve Martindale of the M.O.E. are the long time front men and designated deceivers. Their two employers are and have been partners in pollution literally for decades. Clearly truth is temporarily unavailable for these two as it has been for most of the last twenty years. Their claims that the document has been public since it was drafted is drivel. They then claim that they issued a press release the same day as if that was evidence of something. A self serving, self congratulatory press release is not making the document public. This is not the first time these two bodies have hidden documents or deals and I'm also sure that more will be discovered in the future.

Dwight Este also claims that pump and treat groundwater work and further work along the banks of the Canagagigue Creek is evidence that the company did not get a "free pass". More hooey! If he's referring to Dioxin removal at GP1 & 2 then this was contamination they were not aware of in 1991. It was discovered in 2002 as part of the SSRA (site specific risk assessment). The pump and treat is also part of this October 7, 1991 sweetheart deal. Twenty years plus of public meetings and criticism of Uniroyal/Chemtura and the M.O.E. for not removing DNAPLS (dense non-aqueous phase liquids) and NEVER did either of those parties admit that they had given or received a Release that let them off the hook for that contamination of which they were "presently aware".

Shortly I will be releasing my written remarks to Council (last tuesday nite) and I will attempt to post the entire 22 page sweetheart deal on line. Currently I have posted the 1st and 15 th pages on line here in the Advocate. Please also note the comment I've put at the bottom of the article on the Woolwich Observer which is linked at the top of this posting.