"CHARADES, FLEECE JOBS, SNAKEBITTEN, BULLSHIT, YEARS OF LIES, ROTTED FRUIT," AND PRIVATE MECP/COMPANY DISCUSSIONS

What is the significance of the above title? How about the fact that firstly it describes the Ontario Ministry of Environment (MOE/MECP), Uniroyal/Crompton/Chemtura/Lanxess, their consultants and Woolwich Township behaviours. Secondly not a single word above is a quote or other comment from me. Rather they are quotes from knowlegeable, longtime Elmira stakeholders (five of them) who know corruption when they hear it, see it and smell it. All levels of government from municipal, regional, provincial and federal all know the truth and all to date still support the polluter and its regulator's right to spread fairy tales to the public rather than the truth. ................................................................................................. Corruption can be defined as "infected with errors". Personally I'm a little more comfortable with a definition of "knowingly infected with errors" however I believe the above listed authorities are corrupt with either definition. Woolwich Township councillors to their shame have been confronted with honest and knowledgable citizens sharing truth with them on many issues and they still have embraced, coddled, protected and promoted falshoods in order to enhance the personal interests of parties that are not in the public interest. It is the bane of democracies that money buys political power and that truth and facts are flexible. Dear God just look at the example of that pathological liar (soon to be former president) south of the border who just makes up "facts" as he goes. We had a local example of that a few years back in Elmira and quite frankly he was less dangerous to the public interest than normal politicians who pick and choose their lies more carefully. ..................................................................................................... It is not and never has been illegal for politicians to lie to the public. At the same time, these very same politicians bemoan and wail about a loss of public trust. The stupid jerks want it both ways. They want to lie and deceive constantly for their personal gain while wondering aloud why many citizens won't believe them regarding Covid-19. They wonder why many citizens don't trust them regarding vaccines. They wonder why Americans don't believe their government after it told them that Saddam Hussein had "weapons of mass destruction" to justify invading Iraq. He didn't. For decades the U.S. had a war on drugs, a war on terrorism, a war on Blacks (undeclared?), a war on "socialist" governments such as Chile, Venezuela, Nicaraugua. Federally Justin Trudeau has threatened confiscation of legally owned, registerd private property of law abiding citizens followed by an attempt to sell needed higher carbon taxes to the public to slow global warming. And he wonders why Canadians don't believe him? In Ontario we have recently had a series of legislative bills passed with titles claiming efforts to assist in fighting Covid-19 but paragraphs included attacking Conservation Authorities, environmental efforts and even the ability to sue Long Term Care (LTC) homes for negligence. .................................................................................................................. In my opinion the only requirement to be a successful politician is the willingness to lie upon the request of your political superiors.

TAG ARE IN A DIFFICULT POSITION

The facts are clear, the direction should be, but the how to do it likely is problematic. Last Friday I suggested that TAG needed to tell Lanxess publicly that "They are corporate bullies and know it alls, unswayed by truth and facts." I then added "And TAG need to tell them that, publicly!" I stand by that action as being due and overdue while at the same time trying to appreciate being in TAG's position, which I am not. As far as due and overdue let me say that this spring will be the SEVEN YEAR ANNIVERSARY (2014-2021) of my personal discovery and subsequent public announcement of the presence of a major Drain (Stroh-SDDB) running parallel, for approximately 175 metres, to the Lanxess/Stroh property line. This Drain (SDDB) is a bare ten metres from the property line and situated on the Stroh property. It was and is absolutely contemptible and disgraceful for the Ontario Ministry of Environment (MOE/MECP), Uniroyal/Crompton/Chemtura, RMOW, Woolwich Township, GRCA and anyone else to have kept quiet about this significant land feature so close and so relevant to Uniroyal contamination migration for so long. That was incredibly self-serving for both the MOE/MECP and Uniroyal plus sucessors, and all their partners in pollution and fellow travellors to have kept their mouths shut at literally hundreds of public meetings (UPAC, CPAC etc.) regarding it. Kudos to Dr. Dan Holt and Vivienne Delaney for attending that evening in May 2014 and witnessing the presence of the Stroh Drain. ................................................................................................................. The hiding and continued minimizing of the Stroh Drain, Ditch & Berm (SDDB) is but one of a multitude of environmental scams, shams and charades undertaken by Uniroyal/Crompton/Chemtura and now Lanxess over the decades. I listed some but not all in yesterday's post here in the Advocate. I also in last Friday's post here mentioned how TAG's inexperience by having so many intentional new members cost them the strong leadership and experience of Dr. Richard Jackson. Unfortunately that inexperience, not so much technically, but in dealing with professional manipulaters and deceivers continues today. There are three new members with frankly some excellent credentials. If new members were introduced slowly it wouldn't be a problem. But for recently appointed members to be expected to dig in their heels and confront the polluter for his intransgience, intentional obtuseness and outright deception is asking a lot. Perhaps more experienced members such as Sebastian, Linda and David Hofbauer are up for the challenge. Sebastian certainly has been front and centre in this battle. David unfortunately is heavily involved with his job and career which is unfortunate as he is very knowledgable and I believe honest. These problems are all intentional, courtesy of Chemtura/Lanxess and Woolwich Township (S. Shantz specifically). Or as Richard Clausi put it last Friday "The charade continues, and sadly, Sandy Shantz's dissolution of an effective, inquisitive and combative CPAC several years ago has now yielded its' rotted fruit." Having watched and listened carefully for the last five plus years I believe that most of the TAG members are intelligent and honest. Unfortunately not all. ......................................................................................................................... TAG has other problems including not being allowed to hear first hand from other longterm citizen stakeholders. Sandy Shantz's indebtedness for campaign support and advice from Pat McLean (former councillor & mayoralty candidate) was repaid to her (and Chemtura) by denying the public the right to either ask questions or make comments at public RAC and TAG meetings. For this Sandy will eventually pay the price. Also TAG's Chair is not a local citizen (unlike Dr. Richard Jackson) but a professional hydrogeologist appointed and paid by Woolwich Township, likely with assistance from Lanxess. Other potential conflicts of interest have been slimmed down but not eliminated with the resignation of Pat McLean. Woolwich Township were made aware of the seriousness of these conflicts of interest in 2017 by numerous written witness statements by local citizens given to them. Woolwich did nothing as they already knew that the process was as polluted as the ground and surface water in Elmira. ......................................................................................................... All the guilty, lying parties want to do is to delay, delay and delay. They have succeeded admirably. Eventually all the original stakeholders and forced to be activists will be gone and trust me the lying and deception however will never be gone.

REGIONAL COUNCILLORS UPDATED ON LANXESS, MECP AND PUBLIC CONSULTATION CHARADE

As mentioned last Saturday four CPAC members (Dr. Dan, Richard, Viv and I have sent e-mails to TAG, Woolwich Council, Ontario Ministry of Environment and two media outlets namely the Waterloo Region Record and the Woolwich Observer. Also of great note are two letters/e-mails sent to the TAG Chair and members last September dated September 2 and 9 by Dr. Sebastian Seibel-Achenbach, the only member of both TAG and CPAC (Citizens Public Advisory Committeee). The September 9/20 letter/e-mail is an outstanding statement of principles describing the need for facts and evidence in decision making versus "professional", "expert" opinions by client driven consultants working for Lanxess Canada. It also states Sebastian's core principles and position regarding the years long coverup and gamesmanship surrounding the Strh farm contamination with Uniroyal Chemical solvents, NDMA, dioxins/furans, DDT and many other toxic chemicals. ..................................................................................................................... It is unfortunate that this coverup of the extent, severity and appropriate remediation of the Stroh farm is but only one of a long list of cleanup scams, shams and charades over the last thirty years. Way back in the late 90s and early 2000s I publicly displayed a large banner that read "The cleanup is a sham". All the guilty parties (Lanxess, MOE/MECP, Woolwich Township) have been lying and pretending to be first and foremost concerned with both public health and the health of the environment. In reality it's all been about minimizing the truth and the needed costs to properly clean up Uniroyal Chemical's mess, all the while maximizing positive public relations for the guilty parties. ............................................................................................................ So what are some of the other cleanup scams foisted upon unsuspecting Woolwich, Elmira and downstream communities? The first and possibly still biggest was the DNAPL (dense non aqueous phase liquids) scam, aided and abetted by private discussions between Uniroyal and APT Environment members between 1992 and 1994. Let me be very clear here. That is surrepticious discussions between two or three only APT members and Uniroyal Chemical. The other APT members were also lied to. The sweetener may have been false promises of greater creek protection/cleanup in exchange for dropping DNAPL opposition. The greater creek protection/cleanup plans still havn't occurred. "The road to hell is paved with good intentions." Secondly the failure to hydraulically contain 100% of Uniroyal Chemical's contaminated groundwater, particularly shallow groundwater discharging to the creek. Other scams have included excluding other major polluters in town such as Nutrite and Varnicolor Chemical from full public scrutiny. This scam was between Uniroyal and the MOE/MECP. The severity of the ammonia contamination from Nutrite was also hidden for over a decade from the public. Promises to triple off-site pumping of contaminated groundwater in November 2012 has never happened. Likely phony excavations of GP-1 and capping of GP-2 also join the list. Failures to follow up on known east side contamination onto the Stroh farm as far back as the 1980s is/was a major scam. The sham of public consultation simply degenerated into a farce under Sandy Shantz and the last two Woolwich Councils to all their shame. The whole scam of hydraulic containment both on and off the Uniroyal site versus appropriate source removal is also a mjor cause of the now admitted failure to remediate Elmira's drinking water aquifers by 2028. ................................................................................................................. As per the title above, I have sent the Friday e-mails along to our regional councillors yesterday. I expect nothing or less from them. Let's be honest here. They are politicians first and human beings second, generally speaking. Any that aren't are carefully managed by the rest. My purpose in keeping regional council in the loop is simply to reduce their plausible deniability. If and when there is a real reckoning there needs to be a record of their complicity and lack of action.

CLASS: SOME HAVE IT & OTHERS DON'T

Some CPAC (Chemtura Public Advisory Committee) members showed exactly zero class with their behaviour towards the new CPAC members appointed by the Todd Cowan council in the spring of 2011. The new CPAC, under Chair Dr. Dan Holt, welcomed old CPAC members to public CPAC meetings including recognizing and assisting their ability to speak their opinions and positions. The old CPAC, after receiving respectful overtures invited Sebastian, Vivienne and Dr. Holt to a meeting held at the Elmira Library in the summer of 2011. Old CPAC members Sandra Bair, Susan Bryant and Pat McLean then accosted and verbally abused Dr. Holt and Vivienne when they arrived by invitation and in good faith. Sebastian did not show up until later. Along with the three classless wonders was Ken Drieger and one or two other old CPAC members who showed class by not ganging up on their invited guests. Sandra, Susan and Pat insulted, ridiculed and called the new CPAC members motivations into question. In a nutshell, Pat and Susan especially, had long received preferential treatment from Uniroyal/Crompton/Chemtura as well as from Woolwich Township. Their wee noses were hugely out of joint and they took it out slyly and nastily on two newly appointed CPAC members. That's a lack of class. ........................................................................................................... Yesterday four CPAC (Citizens Public Advisory Committee) sent e-mails to the MOE/MECP, Woolwich Council, TAG chair and members and to two different local media. Mine was the first and it simply was a copy of my Elmira Advocate post from yesterday titled "SNAKEBITTEN" LANXESS FEAR POISONOUS BITES FROM BELOW GROUND SNAKES ON THE STROH PROPERTY!" Two of the four e-mails from current CPAC members specifically mentioned the current TAG members and complimented them. This despite the fact that the pretend mayor Sandy Shantz rudely, ignorantly and corruptly removed the current CPAC in 2015 and replaced them with her invention of RAC and TAG. The current CPAC's behaviour towards citizen volunteers on TAG has been respectful and courteous. That is class not to blame third parties for the disgraceful behaviour of others. .......................................................................................................................... The comments made by three of the four CPAC members yesterday harshly criticized Lanxess Canada and the Ontario MOE/MECP. They harshly criticized never ending lies, bullsh.. and more. That is approximately 31 years of lies and bullsh.. from the polluter and their friends and allies including some on Woolwich Council. Citizens are not obligated to be forever kind, generous, sympathetic, and cordial with professional liars unwilling to be reasonable. If more citizens had stepped up years ago and said "Enough bullsh..!", things could have been much different now. Instead our Township Councils have generally aided and abetted the ongoing charades passing for public consultation and the ongoing manipulation and deception of the public.

SNAKEBITTEN! LANXESS FEAR POISONOUS BITES FROM BELOW GROUND SNAKES ON THE STROH PRPOERTY!

Perhaps the title above is somewhat figurative versus literal. Nevertheless it warms this old environmental activist's heart to see and hear the word "snakebitten" used to describe Ramin Ansari's (Lanxess Canada) instantaneous reaction to any suggestions from TAG members that more investigation needs to be done on the Stroh farm nearest to the Stroh Drain, Ditch & Berm (SDDB). Last evening at the RAC (Remediation Advisory Committee) meeting was a prime example. We will return shortly to Ramin's instinctive leap away from dangerous snake bites. ............................................................................................................... Yesterday here in the Advocate I described my opinion of RAC in general. Yet another example was the response to Chair Sandy Shantz's request for comments on the Minutes of the last meeting. A meeting held ONE YEAR AGO! I described yesterday several problematic comments in those Minutes. A year after that meeting, if anybody had read the Minutes, they should have had questions of clarification at the minimum. There were no questions. Zero. There were no comments. Zero. There were no clarifications requested. Zero. There were no disagreements. Zero. ............................................................................................................ Ramin's bullsh.. continues to develop and improve. In reference to a new, upcoming Ministry of Environment (MOE/MECP) Control Order, likely 2/3 written by Lanxess, he advises that continued Elmira aquifer cleanup could actually cause greater environmental harm. Wow that is brassy! Remind me to tell the next cop who pulls me over for speeding that ticketing me may cause more speeding in the future. ........................................................................................................................ December 2021 is the target for the completion of the Risk Assessment for the Canagagigue Creek. Ramin suggests that greater stakeholder input could delay that. Aww that's so inconvenient for him and Lanxess. By the end of February 2021 there is supposed to be a fullsome report on the east side (Stroh property) coming. Possibly this is the same memorandum coming from TAG to Lanxess. This will incorporate TAG's concerns about the east side which will be pulled together and synthesized. Dustin Martin expressed some of his (& TAG's) concerns such as the lack of delineation dealing with stratigraphy including how much protection the Upper Aquitard on the Stroh property is giving to the Municipal Aquifer. Also there are NDMA plume maps which indicate contamination across the Lanxess property line onto the Stroh property. Therefore delineation is incomplete including soil delineation as well. This soil delineation should include around the Uniroyal/Lanxess waste pits as well as the southern end of the Stroh property. TAG therefore requests an updated report from Lanxess/GHD on these concerns. I commend Dustin Martin for this position but frankly am doubtful that either Lanxess or the MOE/MECP give a damn. ....................................................................................................................... WHAT IS REQUIRED FROM TAG IN ORDER TO PROTECT THE PUBLIC INTEREST IS NOTHING SHORT OF A BLUNT CONDEMNATION OF THE STROH PROPERTY INVESTIGATION AND COVERUP TO DATE. ........................................................................................................... Nothing less will get through to Lanxess and the MOE/MECP. They have long ago made their private deals and it's all about "managing" TAG and the public opposition. They will talk and talk and make noises about incorporating criticism and comments while simply wearing down, over time, polite opposing opinions. Ramin Ansari made that abundantly clear last evening. He stated that the "Gap" area is well resolved. It is not. He stated that Lanxess will not open the door to another investigation of the SDDB area without the MECP's insistence. Obviously he is confident that Lanxess's private deal with them will hold up. He stated that there was testing at the bottom end of both Landfill Creek and the Stroh Drain. That is totally inadequate and a joke and he knows it. Dr. Richard Jackson (first TAG Chair) walked away from TAG in their very early days due to their inexperience leading to a lack of confidence in confronting Chemtura/Lanxess. TAG need to stand up on their hind feet and simply say NO NO NO NO and more NO. Ramin and Lanxess have made it clear that politeness and professionalism do not work with them. They are corporate bullies and know it alls unswayed by truth and facts. And TAG need to tell them that, publicly!

VIRTUAL RAC MEETING TONITE- I"M "ATTENDING" BUT UNDER PROTEST AND IN DISGUST

WHY under protest and why go at all? The TAG Chair appears biased (pro Lanxess), the RAC Chair Sandy most certainly is, RAC are generally worse than useless with the possible exception of the Region of Waterloo; as I posted earlier this is their first meeting in a year and finally the public are not allowed to either ask questions or make comments. In other words it's all about appearances. Look everybody we sit down and talk about cleaning up the aquifers and the creek and we've proven that we are willing to talk about it forever if that will save us actually having to take the actions necessary. The actions necessary would tick off the polluter who made the mess in the first place but we the politicians certainly wouldn't want to cause them any offence. ....................................................................................................................... Page 2 of the Minutes of the Remediation Advisory Committee (RAC) from December 12, 2019 (YES that is 2019!) advise that TAG particiapated in "...a Lanxess audit to ensure that community engagement commitments were being followed." Wow could that be the equivalent of the Nazi party being audited by the Gestapo regarding humane treatment of certain ethnic groups being exterminated? Or perhaps closer to home that would be the equivalent of various U.S. police associations participating in an audit to ensure that black Americans are always treated respectfully by the police. It never fails to astound me as to how hypocritical our various big shots and local politicians can be. Do they really think that people are that incredibly stupid that they buy all the bull that those dishonest brokers are willing to sell? ...........................................................................................................,... On page 3 of last year's Minutes (Dec. 12/19) there is a discussion regarding a new cleanup date which Lanxess doesn't want as well as alternative usues for our still contaminated aquifer and also writing a new MOE/MECP Control Order to encapsulate these changes. Some of the comments were just plain idiotic but not allowing the public to say so publicly is why they now can spout as much crap as they've wanted to spout for decades. This includes Sandy blathering about maintaining "...the momentum toward clean up." Please! Jason Rice of the MECP suggests that a new order "...would have built-in performance metrics to drive the next steps for the remediation of the aquifer." So why didn't the last several Control Orders have those "built-in performance metrics"? Let me answer that: It's because Control Orders, just like the Ministry of Environment themselves, are paper tigers. IT's all bullsh.. folks, never ending bullsh.. . .............................................................................................................................. Page 4 is even funnier if it wasn't so pathetic. I think that these words came from the TAG Chair (Tiffany) as she claimed that because the 2028 aquifer cleanup can not be met that "...there is no alternative but to extend the 30-year timeline." That is more than bullsh..! There are several alternatives especially when you realize that there is slightly more than 7 1/2 years to go until August 2028. How about not using only the "cheapest and least effective" remediation technology of pump and treat? How about penalties for Uniroyal/Crompton/Chemtura and Lanxess FAILING to meet the mandated Control Order 2028 deadline because all four companies refused to listen to citizens advising more source removal be it excavation or otherwise both on and off the Uniroyal Chemical site? How about real public consultation with much less backroom private deal making between the MOE/MECP and the polluter which simply makes an even greater farce of what they sell as public consultation?

WHAT A DOG'S BREAKFAST OF CONFUSED GROUNDWATER MONITORING RESULTS

You know in this day of computerization you would think that Lanxess and predecessors could have come up with a user friendly easy to see record of groundwater results for any individual well chosen. In fact I have zero doubts that they have such a thing for themselves, their consultants and their friends. Of course their friends do not include either nuetral citizens or citizens critical of the company and its cleanup efforts. That said I did receive several years back a copy of their E:Dat program. I found it underwhelming. .................................................................................................................. So I've spent several hours going over numerous Annual Monitoring Reports (AMR) specifically looking for groundwater results for many east side wells. Again the results were underwhelming. The long list of wells right on the Lanxess/Stroh property line are underrepresented although certainly the destruction of so many during the 1987 excavations of BAE-1 and RB-1 and RB-2 is a factor. There are no signs of any results for OW 25, OW 26, OW 27, OW 29, OW 30, OW 31, OW 33, OW 34 and OW 35 or OW 39. That is ridiculous. Other wells in that area such as OW 28 and OW 36-5R certainly have high contaminant concentrations such as NDMA, 2,4-Dichlorophenol, and 2,4,6-Trichlorophenol. Also well OW 37-5A has a history of high detections. Well 8-d again right on the property boundary, screened in the Municipal Upper Aquifer had an astounding concentration of NDMA of 2,500 parts per trillion (ppt) in 1994 with an Ontario drinking water standard (ODWS) of 9 ppt. The fact that this concentration is UPGRADIENT of the recognized flow of this aquifer from north-west to south-east is very concerning. Also well OW 38-5R as late as last year had NDMA concentrations just barely below the ODWS despite no new contaminants deposited in the waste pits since 1970 and excavations in 1987 and 1993. ................................................................................................. Other wells have concentrations of contaminants all over the place. Now this includes wells with Non Detects in the shallow aquifer but with high concentrations in deeper aquifers. It also includes wells that would appear to be downgradient (groundwater flow) from RPE-4 & 5 having very high concentrations of contaminants and others not. Same thing with wells that are downgradient from surface flow of the overflowing east side waste pits. Surprises included NDMA in the deep municipal aquifer at well OW 7-29 (N.E. corner of Lanxess) of 14,400 and 16,500 parts per trillion just last year. What the hell is that! Meanwhile a mere few feet away (east) on the Stroh property we had a "cleanup" in early 2019 that went all of 5.9 inches (15 cm.) deep. The deep municipal aquifer well (OW 7-29) meanwhile is 29 metres deep! Again there are both high and low results in these various wells south-west of the Stroh farm and property. I'm beginning to wonder if there are still more "anomolies" or better yet dumping secrets that we the public are still unaware of so many decades later.