THIRTY YEARS OF NEGATIVE PUBLICITY

In actual fact the bad press may possibly have started as early as the second or third day of production at the Uniroyal Chemical plant in Elmira around 1942. For all practical purposes that is unlikely however. The plant was built to produce explosive stabilizers for the second world war. These included diphenylamine and aniline. So it just wasn't the employment that the factory offered but also the general support for the war effort that would have discouraged negative publicity.

Shortly thereafter the war ended and production shifted towards pesticides and herbicides such as DDT and 2,4-D, and 2,4, 5-T. The Signet and the Kitchener-Waterloo Record newspapers were both active and I suspect that by at least the 1950s concerns were being raised about the stench and the damage to the Canagagigue Creek (the Gig). Do not forget that the "Gig" was actually a trout stream early on. Certainly by 1960 the Ontario Water Resources Commission (predecessor to the MOE) were becoming extremely concerned. In 1966 a major biological survey of the Grand River and its tributaries such as the Gig was undertaken. The descriptions of the lack of life in the Gig were nasty.

Finally between 1965 and 1970 the brand new Elmira Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) came on line. It was desperately needed both for human sewage treatment as well as for treatment of various Elmira industries especially including Uniroyal Chemical. The Creek was still in horrid condition throughout the 1970s despite some improvement. Local trappers and fishermen spoke loudly and publicly about the loss of the formerly beautiful creek and area. Local residents complained about the ongoing odours but were reassured (falsely) that they weren't dangerous, merely smelly.

From the mid 1970s through to the mid 1980s both the public and the media were expressing concerns regarding the drinking water. It used to taste very good but had not for some time. Our authorities investigated and publicly lied and reassured everyone that everything was under control. At the same time the MOE issued their first Control Order on Uniroyal in 1984 and besides monitoring it also induced a major cleanup of some of the pits and ponds on the Uniroyal site. This went on throughout the 1980s.

Alas it was too little too late. In November 1989 the Ontario MOE released the results of September 1989 testing of the south wellfield. And the rest is history. Certainly from that point on until the last four years when the Elmira Independent went out of business, Uniroyal and successors received a ton of well earned bad publicity.

LOOKING BACK HELPS PREDICT THE FUTURE

In August 2013 the Todd Cowan council once again embarrassed themselves via a clearly bad decision. The council appointed CPAC committee formally approached council and asked them to reinstate me as a member of CPAC. Council allegedly voted 3-2 in opposition however I believe that Todd Cowan's vote in my favour was simply posturing to Dr. Holt, CPAC Chair,to the rest of CPAC and as well as myself. He had already lied to his council about me regarding a made up condition that he and David Brenneman (CAO) had claimed I accepted in order to be first appointed to CPAC. The condition was in regards to this Blog and I had categorically rejected it when he and Mr. Brenneman tried to get me to agree in advance not to publish hypothetical, sensitive CPAC information.

This decision of Woolwich Council's was described in articles in both the Elmira Independent and Woolwich Observer in mid August 2013. I believe it was Councillor Al Poffenroth who sincerely voted in favour of my rejoining CPAC along with Todd Cowan's probably fake vote in favour as he knew the prearranged outcome. Councillor Julie-Anne Herteis displayed her pettiness by voting against my rejoining. She was more concerned with "payback" as she had lost her chairmanship of the CPAC committee due to my, Lynne Hare's and Dr Dan Holt's pressure to get the committee up and running against the wishes of Todd and Julie-Anne. Clearly Julie-Anne had no understanding or knowledge or for that matter concern that a strong and united CPAC was required to counter the built in bias and influence of Chemtura Canada and the Ontario Ministry of Environment.

The lesson is clear. Councillors are not elected necessarily based on competence. Either theirs or the electorate's unfortunately.

FOLLOWUP ON THE STINK IN PRESTON NEIGHBOURHOOD

The Cambridge Times had a Letter to the Editor published last Wednesday in response to an earlier article in the Times about odours coming from a company called Team Reclamation located at 1574 Eagle St. in Preston. I presume that the original Cambridge Times article is the same one that the Waterloo Region Record published last Wednesday and to which I have a link to in my Wednesday post here in the Elmira Advocate.

The title of the Opinion piece in last Wednesday's Cambridge Times is "No satisfaction for neighbours of Preston industrial cleaning business". It was written by Thomas Vann of Cambridge, a very community involved and active person. Mr. Vann has a file on this company and their contributions to the community's air that is nine years old. In 2016 he received a promise from the then manager, Mark, that the company would not use the thermal ovens when the wind blows in his street's direction. Besides the thermal ovens the company also uses chemical stripping. I personally would be surprised if this did not include the use of harsh and strong solvents such as TCE or TCA the compounds implicated in the Bishop St. community disaster.

Mr. Vann has contacted his municipal councillor Donna Reid and gotten nowhere with her. I am not shocked at that. Quoting Mr. Vann "There have been times the odour was so strong you could feel burning in your eyes and lungs". Furthermore "Our family had to leave our home and neighbours shut their windows. Swimming pools had a brown layer of film on them and cars had brown stains on them. I wondered what it did to people, pets, hanging laundry and vegetable gardens in the area?".

Mr. Vann does have praise for M.P.P. Belinda Karahalios whom he spoke to and since then there have been improvements in the air quality. The head honcho at Team Reclamation is now a Mr. Glen Smith. Mr. Vann has invited Mr. Smith to meet with him and show that he is sincere in his concerns for the community.

These symptoms Mr. Vann has described along with the nature of the business are both of health concerns as well as disrupting people's normal enjoyment of their properties. These actions and ensuing results as described are totally illegal. Our pathetic judicial system and police or Ministry of Environment enforcement are next to useless in cases like this and irresponsible corporations and owners/managers take full advantage.

RAC MEETING: THE SUN IS SHINING & EVERYTHING IS UNDER CONTROL

No sense of urgency. No sense of flying by the seat of their pants. No shame and no remorse. That for me is the message handed out yesterday afternoon by Lanxess Canada. Yes I go to these wholly perverted facades of public consultation to see if I can glean information but it's a one way street. Real public consultation is two way not this brazen crap being foisted upon the public.

Ramin Ansari of Lanxess did share with RAC, TAG members present, and the public (four CPAC members plus one other gentleman) the approximate schedule for the Risk Assessment to start (Late 2020), further Creek sampling next year, Work Plan, and actual work in the Creek (warm weather in 2022).

Rather embarrassingly to RAC, Lanxess, and Sandy Shantz a minor issue was raised by Nancy Davy of the GRCA. Apparently she has not been receiving all the correspondence and information being sent to other parties on RAC. Then Eric Hodgins of the Region of Waterloo chimed in. He too is in a similar boat. He doesn't feel the need to receive each and every monthly Progress Report but he would like all the other correspondence, e-mails, letters, memorandum etc. So why is this so embarrassing? This is exactly FOUR Years after the start of RAC. No wonder there are no questions of Delegates and way too few questions of their fellow members on RAC when they make presentations. The parties are mostly in the dark. In my opinion, as planned and hoped for. No more nasty interrogations by well informed citizens who long ago refused to drink the Kool Aid.

Ramin misstated the timing as to when it was acknowledged that the 2028 deadline was not going to happen. CPAC first and the Woolwich Council said so in May and June 2012. Six months later Conestoga Rovers crowed about their recent determination that the current remediation regieme would not do the job hence they were going to TRIPLE their off-site pumping AND use In Situ Chemical Oxidation in various hot spots around Elmira. Ramin incorrectly suggested that this breakthrough was in 2015.

Ramin also suggested that Lanxess and the MOE/MECP were going to "renegotiate" the Control Order demanding the 2028 deadline. Ramin stated this as if it were a mere minor technicality. It is not. It has been the basis of every environmental decision over the last thirty years. Citizens have advised CRA, Uniroyal, and the MOE that they weren't doing enough. Lanxess should be charged for not living up to their ordered responsibilities just as Uniroyal, Crompton, and Chemtura should have been. What a pathetic joke the MOE truly are.

All of this is why both the MOE/MECP and Chemtura bailed on public CPAC meetings after the new Woolwich Council were elected in October 2014. They conspired with Sandy and Mark in order to be able to continue running the public show and pretending that all was good and under control when it never has been. CPAC publicly held their feet to the fire and would not let them get away with their puffery and bulls... .

THIS AFTERNOON'S RAC MEETING

RAC meeting at 3 pm. in Woolwich Council Chambers. Be there or be square. Oh my, I guess that last comment may be giving away my age. Overall I believe that TAG are doing a much better job than RAC. This unfortunately is not going to get much accomplished as TAG were intentionally set up to play second, third, or fourth fiddle to RAC. RAC consist of the old "stakeholders" i.e. bureaucrats and politicians who had drifted away from active involvement from about 1999 until September 2015 when Sandy Shantz sweet talked them into coming back, at the very least, for appearances sake. This includes the GRCA and the Region of Waterloo who noticeably and coincidentally (?) were both absent at the last RAC meeting in April of this year.

Lanxess and the MOE were present and do not be fooled, they do not have to lift a finger to follow the advice given to them by RAC. Yes if RAC were as proactive and as reasonably opinionated as TAG it would put pressure on the company and the MOE/MECP to at least move a little in the direction that a combined RAC and TAG insisted upon. As it is now however RAC don't even give TAG or the attending public a hint of where they stand. They don't have to as other than verbal Delegations from the public (i.e. me occasionally) there are absolutely no questions from the public accepted. That is just like TAG and a disgrace that may eventually bite all the guilty parties including Woolwich Township who set it up.

TAG are represented on RAC and as such they are able to publicly express the concerns that they have both discussed at TAG meetings as well as provided RAC in writing. At the last meeting Lanxess staff provided considerable information on the Creek Investigation, Contaminants of Potential Concern, and the Conceptual Site Model for the Canagagigue Creek. Tiffany Svensson responded with a few good questions but overall I suggest that there is no serious debate, discussion, or argument to Lanxess's position which is exactly what they, the MOE/MECP, and Woolwich wanted when they removed CPAC and the public from flawed but vastly superior public consultation back in June 2015.

MORE MOE IMPOTENCE ON DISPLAY IN PRESTON?

Today's Waterloo Region Record carries the following story titled "Residents raise a stink about odour in Preston". This article actually appears to be taken from the Cambridge Times newspaper and their reporter Bill Doucet. Here are my hard earned insights regarding the MOE, air polluters, and either public nuisance or public health threats from air emissions.

1. The MOE and the polluter will lie to the public about anything and everything.

2. Neither of those parties usually give a fig about public health including the health of children and other highly susceptible individuals to unhealthy or toxic air.

3. They care about politics and money first, second, third, fourth, fifth etc.

4. Go back to 1. and reread the first three insights.


One of my favourite lies in Elmira was that it's only an odour or a smell. It can't be toxic. This article has a number of questionable statements from the company involved. For example after thirty years involvement in Elmira air and water issues I've never heard of "nitrate of water vapour". That is either an error by the reporter or bulls... from the company. We are advised that the company does paint stripping and that "ovens are used in the stripping process" with hot gases being discharged into the air. Well paint itself has been toxic for decades granted the "carrier" of the pigments used to be highly volatile and toxic solvents. Latex paint is much safer however without a formal analysis who knows what kind of paint they are stripping and or even whether the stripped paint is released as particulates into the air which is very unhealthy.

Whatever is being discharged, residents are being exposed to it whether or not they can smell it. Human smell is not particularly sensitive and hence unhealthy levels can sometimes not be smelled by most people. The company also does "hook cleaning" whatever that might be. They state that they remove all coatings. Again what exactly are the coatings? There are resins, paints, stains, and all kinds of possible toxic compounds that may be involved. If the company has absolutely nothing to hide then distribute a list of all compounds they use or handle within their facility to the public.

STILL QUIET ON THE INTERCEPTOR TRENCH FRONT

Without investigation and without reasonable explanation would be the best description of the Lanxess/MOE response to the suggestion/allegation that at some point in time (likely 1991-92) an Interceptor Trench was constructed on the east side of the Uniroyal Chemical property for the purpose of diverting westward flowing groundwater southwards and eastwards off the Uniroyal property. The visual appearance of the various satellite photos is that this alleged Interceptor Trench hooks into the pipe that discharges into the north end of the Stroh Drain, Ditch and Berm (SDDB).

Various reasons were given by Chemtura Canada including that the satellite photos merely showed a livestock fence or later it was suggested that it was some sort of wildlife fence to keep critters of whatever kind away from the former east side pits. The reasons were weak at best and required some kind of evidence or further explanation. Neither has occurred.

The Ontario MOE (Steve Martindale) gave a verbal, modest defence of the fence idea. It too hardly seemed persuasive. No response in writing has been received by either the company or the MOE on this important issue. An Interceptor Trench is a below ground trench with a pipe in it and small holes in the top of the pipe to allow groundwater to infiltrate the pipe. The slope is such on the east side that groundwater could gravity flow the length of the apparent pipe all the way over to the Stroh property.

Keep in mind that official drawings and text have been found from late 1991 that had been submitted to the Environmental Appeal Board on behalf of Uniroyal Chemical suggesting the construction of this Trench in order to stop the direct flow of contaminated groundwater from the east side of the site into the Canagagigue Creek on the Uniroyal property.

This is a bizarre situation in line with so much more that is bizarre regarding the cleanup of this site. In the future I expect that citizens both local and across Canada will shake their heads at what has passed for public consultation and cleanup in Elmira, Ontario.