JIGS HOLLOW GRAVEL PIT

The pit that just won't go away. Today's Woolwich Observer carries it as their front page story titled "Legal battle latest twist to gravel pit". The sub-title is "Winterbourne valley residents turn out to urge councillors to fight LPAT appeal by applicant". Besides Preston Sand & Gravel looking for permission to dig below the water table they also want to more than double the amount of aggregate extracted from the pit namely from 800,000 tonnes to 2.1 million tonnes. The timeline of the pit would also increase from six or seven years to fourteen plus years and rather than allegedly rehabilitating the site back to farmland, a large pond would remain on the site.

New studies have been produced by the proponents however as often seems the case these studies are problematic. They have errors within them including according to peer reviews done on behalf of Woolwich Township the noise, dust, and visual impact studies.All of this appears headed towards LPAT, the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal, which replaced the long discredited Ontario Municipal Board (OMB).

This is unfortunate however aggregate producers have had essentially a clear path to do what they want in Ontario for a very long time. One rare exception was the proposed Hunder Pit between Winterbourne and Conestogo a few years back. I attended that hearing and frankly was convinced that the proponent had a strong case (as did the local residents) and was going to walk away with OMB approval. He did not. Can lightning strike twice?
.

DETAILS BEING WITHHELD FROM THE PUBLIC RE: MILL CREEK FUEL SPILL

We are advised in yesterday's Waterloo Region Record in an article titled "Cambridge wells to be turned back on after fuel spill" that two wells near the Shade's Mills reservoir are going to be put back on active duty shortly. According to the Region's website under "Water and Wastewater" there are four wells in the Shade's Mills system namely G7, G8, G38 and G39. Of course in this article the Region are not telling us which or how many wells were shut down in the first place or which ones are being reactivated. We certainly don't want paying consumers of the Region's water to be overly informed on matters of health, life or death now do we.

The Region are waiting on test results from those wells prior to restarting them. My suspicion is that the simple act of closing the wells over the last four months has greatly assisted in reducing the likelihood of those four wells drawing jet fuel contaminants both into the deeper aquifers and towards these wells. Remember that the initial spill was on the surface and into Mill Creek. Certainly the bulk of the uncaptured and uncontained spill has been flushed well downstream into the Grand River long ago. Hopefully Mill Creek does not have locations where it is in close contact with deeper aquifers although that certainly does occur in Elmira where the Canagagigue Creek is in extremely close contact with our municipal aquifer.

Also of interest near the end of this article is the reality that jet fuels which we were told months ago do not dissolve in water, in fact do dissolve to a limited extent. The key is the word "dissolve". The proper terminology should have been that jet fuel does not FULLY dissolve in water. That is much more accurate. In other words similar to gasoline and oil the bulk of it floats on the surface of the water however there is a small quantity that does dissolve into the water. Quoting this newspaper article "Sample results show concentrations of parameters related to the jet-fuel spill are stable and below protective surface water guidelines". The amount that dissolves is referred to as the solubility in water and the maximum possible solubility of the various components of jet fuel most certainly exceed the Ontario Drinking Water Standards. Therefore it's all about when and where you sample the surface water. Sample it the day after the spill one hundred metres downstream and the results will be bad. Sample it four months after the spill a couple of kilomtres downstream and you will likely get much safer concentrations.

ANOTHER BAD IDEA RESURFACING: JIGS HOLLOW GRAVEL PIT

A past lame duck Woolwich Council approved this pit way back around 2010 after Todd Cowan and company had given the boot to most of the idjits on council. One of the lame duck Council's last acts was to give the go ahead to this pit located outside Winterbourne but immediately beside the Grand River. Then several years later we learn that councillor Mark Bauman has a wee undeclared conflict of interest over this issue. It turns out that Ray Kuntz, owner of the gravel pit, is both Mark's neighbour and had coached one of Mark's sons in hockey. From that point on Mark excused himself from debates and voting on the issue although the damage was already done.

Last evening three speakers addressed Woolwich Council yet again on the matter. They were Gordon Haywood, Jan Huisson and Laurie Breed. As both Winterbourne and Conestoga residents (Golf Course Road) rallied against the proposed Hunder Pit they are also trying to stop any below water table expansion of this pit. They opposed it in the first place when it was a proposed above water table pit due to noise, dust, truck traffic, visual impacts and cultural heritage impacts all of which affect their quality of life. The hydrogeological and hydrological impacts to the Grand River are greatly increased with this newer plan to excavate a huge pit below the water table and then allow it to fill with groundwater. I personally have referred to the multitude of gravel pits along the Grand River as being death by a thousand cuts to the river.

Gord Haywood referenced numerous errors and inaccuracies in the various reports supporting this expansion below the water table. Currently Woolwich Township have a holding provision prohibiting this expansion which the current proponents Preston Sand & Gravel would like lifted. Mr. Haywood advised council that the so called signing off by the Region of Waterloo was based upon a flawed older noise study. It did not include screening noises or proper gravel truck noises as the trucks that were modelled were located in Conestoga versus Peel St. (Winterbourne) or Jigs Hollow Rd. Mr. Haywood also indicated that a nearby residence has been improperly labelled as some kind of workshop and hence neither noise or visual impacts have been determined for this residence. Other errors include inaccurate elevation levels marked on various maps that affect berms etc. and will also impact noise levels and visual impacts.

Jan and Laurie Breed spoke to noise and to cultural heritage issues. Clearly the individual decibel levels will be well above the maximum permitted and they will be industrial noises versus natural rural sounds. The reports submitted by the proponent also clearly indicate that there will be negative impacts to numerous nearby designated cultural heritage locations. As was pointed out repeatedly negative impacts are not supposed to be allowed in order to accommodate gravel pits by the Township's own by-laws. This proposed expansion including drag line noise, truck noise and negative visual impacts contravenes the Township's written rules and hence the Township are in a strong position to continue to deny the proponent's wishes.

Interestingly Preston Sand & Gravel have earlier this month filed an appeal against the Township with LPAT (Local Planning Appeals Tribunal). As Mr. Haywood pointed out that was done all of one day after they filed new information with the Township which seems somewhat bizarre.

UPDATE ON STROH PRPOERTY REMEDIATION

As of last Friday, back filling of the minor excavations had begun on the Stroh farm to the immediate east of the Lanxess (Uniroyal Chemical) property. I took a look yesterday and with a bulldozer closer to the north end they were they were grading the presumably clean topsoil that had been dumped along the length of the few hundred meters long excavations. At the south end of the excavations, with the aid of binoculars, I could see a skid steer working, possibly moving buckets of top soil from the piles into the bottom of the excavations. The delay was twofold. First supplementary excavations were determined to be necessary after the initial excavations in late December 2018 and early January 2019 as either the sides or bottom of the very shallow excavations (15 centimeters - 5.9 inches) still had unacceptable concentrations of either dioxins/furans or of DDT compounds. Secondly the planned supplementary excavations were to be done in March however the weather was uncooperative. Both March and April were wet and cold and on a couple of occasions I did check then and saw no work being done.

To date Lanxess, GHD, and the Ontario MOE continue to do their best not to take appropriate action further south in and around the Stroh Ditch, Drain, and Berm (SDDB) located a mere ten meters from Lanxess's east side property boundary with the Stroh farm. They are of course doing this with unfortunate and inappropriate political support from our local Township politicians. This is very likely to bite said politicians in the butt. Maybe not today or tomorrow but down the line.

TOLD YOU SO...MILL CREEK RECOVERY AS YET UNKNOWN

Nine days ago I advised here that caution in and around Mill Creek and Shade's Mills was a good idea for some time to come. I did receive some minor criticism for that from a biased source as well as undoubtedly adding to the resentment and anger long held towards me by the Ontario Ministry of Environment. Their alleged professionalism has long suffered from political interference such that only those technical employees who are truly isolated from that interference, by simply doing the technical jobs they are asked to do, are able to maintain professional standards. It is hard to believe that the rest are not infected with the disease that starts at the top and works its way downwards into the organization. How is it possible for inherently decent human beings not to be negatively impacted on the job as they slowly learn that their careers and livelihoods are mostly to serve the facade that is the MOE (MECP)? The Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks (MECP) has always been at the mercy of the provincial Cabinet whose primary function is to make the government of the day look good.

The latest article in today's Waterloo Region Record is titled "Mill Creek recovery far from complete". Just like my posting of nine days ago it advises that to date there have been no fish tissue results. Basically there have been no results regarding how fish have been affected at all. It's merely conjecture and wishful thinking on both the MOE/MECP and Grand River Conservation Authority's (GRCA) part.Biologists are supposed to be studying the creek's fish populations and that work has not been started.

Interestingly the MOE have advised the volunteer group "the Friends of Mill Creek" not to send their crew of teenaged "rangers" this season into the creek to do their normal rehabilitation work. It could appear that the MOE are saying one thing privately while publicly advising that all is well. Furthermore the Friends of Mill Creek will not be doing their usual stocking of the creek with brown and brook trout this season because of the fuel spill last January.

Finally citizens on the scene shortly after the spill have reported confusion and disorganization on the part of the authorities doing the cleanup and remediation of the creek. Also there are concerns about a lack of followup testing of local drinking water wells. For me having followed the actions of the Ontario MOE for the last thirty years, none of this is any surprise.

GET ALONG TO GO ALONG & M1, ISCO (and more)

Sub-title: The Lying Frucks


I have for many years understood that the locations of the Elmira off-site pumping wells were directly related to areas of high concentrations of NDMA, chlorobenzene, ammonia and more. Hence pumping wells are located at W5 (A/B) right beside (west) the First St. Landfill, W4 between Varnicolor Chemical and Borg Textile (i.e. west of Varnicolor and north of Borg), W3 located beside Landfill Creek and between Sanyo Canada and the former McKee Harvestor, and E7 which was one of the former drinking wells in the south wellfield. Ecologic Inc. from Rockwood and others, early on, advised that the NDMA in the south wellfield (E7, E9) was likely from a nearby source as in closer than Uniroyal Chemical.

Then we have the so called "Elmira RAP Expansion" locations. RAP of course stands for remedial action plan. What a pile of pus. It is not and has not been any kind of "expansion" whatsoever. What it is is simply replacement wells in different locations attempting to continue to locate beside what are euphemistically referred to as "hot spots". The great likelihood is that these "hot spots" are simply off the Uniroyal site SOURCE AREAS! Source areas as in Uniroyal never were the sole source of the destruction of our drinking water aquifers despite Uniroyal admitting to it in their October 7, 1991 Settlement Agreement or in the MOE November 4, 1991 Control Order.

Expansion pumping well W6 is located on Oriole Parkway halfway between Varnicolor's Lot 91 and the Sanyo Plant and W3. It is located on Oriole Parkway on the former Borg Textile's side of the road. New pumping well W8 is located on the east side of Union St. on the former Nutrite (Yara) property (now SNC Lavallin). I have long believed that besides Nutrite's own contribution of ammonia and likely more to the municipal aquifers that Uniroyal had free phase DNAPL (dense non aqueous phase liquids) flow westwards onto the Nutrite property near to the location of W8. W9 is located across Union St. from W8, very very close to Landfill Creek. This is also extremely close to former landfill M1 which on maps is located on the former textile factory property on Park Ave.

Two other interesting facts. Was the location of the pilot test for In-Situ Chemical Oxidation (ISCO) after 2012, beside Well W3 a tacit admission that either Sanyo or McKee were off-site (from Uniroyal) sources who contributed NDMA and or chlorobenzene to the aquifers? Secondly was the suggested "Northwest MU In Situ Area" and the suggested "Adjacent ML In Situ Area" encompassing M1, W8, W9 and the former textile companies also a tacit admission of off-site source areas? I believe that it is.


I wonder how much of this Uniroyal/Crompton/Chemtura and Lanxess have shared with their local partners in pollution? Usually I refer only to the Ontario MOE (MECP) as partners in pollution with Uniroyal and its successors. Right now I'm wondering how much they shared with their local co-opted citizens of which fortunately there are not many. I understand that these citizens were likely given a choice a few decades ago. Get along to go along and it will be in your best interests. Perhaps in fact you may even have more environmental influence with us and the MOE if you play ball cooperatively versus competitively. It is a seductive offer but takers knowingly or otherwise have to step off the public interest bus sooner or later.

OUR POLICE FORCE IS OUT OF CONTROL - THANK YOU WATERLOO REGIONAL COUNCILLORS & POLICE SERVICES BOARD

The front page article in today's Waterloo Region Record is titled "Former Cambridge woman alleges racial profiling by officer". I do not know anyone involved in this case but even if I assume that in this particular issue our local police force are completely within their legal rights (different from innocent), I have to ask the question "When will the abuse of citizens and residents end?" Over the last decade the stories about improper behaviour by our local police have been unending. These include both assaults and killings of citizens whose greatest "crime" seems to be mental illness and even if some have had small knives or other "weapons" why can a so called professional police force with pepper spray, batons, tasers, training and other less than lethal weapons not subdue them without shooting them multiple times in the torso, essentially guaranteeing death? The police assaults of citizens have even included sexual assaults of female police officers for God's sake.

I suggested in the first paragraph that I would assume that the police officer involved was within his legal rights. I did that for the sake of argument only. This article states that the officer told her that she matched the description of a person they were looking for. The problem is that the woman involved is a woman of colour. The police were looking for a man allegedly involved in a gun incident. No description of the male suspect such as white, brown or black was given. Seems to be one hell of a stretch. Also the fact that four Highway Traffic Act tickets (charges) were issued to her after her vehicle was searched and later the tickets were all withdrawn also seems awfully suspicious. It kind of smells like intimidation or blackmail to me.

It is literally years if not decades past time for our regional councillors and our Waterloo Region Police Services Board to step up and take control back from our police chief and deputy chiefs. These problems have been allowed to fester and grow with little or no supervision or discipline involved of offending officers. Whether it is attitudes, training or both these problems need to be remedied from the top down. To date they've mainly been excused, covered up and or victims paid off by those in charge. It must end.