LONG PAST TIME FOR A PUBLIC INQUIRY/ROYAL COMMISSION INTO ELMIRA

First off the older I get the more corruption of public processes that I have seen. Typically it is our politicians hiding behind "process" in order to avoid accountability or being held responsible for public policy snafus. In other words the most accountable and transparent process possible on paper guarantees nothing. It is the individuals involved in the "process" whether that process be court, hearings, Inquiries, Commissions , elections, debates, public consultation etc. that determine it's honesty and outcome. In other words any manmade "process" can and has been perverted by individuals so inclined and in position to do so.

On that note why bother? Well sometimes an honest and open public process is in the interests of enough people, the media and even some in positions of authority that everyone will pay close attention. When under the public microscope, while not impossible, it is much less likely that vested interests, including guilty vested interests, will fiddle and meddle in the process in order to preserve their own interests.

Here in Elmira the obvious focus of any Inquiry or Commission should be the Ontario Ministry of the Environment. They have long been in a conflict of interest position as their private deal making with polluting industries has caused irreparable harm to the environment and to citizens' health. The failure of the Ministry of Health provincially or even regionally to conduct a serious health study in and around Elmira is to both their shame. Perhaps this actually might end up being a proxy Inquiry into political corruption at the provincial level. Why are all three major parties soft on corporate polluters while hell on wheels with little polluters? To say it is a double standard is an understatement. The more money and authority a polluter has the better, more respectfully and more gently they are treated by our M.O.E..

Political deals including sweetheart deals, free passes for past sins (indemnities), impossible standards of proof required to open investigations or remedy failings; these are all part and parcel of the corrupted political process. Whether we are discussing Varnicolor Chemical, Phillips Environmental, Uniroyal Chemical, Breslube/Safety-Kleen, ProCast Foundries, Rothsay Concentrates, Scavenger Recycling or even things like ridiculously located landfills in and around Elmira; we've got them all. Our air, our creeks and rivers and our groundwater have all been seriously impacted over the decades despite a litany of anti-pollution legislation. The common thread has been the undue influence of money and power as to who receives the full extent of enforcement of public interest pollution legislation.

Currently primarily in private, concerned Elmira citizens are receiving confirmation as to the failures of our authorities at all levels in regards to environmental protection and remediation. We are learning that the 2028 cleanup of the Elmira Aquifers is no longer unlikely it is impossible. It is not solely due to one or two minor unforseen complications but due to a litany of incompetence, overconfidence and unaccountability. It is due to the gamesmanship of our authorities removing one way or the other the best, brightest and most committed citizens from the public consultation process. It is also due to the wonderful addition of Dr. Richard Jackson back in September 2015. That he became part of the process by the pair on Council most responsible for the previously mentioned gamesmanship in removing honest and committed citizens, is beyond bizarre. Whether his early departure was also due to the same pair in addition to "public policy" failures as he put it, I do not know. Only suspect. Was their appointing of Dr. Jackson a huge mistake that truly turned the tide on Chemtura/CRA/M.O.E. bullshit and puffery; hence indicating their incompetence in supporting the partners in pollution or did they sincerely appoint Dr. Jackson truly knowing what a dedicated, powerful and sincere individual he was? If the latter then that would speak to their stupidity, naivety and incompetence in formerly supporting the three mouseketeers and their self-serving agendas.

Some form of Public Inquiry is needed. Of course those who could initiate it are as usual implicated themselves. I await the future
removal of both the Liberals and Conservatives as the governing party here in Ontario. While not quite having a monopoly on the environmental blame here, they are very close. Perhaps an NDP or NDP/Green coalition might see some political advantage in such an Inquiry. Sad but that's the most likely way it will ever happen.

MARYHILL WATER TREATMENT IN WOOLWICH TOWNSHIP

Yesterday's Woolwich Observer carries an article on the two different water systems and treatment systems in Maryhill, Ontario. Both systems are extremely small (180 & 140 people) and use common, everyday treatment systems. The Observer article is very upbeat and quotes both a Woolwich staffer and a Region of Waterloo employee who both unsurprisingly are wildly optimistic about this change in one of the treatment systems to bring it in line with the other one. I have in the past posted here about the two Maryhill systems as well as most of the others in Waterloo Region. My recollection has been that in the past there were many exceedances of either chlorine or chloramine in the two systems. This can be a result of raw water heavily contaminated with bacteria (Total Coliform & or E.Coli) requiring heavy duty chlorination to kill the bacteria. It can also be due to simple operational exceedances of the quantities required to get the job done. While both exceedances are health based issues, my understanding is that chloramine is actually preferable as a residual than chlorine. Chlorine is well known and long implicated in various adverse health outcomes including cancer. If that is accurate than all this bragging is mostly hot air and puffery as they may have two systems that can now be linked but the reality is that is because one of them has been downgraded to the lesser treatment system of the two. I fail to see the "improvement" in that hence the sales job on the local residents perhaps.

I had put this posting on SAVE while I did a little digging into the Region's Annual Drinking Water Reports for Maryhill. I also doublechecked my old postings here from years ago regarding the Maryhill system. I only went back to 2012 but what I found was no raw water bacteria issues at all. What the hell? Then why be dosing the crap out of the water whether with chlorine or chloramines? I also found that the chloramine exceedances were even worse back several years than in the last couple. Odd. I also noted my discontent with the lack of THM or trihalomethane readings in these reports. Chlorine produces THMs in conjunction with organics in the raw water. Chloramines greatly reduce THM formation and are this considered superior. Therefore I again repeat my skepticism that reverting back to the older chlorine treatment for half of Maryhill is no improvement for them whatsoever. So what is really going on there?

CURIOUSER & CURIOUSER: WAS THE MAYOR'S HUSBAND SOMEHOW INVOLVED IN THE SHODDY METHANE COLLECTION SYSTEM AT BOLENDER PARK?

The ten Conestoga Rovers reports on the Bolender Park Landfill are very detailed in some aspects and glaringly vague in others. We are given pretty detailed Contract Specifications required for the construction of the Active versus Passive landfill gas collection system. We are advised of the different types of gas monitoring and collection systems and their advantages and disadvantages. Right now Woolwich Council are as usual looking at the cheapest, least effective environmental controls on the landfill. They are downgrading from an Active to a Passive system (ie. no pump/blower).

We were advised early on in the reports that the owner of the system is Woolwich Township and the Engineer designated by Woolwich is Conestoga Rovers (CRA). The Engineer is involved in both "...the design and inspection of construction of the landfill gas collection system." Furthermore "The Engineer will represent the interests of the owner during construction. The Engineer has the authority to direct all work to the extent of ensuring the successful completion of the project in fulfillment of the Contract.". Boy this certainly puts CRA firmly on the hook for any deficiencies in the system. That's why I'm convinced there is something odd in the ongoing 34 year relationship between Woolwich Township and CRA.

We now have smoking gun evidence both recently and over the last three years that CRA have screwed up royally the mandated thirty year clean up of the Elmira Aquifers. Not only did they drastically underestimate the back diffusion of NDMA from aquitards (low permeability zones) back into the aquifers (high permeability zones) but they also missed a number of other sources within Elmira which have contributed to the destruction of the drinking water aquifers. These sources include Nutrite/Yara, Varnicolor Chemical and now the latest, a massive contribution of chlorobenzene from a source other than Uniroyal Chemical.

Combined with CRA's deficiencies as exposed via their client Uniroyal/Chemtura/Lanxess we now have smoking gun evidence that they have mismanaged the Bolender Park Landfill for their client. They have miscalculated some obvious criteria in the initial building of the gas system such as the depth to groundwater, both high and low seasonally, and thus the determination as to where the perforations in the gas probe allowing gas to enter the probe should be located. Why are Woolwich Council and staff sticking with this clearly discredited, in my opinion, consulting firm?

Enter Brian Shantz, sort of. I mentioned in the first sentence that the CRA landfill reports were very detailed in some aspects and glaringly vague in others. For example we know most of the details of the construction, who the owner and Engineer are but again oddly no mention of the actual contractor who built the system. Hmm in one sense, in hindsight, I can understand that. It's even possible that there are other reports that were "cleansed" by Woolwich staff before releasing these ten CRA reports to the owners of #86 Auto Recycling. Perhaps these reports describe the bidding process and who won the competition for construction of the system. At least if there was a proper bidding process that is.

While the names of different Woolwich Staff such as Directors of Engineering are mentioned in these reports again no clear insights into who built the system. I had the impression throughout the reports that it was either CRA or Woolwich staff. After rereading the reports twice more I did notice a couple of times that Woolwich backhoes and staff were involved with putting in a ridiculously bad and non-functioning gas probe labelled GP1-95. It was abandoned almost immediately. Also Woolwich staff were involved in locating gas probes ahead of CRA staff coming in and monitoring the gas probes. It really seemed like an in-house operation.

Mr. Brian Shantz, that is the mayor's husband, is the proud owner of a CET designation courtesy of a two or three year course at Conestoga College back in the late 70s. That stands for Certified Engineering Technologist. He's definitely not an Engineer but a technologist. Does that give him, a few years out of college, the experience or training to install a brand spanking new methane gas collection system? I'm skeptical but hey this is Woolwich where it's not always what you know, it's who you know. Also CRA were the Engineer with ultimate responsibility for the system. How much experience did CRA have with methane gas collection systems? Did their on-site engineer have prior experience or was he counting on the contractor/builder?

Lastly while the name Mr. Brian Shantz is stated in the August 1994 CRA report it is mentioned but once. "Conestoga-Rovers & Associates (CRA) was retained by the Township of Woolwich on June 13, 1994 to assess the Bolender Park gas control system. The assessment was conducted in accordance with CRA's letter dated November 2, 1993 to Mr. Brian Shantz.". Two issues remain. Is this name merely coincidence? It's a common Mennonite name in Woolwich Township. Secondly CRA sent a letter to Mr. Brian Shantz seven months before Woolwich Council retained them for an assessment. Wow! Did CRA, the engineer, feel the need to run things by Mr. Shantz well prior to even being retained by Council? Why? Was Mr. Shantz intimately involved with the gas control system from the beginning? Did he actually build it? I've suggested in the past that Woolwich Township have process challenges but something here just doesn't sit right. These questions need to be answered especially now that the incompetence and mismanagement surrounding methane issues in Bolender Park are being publicly scrutinized.

CONSULTANTS, POLLUTERS & M.O.E. ARROGANCE IS ON THE WANE

I didn't think I'd live long enough to actually type those words in the title. The entitlement, holier than thou, trust us we're god-like attitudes seem to be taking a beating of late. Granted without local media coverage (ie. Woolwich Observer) there is no way for the public to read about it and that's precisely the way Chemtura/Lanxess, CRA (now GHD) like it. The M.O.E. even seem somewhat rejuvenated albeit with their sordid history it doesn't take much.

The last three years have been difficult for Chemtura (now Lanxess) and their consultants Conestoga Rovers (now GHD). This is courtesy of the CPAC that ran from 2011 until September 2015. This is despite this current Woolwich Council manufacturing a crisis in 2015 and blaming it on the previous Council`s appointees to CPAC when Chemtura and the M.O.E. heroically boycotted public CPAC meetings with the tacit approval of Sandy Shantz and Mark Bauman on Council.

The new TAG had Dr. Richard Jackson as Chairman and he took no prisoners in his quest to resolve the cleanup of the Elmira Aquifers in a timely fashion. He hammered Chemtura, Conestoga Rovers (CRA) and the M.O.E. equally for their failures over the previous twenty-five years. While Dr. Jackson has departed over public policy failures (ie. politics) to get the show on the road, two others have come on board namely Tiffany Svensson as TAG Chair and Dr. Neil Thompson from the University of Waterloo. Both appear to be taking a no nonsense approach as well to the long delayed cleanup of the Aquifers.

Things they are a changing. Suddenly Chemtura (Lanxess) and their consultants CRA (GHD) are on the defensive. Their pufffery and arrogance and superior attitudes no longer work. They have been proven and have admitted that they miscalculated, badly. The Elmira Aquifers won`t be cleaned up by 2028 as promised and demanded. Firstly they admitted that their will be pockets of NDMA within the Elmira Aquifers above the drinking water standards. Earlier this year they admitted that there is an excess 1300 kg. of chlorobenzene dissolved in the aquifers that they could not account for. The concern for me is that despite Chemtura and CRA`s denial of free phase DNAPL (dense non-aqueous phase liquids) on the Chemtura (Lanxess) site; the fact is that the dissolved chlorobenzene from it should be hydraulically contained. However if there is another source of chlorobenzene off the Chemtura site then the free phase and residual DNAPL from it will not be contained. Hence pumping and treating the groundwater will take much longer, perhaps five or more decades depending upôn the quantity of DNAPL involved.

This has to be incredibly humbling for these arrogant and supercilious asses. Their combined puffery and bullshit carried them for decades. It also destroyed any hope of restoring Elmira`s groundwater in any kind of a reasonable time frame because of their intransigence and refusal to seriously listen to all stakeholders. They blustered, bullied and lied their way to the exact clean up that they wanted. They didn`t know what they were doing and the proof is here now. They knew as long ago as 1998 that there was off-site DNAPL whether behind (west) Varnicolor Chemical near the water tower or even beside their plant on the Nutrite (Yara) property. They knew and denied and lied for the last 28 years. The Ontario Ministry of Environment (M.O.E.) was their biggest ally leaving Elmira and Woolwich residents on their own.

PLAUSIBLE DENIABILITY DENIED!

Last evening I had my fifth Delegation to Woolwich Council in regards to methane gas issues at the Bolender Park Landfill. Council and staff have lied to the public on the few occasions when they have spoken to them at all regarding this issue. Woolwich Township's consultants Conestoga Rovers & Assoc. (CRA),purchased by GHD, have also lied and misrepresented the facts whether in their series of ten reports or in their (GHD) September 14/17 "Review" of my August 22/17 Delegation to Council. Throughout this period the Ministry of Errors and Corporate Collusion (MOECC) have been very quiet. I did send them an e-mail early in the process to formally have something on the record indicating that they had been informed. It turns out that they have been promising some kind of a report on the Bolender Landfill for some time now. I certainly have not seen it to date.

The title of today's posting is in regards to Woolwich Council. Those half dozen asses have been confidently hiding behind both their staff and their consultants. With zero understanding of what's going on they have ignored their duties to citizens around the landfill. They have been publicly challenged by me on two occasions to indicate if any of them have read the CRA reports. Zero councillors have so indicated, not even any tentative "while I've read a couple of the Executive Summaries" type bullshit. This is a large part of the reason I've continued going back to this ineffective Council on this matter. If the worst case scenario happens again in Elmira, as it did in 1989, then I don't want any of these shits being able to hide behind anyone. If there is any single councillor behind the scenes advising for a more proactive and intelligent response from his fellow idiots then I can only say good luck. You are probably going to get tarred with the same brush if and when it hits the fan.

I have not just given Council my "opinion" on this matter. Early on a couple of them tried to suggest that. Therefore I included a listing of the scientific and technical reports I was relying on for my information. I also included pages from the ten CRA reports in my Delegations providing backup to my quotes from their own consultants in regards to their recommendations and warnings. No half or more intelligent person receiving copies of my five Delegations could possibly, honestly conclude that the methane gas issue has been even remotely, properly handled. No honest person could conclude that my Delegations and concerns were anything but legitimate. Therefore what obviously must I conclude regarding Council's honesty and integrity?

I first got involved in this matter in July. My first Delegation to Council was on August 1, 2017. More than two months later I have not received either honest or accurate responses from Council or anyone else on their payroll. I have received misrepresentations, lies and deflections. I have received junk science and most probably typical CRA psuedo science. Last evening I challenged GHD to provide scientific backup (literature) suggesting that the "drainage ditch" on the east side of the landfill protects the High St. residents because during high groundwater periods allegedly it has standing water in it. Even if it did (which I doubt), what about the 90% of the rest of the year when we have both low and normal groundwater levels? That ditch is not a drainage ditch per se. It is a depression that they have exaggerated in size and depth to excuse their reprehensible, decades old neglect of this side of the landfill and potential receptors.

Allegedly we are advised verbally by proven liars that the Ministry of Environment have accepted that this ditch somehow is a natural barrier to horizontal methane migration. Please! The Ontario M.O.E. would accept that the sun rises in the west and sets in the east if it would serve their purposes. This is Elmira folks. The environmental sins and scandals have been in our faces, taps, noses and surface water for decades. The M.O.E. have exactly as much moral authority and public confidence as they deserve, which is far less than zero.

Council you are on notice. Do your duty and due diligence or else if there are any fires, explosions or other damage to citizens on High St., George St., Charles St., Riverside Dr. or any of the nearby businesses including Walco, Elmira Pet Products or #86 Auto Recycling, you will be held publicly accountable.

IS IT COINCIDENCE? UNIROYAL/LANXESS/CRA(GHD)/M.O.E./ WOOLWICH COUNCIL

I think not. All the great coverups and public misinformation are always from the same players. Whether nearly thirty years of junk science and excuses from CRA regarding the extent of Uniroyal Chemical's environmental damage or sweetheart deals and backroom deals between the Ontario Ministry of the Environment and polluting businesses in Ontario; the beat goes on. Include in these issues multiple corporations who contributed to the 1989 Elmira water crisis and were not implicated for years or decades later. This includes Nutrite/Yara, Varnicolor Chemical and now we are advised there is an additional few hundred tonnes of chlorobenzene in the Elmira Aquifers that can't be assigned to Uniroyal Chemical. Who to then? My guess is Borg Textiles but it begs the question as to how they walked away unscathed after the crisis. Perhaps shutting their doors ahead of time and getting out of town helped but even so their parent company should have been on the hook if indeed it turns out that they are the culprits.

What kind of a political system fosters this kind of corruption? That is also the common denominator. Local Councils know who locally swings a big stick and whom they need to suck up to in order to receive support for their political careers. The Province of Ontario also don't want to be seen as anti business or anti corporations in their dealing with large polluters. Hence it's all about appearances. Talk big but give everything away that big business demands. Safety-Kleen and Uniroyal/Chemtura/Lanxess essentially get what they want when they want it. The provinces's M.O.E. as well as local Councls make sure of that. Local Councillors are also inhibited by Regional government. On one hand the Regional government likes to be seen as environmentally proactive with things like green bins, recycling and public transit (LRT) while at the same time rolling over for developers and companies wanting to move into the Region. Hence many years ago the vaunted Region of Waterloo groundwater protection policies were derailed and watered down by the pro business regional councillors. Shameful.

Other issues such as election financing scandals and landfills not being properly monitored and contained are also on the list. The playbook is always the same. Deny, deny, deny and then hide behind your bought and paid for consultants. Or better yet always make sure your cronies and fellow travellors are involved in things like MECAC (Municipal Election Compliance Audit Committee). What a joke. Conflicts of interest are a huge issue but when you the Council define it as only being pecuniary Conflicts of Interest then you have essentially shrunken the problem dramatically.

It's all a game folks and those in charge make sure that they know what to say and how to act when confronted by the public. There must be a playbook somewhere for sniveling politicians although I will say at the local level there are some who are re-elected over and over again without adhering to it. If 90% play the game then these poor actors get carried along with the group's overall appearance.

CONSULTANT RECOMMENDATIONS WOOLWICH HAVE EITHER IGNORED OR DELAYED FOR YEARS

This past weekend I decided to reread the ten Conestoga Rovers Reports starting in 1983 and extending through till 2016. They are painful reading due to the appearance of incompetence, mischance and poor planning/design. What seems readily apparent is the incorrect installation depth of the gas probes that were part of the 1984 gas collection system. By this I mean that the holes in the vertical probes that were intended to allow landfill gas (methane) to enter the probes both for measuring and for pumping out were installed too far below the ground surface. As a result groundwater was continually entering these probes and either blocking the flow of gas into them and or giving inaccurate pressure and concentration readings. While I can appreciate that groundwater levels rise and fall seasonally nevertheless having the holes too far down the probe has resulted in botched monitoring results from the very beginning.

Other problems abound. Allegedly probes either disappeared under surface water or were destroyed somehow by surface traffic. Many others simply could not be found. This seems bizarre to me as my understanding was that Mr. Paleshi had fully cooperated with the Township throughout the decades. While gas migrates more readily in the winter time according to CRA (2010) there has been all of two monitoring rounds in either December, January or February over the last thirty years. The impression I am left with is that 1) there are/were little or no gas probes operating past the borders of the landfill that would permit one to confirm methane migration. A couple may or may not be past the perimeter around the current #86 garage and buildings. The three that were built north past the perimeter of the landfill on the then Martin Pet Foods Plant were only monitored once in 1983 and had extremely high methane readings. After that they either disappeared, were ignored or destroyed. 2) Consultants aren't terribly keen on outdoor monitoring in cold weather. Yes snow is a factor if you haven't clearly marked your gas probe locations but really the excuses wear thin after thirty years of monitoring and constantly saying we couldn't find the flush to the surface gas probes. So the question is why are 99% of probes if not all of them still only on the landfill site itself and why has the monitoring been done both during high groundwater periods as well as during the warmer months when methane gas is more likely to discharge upwards through the surface of the landfill versus migrating laterally?

While I am very confident in my abilities to recognize junk science and heavy duty bullshit in technical reports, I am hesitant to bluntly accuse CRA/GHD of so doing intentionally. I am completely confident in believing that any impartial landfill gas expert without bias or financial incentive to fudge his results; would be as appalled by these reports as I am. The biases in regards to monitoring locations and monitoring frequency are blatant as I advised Woolwich Council in my fourth Delegation (Sept.19/17).

The ongoing failures by Woolwich Township to follow their consultants recommendations are also shocking. I have now counted an even half dozen serious recommendations that Woolwich have either totally ignored or have only reacted to literally years after the fact. Woolwich have totally compromised the integrity of these reports simply by not reacting promptly when their consultants have clearly and firmly advised them of the serious requirement to do something. This includes regular, monthly monitoring, indoor air monitoring (High St.), new gas probes promptly for the east end, increased daily hours of operation for the gas blower (pump) as well as full disclosure to both current and future owners of property in and around the west end of the landfill. These either complete failures or responses literally years or decades later are shameful and unacceptable.

Also of concern to me is what appears to be changing criteria or focus. Yes even though the west end by the earlier Paleshi's garage and wrecking yard has been their focus, something is amiss. The last couple of reports suddenly seem to be as concerned with volatile organic chemicals (VOCs) as with methane. It appears to me that the Township may have instructed their consultants to build a case against the new owner of this very old wrecking yard. My understanding is that the Township did not inform him of the methane gas problems while he was considering buying this site from Paleshi's. In fact it seems quite clear from their 2015 report that they thought things were just hunky dory along the west side of the landfill. They were ready to put the whole problem to bed once and for all. Guess what? After once again sitting on their hands and doing nothing for five years (2010-2015), after huge gas readings on the east side and much lower readings on the west side (Paleshi's/#86 auto recycling) they got shocked by enormous readings yet again on the west side starting in September 2015. Oops! Back to the drawing board. Woolwich have grossly mismanaged this project from start to finish. Their current hardnose, unreasonable approach to discussions with Mr. Rattasid put all of us to shame. That they have either a hidden agenda or some other inappropriate goals seems more and more obvious.