GODERICH-EXETER RAILWAY CONTACTS CITY OF KITCHENER

At first blush that sounds pretty exciting having the Railroad that "...trundles slowly through Waterloo carrying hazardous cargo from the chemical works in Elmira." actually contacting the City of Kitchener to begin discussions. The problem of course is that discussions are only going to begin what...six or seven decades after the fact. Even for politicians this is somewhat slower than usual. The "chemical works" in Elmira probably refers solely to Chemtura although Sulco (Canada Colours) also haul hazardous cargo.

The next problem is this: Mayor Carl Zehr stated "I think it is critical from a public knowledge standpoint, and also a safety perspective for citizens and first responders in case there is an accident". Great but who at the Railroad has agreed to sharing this crucial information with the unwashed masses known as the public? Nobody so far. The Kitchener Fire Chief has been approached and that's it. Do you think Kitchener Council want to share a secret with the public? Not bloody likely. That's one of the perks of being a politician. You get to be in the know on matters that you know absolutely nothing about and you get to keep them secret while telling everybody that you are so important that you are in the know and they aren't.

I'll start to get excited when the people's whose backyards the trains are going by actually get to find out what's on those trains. Saturday's Waterloo Region Record has this story "Railway to share cargo details with city".

4TH DAY (ie. Fri.) OF HUNDER PIT O.M.B. HEARING

The first witness presented on behalf of the Hunder Pit was a Mr. Matthew Caldwell. He is a Transportation Engineer with the I.B.I. group. The preferred haul route for gravel will be from the pit, south onto Katherine St. and then both left and right onto Sawmill Rd. Allegedly no trucks will be going north on Katherine through the village of Winterbourne. Mr. Caldwell agrees that the Crowsfoot Corners intersection is a fairly unique intersection and he feels it's problems have been addressed by the Region of Waterloo. They installed an overhead flashing light, an intersection ahead sign and lowered the speed limit from 80 to 70 km/hour. Possible greater mitigation of this intersection would include traffic signals and or a total reconstruction of the whole intersection. Mr. Caldwell then advised the hearing that in his opinion the pit traffic of ten trucks per hour will not trigger the need for improvements to Crowsfoot Corners. Mr. Caldwell also argued that the number of collisions at this intersection was consistent with other rural intersections. He also stated that there is no evidence that more trucks present will cause more collisions. His final position was that there will be zero issues arising from the gravel trucks from the Hunder Pit using this intersection.

Ms. Costello on behalf of Woolwich Township then cross-examined Mr. Caldwell. She asked and he grudgingly admitted that his in person traffic study of the intersection was over a two day period. He also agreed with her that based on delays at the intersection that it was graded level of service F by the Region of Waterloo during peak times. Two suggestions from Mr. Caldwell to improve the intersection included a dedicated left turn lane for turns from Katherine St. onto either Sawmill Rd. or onto Crowsfoot Rd.. The average wait time currently during rush hour is 112 seconds for a left turn from Katherine onto Sawmill rd. and 70 seconds for a right turn onto Sawmill Rd.. Ms. Costello took exception to the suggested increase in traffic of only 2.5% with the addition of ten trucks per hour. By her calculations there was an increase in truck traffic making particular turns (left or right) of greater than 20%. Mr. Caldwell was not happy with her calculations.

Mr Paton on behalf of the Conestoga Winterbourne Residents Association (CWRA) got Mr. Caldwell to agree that the K shaped Crowsfoot Corners intersection was an undesirable intersection. He then asked him if it was desirable to use it as a haul route for trucks. Mr. Caldwell replied that with operational controls the intersection could handle the trucks. He also suggested that there would be no difference with the addition of ten trucks per hour. Mr. Paton then asked the best question yet as he asked if there are no changes to Crowsfoot Corners will that intersection safely permit 10 trucks per hour from the Hunder Pit. Mr. Caldwell had two answers. The first was adding any additional vehicles will add to delays and I believe he muttered/whispered the word safety. His second response was more on line with his overall message as he said that 10 trucks will not in a disproportionate fashion add to problems at the intersection. That adding of the word "disproportionate" is rather interesting. I believe Mr. Caldwell's overall message is that anybody and everybody has the right to use public roads therefore why are you focusing/picking on my company's client? Very interesting.

The hearing will resume in Woolwich Council Chambers (Elmira) this Tuesday at 10 am.. I believe a witness on behalf of Hunder will give testimony in regards to agricultural rehabillatation of the proposed pit.

3RD DAY (ie. Thurs.) OF THE HUNDER PIT O.M.B. HEARING

Mr. Gastmeyer (acoustical engineer) was back on the stand on behalf of the Hunder Development. He agreed that crushing at the Hunder Pit should not be concurrent with crushing going on at the Jigs Hollow Pit. Also it was agreed that crushing could not run simultaneously with excavating at the Hunder Pit during some of the different phases. Finally it was also understood that the 45 decibel noise criteria would also be breached in some phases (ie.geographic locations) of the operation if more than two loaders were running simultaneously. According to Mr. Gastmeyer "The co-ordination can happen." between the two neighbouring pits. The Board was also told that the preferred traffic route was south on Katherine St. with up to ten trucks per hour and no noise mitigation required. Personally I find these restrictions ridiculous and I doubt any operator will agree to operate under them. Either that or they will only be followed for the first five minutes of the pit being opened and then ignored.

Woolwich Township had a company called Valcoustics do their noise peer review for them. The gentleman involved was a Mr. Emojano sp.??. His peer review contradicts Mr. Gastmeyer's testimony and evidence. Mr. Gastmeyer also responded to a critique by a participant, namely a Mrs. Strobascher. He was very complimentary of her report while respectfully disagreeing with it's conclusions.

Ms. Costello on behalf of Woolwich Township cross-examined Mr. Gastmeyer. She quite effectively pointed out that Mr. Gastmeyer was very late to the process and had indeed missed out on talks with the parties as well as with the peer reviewer for the Township. She cast doubt on his credibility/sincerity when it was shown that the fellow who did the modelling wasn't the fellow (Gastmeyer) defending it at the hearing. No explanation has yet been given as to why. Ms. Costello scored big time when she finally got Mr. Gastmeyer to admit that he had no examples of operational co-ordination between two seperate pits. She then got him to reverse his testimony that there were no non typical conditions attached to the Hunder Pit. He finally agreed that the co-ordination required with another pit (Jigs Hollow) was a specific condition to the Hubnder Pit alone. Mr. Gastmeyer repeatedly indicated that he had no knowledge of the operational rules affecting the Jigs Hollow Pit.

After lunch we learned that at least two agreed items by I.B.I., the consultants to Hunder, had not gotten into the final report. These included that processing included both crushing and screening and that sand exposure levels didn't get in as well. The final change by Mr. Gastmeyer revolved around the crusher language neede to incorporate crusdhing of either aggregate or of the recycled asphalt and concrete. Ms. Costello raised an interesting point namely was there a point at which conditions made a pit simply not viable.

The O.M.B. Chair, Ms. Schiller, right at the end of the day raised the question of some kind of ownership relationship between the two pits. Peter Pickfield, lawyer for Hunder, said there was not. The hearing continues this morning (Fri.) at ten am..

2ND DAY OF THE HUNDER PIT OMB HEARING

As there was a site visit in the morning I showed up for the after lunch start time of 2 pm.. I can't say that I feel any more confident after two days than I did after the first. The good news is that I saw both the Township's lawyer (Ms. Costello) and the lawyer for the CWRA (Mr. Paton) in action. They both cross-examined a hydrogeologist for Hunder by the name of Mr. Hems/Hims ??? Ms. Costello asked a number of good questions in regards to the high water mark of the water table and also in regards to the deeper aquitard. She obtained agreement from Hunder's hydrogeologist that a below the water table gravel pit would require major further groundwater studies. I'm a wee bit skeptical about that one. Mr. Paton representing the Conestoga Winterbourne Residents Association asked some very good questions dealing with the storage and possible protection from fuel leaks of all the heavy equipment that will be on site. Mr. Paton also again brought up the issue? that to date there is no designated operator for this proposed gravel pit. For example it will be Preston Sand and Gravel operating the Jigs Hollow/Kuntz Pit just upriver. The Chair Ms. Schiller had raised this question on Tuesday. This would force the raising of the pit floor to keep it 1.5 metres above the water table.

Mr. Paton really hit his stride in pressing Mr. Hems/Hims?? on the "historical" high water table levels. Eventually he did get the expert admission that if climatic conditions changed dramatically then a much higher water table is in the realm of possibility.

The final witness of the afternoon was a Mr. Gastmeyer who is an acoustical engineer. He discussed the change from a Class Two acoustical environment (semi-urban) to a Class Three (rural). There is a five decibel lower noise criteria for Class Three and that was eventually agreed to by all. This did involve peer reviewers on behalf of both the Township and of the CWRA. Other interesting agreements are that the accumulated sound levels from both the Jigs Hollow Pit and the proposed Hunder Pit are on the table. Also there was a proposal that there will be no simultaneous processing from both pits. This I find a tad problematic when both pits are under the gun. Which pit stops processing first?

The hearing reconvenes this morning at 10 am. What I find offputting is almost the atmosphere/attitude well we've come this far there's no turning back but we will consider minor condition changes to appease the folks we're going to bugger royally.

FIRST DAY OF THE HUNDER PIT O.M.B. HEARING

I believe 25 days were set aside for this hearing. Therefore logic says I shouldn't be jumping to conclusions after only one day. The hearing ran yesterday from 11 am to 12:40 pm. and then from 2 pm. till 4 pm.. There was mostly procedural and administrative stuff combined with one whole witness namely Mr. Cisco (planner) on behalf of the Hunder Pit. My impression is that things look bad for the CWRA (Conestoga Winterbourne Residents Association). The lawyer for Woolwich Township, Ms. Costello, appears sharp and intelligent. She made it clear to the OMB Chair, Susan Schiller, that the Township were opposed to the pit and only if the Board decided it could go ahead would the Township then be pushing for a number of conditions to mitigate negative effects on residents. I was not impressed with the O.M.B. Chair. She seems to be enjoying herself and her humour a little too much. One could almost say she was grandstanding. Now keep in mind this criticism is based on one day only. If the lawyer for the CWRA hasn't already told his clients to show up at the hearings, he should. This Board currently is politically vulnerable. There are attempts being made provincially to reform the Board allegedly. This Board has a history of siding with developers and most especially with aggregate companies. I think it would be very beneficial to the Chair if she were to see the faces of the people who will be negatively affected by locating this pit on it's proposed site.

There is to be a site visit this morning restricted to lawyers and planners only. The hearing will then resume this afternoon at 2 pm.. The Region of Waterloo have been excused from the hearing but have not withdrawn as a party. They have signed a Minutes of Settlement with Hunder on their outstanding issues including hydrogeology etc.. Woolwich Township have also signed a Minutes of Settlement but in regards to vertical zoning only. The issue of municipalities attempting to enforce the depth of extraction has been and continues to be problematic with a concurrent O.M.B. hearing going on in K-W involving the Region and the Ministry of Natural Resources plus the Ontario Sand & Gravel Association.

The Township to their credit have insisted on many peer reviews of the reports produced by Hunder's various experts. There have also been 286 letters of objection coming from 86 different households in the neighbourhood. The community are very strongly in opposition to the location of this proposed pit. Mr. Cisco gave a glowing interpretation of "progressive" rehabilitation of the pit to the assembled folks. It brought a tear to my eye and I only wish I could get a gravel pit to locate next to me so that I could enjoy this wonderful natural restoration.....not!

HUNDER PIT (CONESTOGO) HEARING STARTS AT 11 am. THIS MORNING IN WOOLWICH COUNCIL CHAMBERS

I've been looking over the weekend on the Woolwich Township website for the start time of this Ontario Municipal Board hearing without sucess. In fact although I found tons of details and reports I was unaware of I found absolutely zero mention of today's hearing. As a result I was pretty well convinced it was cancelled until I went down to the Township building at 9 this morning. Lo and behold it starts in Council Chambers at 11 am. and is indeed open to the public. See you there.

SHAME ON WOOLWICH COUNCIL, CHEMTURA & THE MINISTRY OF THE ENVIRONMENT

Yesterday I received a phone call from CBC Radio in London. They interviewed me with the possibility of CBC Radio Kitchener picking up the story/interview. I had left them a phone message on Friday and suggested they call either Dr. Dan Holt (Chair) or Ron Campbell, both of the Chemtura Public Advisory Committee (CPAC). Now Dan in hindsight has headed south to visit family and Ron who works and travels extensively due to his company Acute Environmental; may actually be enjoying a little time off work this long weekend.

With this in mind I have spent about four hours so far today reviewing the Agent Orange, Dioxin, GP1 & 2 files I have. Further interviews may or may not occur but I have decided to have everything fresh if not outright memorized . This current non-cleanup being done by Chemtura and endorsed by the M.O.E. is far too important not to. With all due respect to both the current CPAC and the old one there is virtually no one even close to my level of hydrogeological knowledge on the subject. That combined with my four hours effort today has given me an insight into Woolwich Council. They are literally know nothing, ungrateful, petty jerks. Quoting my friend Richard Clausi, what kind of a team benches their best player, permanently? The answer is a very stupid one. Now for the provisos. Not all of Woolwich Council voted against my membership on CPAC; only the incredibly stupid ones. Secondly there is a current CPAC member who is technically very competent although his experience is primarily on dozens/hundreds of other sites. That would be Ron Campbell. Thirdly and this pains me greatly to say but here goes. There was a four page report dated April 2012 with comments about the gravel pit investigation (GP1 & 2) written by the APT Chemtura Committee (ACC). Richard likes to refer to this group as Chemtura's APT Committee. Regardless this report is insightful and makes some excellent points. Now I know Pat McLean has never seen a technical report that has any interest for her; therefore the only possible author would be Susan Bryant. The tragedy is that she and Sylvia Berg sold out the APTE members and co-ordinators back in the early 90's in regards to DNAPLS (dense non-aqueous phase liquids).

Both myself and the current CPAC also wrote critiques of Chemtura's planned work in GP1 & 2. Today's homework has driven home for me the misdirection, deviousness and outright bullshit that Chemtura will indulge in in order to save a few million dollars. They claim there are no solvents in the groundwater. The reality is that there are only low levels of solvents in the Upper Aquifer 1 (UA1). These would include NDMA, Chlorobenzene and Ammonia among others. The other reality is that there are high levels of solvents in UA3 and in the MU (municipal upper aquifer) beneath Chemtura's south-east corner. These have been there for decades. These solvents came from the overflow of the east side pits which drained for decades into GP1 & 2 by gravity flow. This drainage was assisted by Chemtura (Uniroyal) ploughing furrows to help the liquid overflow from RPE 1, 2, 3, 4, & 5 flow downhill into GP1 & 2. We have lists of the chemicals and their concentrations in the east side pits and they were horrific. Solvents by the dozens intermingled with pesticides including DDT, and the wastes from Agent Orange production contaminated with Dioxins all flowed into GP1 & 2 where they ponded and slowly sank into the ground. The ground held a little topsoil but was mostly sand and gravel thus aiding deep infiltration. The groundwater levels are very high as this area is floodplain for the Canagagigue Creek which is barely fifty feet away from GP2. Just a few of the known solvents in the deeper aquifers would include 2-MBT, aniline, benzothiazole, carboxin, toluene and many more. Dozens of these are listed as the components of the consolidation pits, RPE4 & 5.

Chemtura's greatest strength is not doing their due diligence and then bragging about how they haven't found Dioxins or other solvents in the groundwater. They also brag that the highest concentrations of Dioxins are at the surface. What they ignore is that they have refused to test the deeper aquifers recently for solvents and they have refused to do deeper (UA3, MU) soil testing looking for Dioxins, DDT or anything else. This south-east area was highly contaminated and the remaining Dioxins/DDT on the surface are merely the tip of the iceburg. Shame on Chemtura, their consultants, the M.O.E. and a Woolwich Council that aid and abet Chemtura by benching their best players using red herrings, innuendo and bald faced lies.