WELLINGTON WATER WATCHERS (Guelph) CONTINUE TO HAMMER CORPORATE GIANT NESTLE

Today's Waterloo Region Record carries the following story written by Leah Gerber titled "New petition to Nestle circulating". Wellington Water Watchers along with Story of Stuff (?) have a petition available for signing at either "sumofus.org" or on the Story of Stuff website. Sorry that I can't make that clearer but I'm simply quoting from today's Record article (pg. A8). Apparently this petition is asking Nestle to give its' controversial North American wells back to the public prior to selling their North American water brands. These wells are located nearby in Aberfoyle, south of Guelph plus four others in the U.S. (Colorado, Florida, California & Michigan). ................................................................................................ Also it turns out that "The Haudenosaunee Confederacy Chiefs Council has made a claim to the Aberfoyle site". The Wellington Water Watchers believe that Premier Ford of Ontario and the Canadian federal government could look at this bottled water situation through the dual lens of reconciliation and watershed -level governance. Furthermore if Nestle refuse then possibly either the province or the federal government could buy the wells. .................................................................................................................. I have to admit that these plans are well outside my area of expertise. I do agree with the basic principle that water in the ground (aquifers) are owned by all Canadians and should be shared with all local residents. Water is a right and privatizing the resource is fraught with dangers and potential abuses. Whether Nestle has any corporate reason to cooperate I do not know. Whether either the provincial or federal governments stepping in and buying the wells would set some kind of precedent could be interesting. I'm doubtfull that they would do so yet believe that that precedent would be in the public interest. The problem is that the corporate friends of both governments might be quite upset and make that clear to them.

REVISIT 5 1/2 YEARS LATER TO "SANDY'S TEA PARTY, BITCH SESSION, PRETEND STAKEHOLDERS MEETING"

Wow the unbridled arrogance, brass and chutzpah of our elected politicians. Five minutes (figuratively) into her mandate as mayor and Sandy Shantz was convinced that she knew it all and could use her influence and authority to overide twenty-three years of collusion, deception, deceit and obfuscation by both Uniroyal Chemical and the Ontario Ministry of Environment (MOE) regarding the Elmira Water Crisis. The irony is that at the time she wasn't the legal mayor of Woolwich Township despite the election in the previous October. It turned out that both she and Councillor Mark Bauman were removed from office due to major violations of the Municipal Elections Act until a local friendly judge could be found to reinstate them. Wow so much for judicial independence. It's all about maintaining the status quo and keeping the local power brokers happy. ......................................................................................................... I posted here in the Advocate on May 8, 2015 with the title ""Alan Marshall In General, Including His Blog And His Conduct In Meetings"". That title was a quote from the "meeting minutes" of the private, by invitation only bitch session held by Sandy in the Woolwich Administration Building on April 9, 2015. That incredibly stupid bitch session was a carefully orchestrated gathering of Chemtura Canada, MOE, Woolwich Township and other local players (RMOW, GRCA) and two citizens with axes to grind. They (Pat & Susan) had been denied membership four and a half years earlier in CPAC by Todd Cowan's new Woolwich Council. This outraged them as they had promises and guarantees of lifetime prominence and presence at the table by Uniroyal, MOE and likely previous Woolwich authorities due to services rendered unto them by them. Deals (as always private) had been made and Todd Cowan's new administration did not feel obligated to uphold them. ................................................................................................................... And now the proof is out there for all to see. Mr. Cowan and his council werre correct in bouncing Pat & Susan and removing their influence and assistance to Uniroyal/Chemtura. Now we know that the cleanup of the Elmira Aquifers will not be complete by 2028 as mandated by the MOE and promised by Uniroyal/Crompton/Chemtura. They all lied! CPAC from 2011 to August 2015 told the truth and demanded greater effort from Chemtura. What CPAC got was more lies and pushback from all Chemtura's allies including their partner in pollution and deal making the Ontario MOE, Woolwich Township and more. The lying and deal making along with perverse public consultation continues with private, undebated deals between Lanxess Canada and the TAG Chair (re: Stroh property). ................................................................................................................. Being elected to office doesn't make anybody smarter or more honest. Smarter/more honest themselves or smarter/more honest than local citizens. A pleasant smile, personality and a good Mennonite name seems to be all that is necessary. Sandy's the proof of that.

AMMONIA, NDMA, CHLOROBENZENE IN ELMIRA AQUIFERS FROM NUTRITE, UNIROYAL & BORG TEXTILES???

Well even years after I understood the magnitude of the deception surrounding the 1989 Elmira Water Crisis, I did not think that I would be writing that above title here in the Elmira Advocate. It took approximately eleven years (1989-2000) for the public to understand that Nutrite who produced fertilizers had contributed large quantities of Ammonia to our municipal drinking water aquifers. This lack of knowledge was in large part due to the sweetheart deal given to Uniroyal Chemical from the Ontario Ministry of Environment (MOE). In exchange for Uniroyal assuming 100% of the responsibility for the contamination of Elmira's aquifers, the company was to have significant help (50%) from the taxpayers to clean up those drinking water aquifers. The Ontario MOE of course got off the hook and was able to avoid admitting that there were multiple polluters in Elmira who had contaminated our aquifers. Multiple polluters who did so under the noses of the MOE for decades. ........................................................................................... Uniroyal accepted 100% of the blame/responsibility for NDMA in the aquifers but even that is suspect. My vote goes to Varnicolor Chemical despite the MOE manipulating groundwater testing in order to avoid so proving. There was evidence produced at the Environmental Appeal Board (EAB) of exogenous production of NDMA under the correct conditions. Those conditions existed at Varnicolor Chemical including acidic soils courtesy of a tanker leak of sulphuric acid into Varnicolor's backyard. Also the precurser, dimethylamine, was dumped into the soils on site. While it is possible that only the small concentrations of NDMA found on site were legitimate, exogenous production downgradient was eminently possible but an intentional lack of both shallow and deep soil sampling avoided the proof of it. ............................................................................................... Chlorobenzene and Borg Texxtiles? Hmm. Yes Borg had their own dye shop. Yes they as a textile manufacturer certainly should have been very carefully examined but just like Varnicolor Chemical (early on) were intentionally not. Their location is why they are suspect as free phase DNAPLS were found across Howard Ave. just north of them and near the Elmira water tower. Specifically well OW57-32. Chlorobenzene concentrations in the early days exceeded 1% of the solubility of chlorobenzene indicating free phase DNAPL's presence. Also other evidence from OW57-32 indicated chlorobenzene in the free phase form being present. Both Dr. Neil Thompson (U. of Waterloo) and Ramin Ansari of Lanxess believe that there is another chlorobenzene source in Elmira. Now if Borg Textile didn't do it then the onus goes back on Varnicolor Chemical located across Howard Ave. from them. For this to be true then the Ontario MOE likely fudged the lab reports showing a lack of chlorobenzene in Varnicolor's shallow aquifer. That alone is worthy of a public inquiry.

JUST STICK A FRONT END LOADER BUCKET IN THE GROUND YOU BUGGERS

That was the message that Ron Campbell gave to Lanxess officials, albeit a little more smoothly, a few years back. He attended a TAG meeting, as I and a few other CPAC members did. The Stroh farm and gravity flow of Uniroyal wastewaters was the topic of discussion. As both the public and CPAC members are refused the right to speak at these meetings, Ron stepped outside the room to confront Lanxess staff who had already stepped out and were milling around. I, Richard and Dr. Dan ended up hearing the discussion. ................................................................................................ Yet again Lanxess are digging their heels in to avoid having to test an area that could have financial consequences and worse for them. The worse is TAG members asking some pretty interesting questions such as "If you knew about contamination on the Stroh property thirty years ago as your own reports indicate then why did you do nothing then and why have you so seriously delayed and avoided doing the obvious since CPAC reminded you about the problem in 2014?" Sebastian (TAG & CPAC member) has actually suggested that Lanxess have behaved as if they have been snake bitten by the Stroh property. They just don't want to go near it much less do a proper investigation/examination. ................................................................................................... Speaking of a proper investigation that does not mean the bullshi. 15 cm or 5.9 inches in depth soil sampling. Yesterday I reviewed the 2003 Human Health Risk Assessment (HHRA) and the results are very clear. There is not an obvious relationship between depth of soil testing and concentrations of contamiants whether solvents, DDT, dioxins/furans, lindane etc. In other words some concentrations of contaminants are highest within the top foot of soil and other concentrations continue to increase with increasing depth as in two to three feet or more. In fact the 2013 -2014 excavations at GP-1 are a prime example. Supplementary excavations occurred in the summer I believe of 2014 and they went down to remove contamination approximately six feet in depth. Other soil samples further north near and around RPE-5 have found heavy soil contamination eight feet below the surface. Despite this GHD and Lanxess say otherwise. The reason is $$$$$$$$$$$. Not a good enough reason when both human and ecological health are at stake.

WITHOUT SPEAKING OPEN TO ALL WITH SOMETHING TO SAY, THEN IT'S A SHAM

The guilty parties minded their p's and q's early on. There was both a critical mass of angry people in the early 1990s and also the meetings were all attended by the media. Sometimes multiple media attended. It was also nice to see early on some squabbling between the guilty parties themselves. Unfortunately when that squabbling slowed down is when we should have realized that the "fix" was in. Most of us however were not of the mind frame or lack of ethics to even think like that. The polluter and his fellow travellors and synocphants all were however. No honest citizen could even fathom the depth of lying and deceit to which these parties would descend. .......................................................................................... The guilty parties (including politicians) have now emasculated public consultation. They've done such a good job that even the many honest TAG members don't know what has been lost. They haven't been involved long enough to be able to compare what the citizens had to what little they have now. Undoubtedly the worst came in 2000 when Pat sucessfully convinced UPAC members to become a committee of council. What an abomination that was and is. Then 2015 of course was particularly egregious and the public and media failed to make a big deal out of it. The Elmira Indepnedent went out of business at the end of July 2015 and RAC and TAG came into being a month later. The Observer always were mostly hopeless albeit Councillor Merlihan did protest at Woolwich Council unsucessfully. .................................................................................................................... Citizens need multiple voices especially when dealing with professional games players and liars. Therefore when the pros divert citizens off course or even simply interrupt them and hijack the discussion; that is when other citizens present need to step in and halt the crap that's going on. Also keep in mind that the guilty parties always prefer running in packs. Having Township councillors present, bought and paid for consultants and multiple employees all willing to step in and mix it up requires equal numbers on the honest citizens' side. Rarely are there enough citizens confident and willing to speak, present at public meetings. Then of course also in the early days citizens gave far too much respect to the Ontario Ministry of Environment. They showed their true colours with their ongoing private meetings and deals with Uniroyal Chemical. Uniroyal played hardball and had the MOE over a barrel because of their incompetent monitoring and less than useless enforcement activity.Uniroyal were always happy to hide behind the MOE's umbrella.

UPCOMING VIRTUAL TAG MEETING NEEDS BOTH PUBLIC AND MEDIA ATTENDANCE

The TAG (Technical Advisory Group) meeting is scheduled for November 26, 2020 at 6:30 pm. It is my understanding that TAG (& CPAC) member Dr. Sebastian Seibel-Achenbach will be making a presentation (as in an appeal) to TAG members to reconsider their, in my opinion, hasty support of a private deal between Ramin Ansari and Tiffany Svensson (TAG Chair). The private deal was that in exchange for sampling some sediments in the bottom of the Stroh Drain, Ditch & Berm (SDDB) that TAG would agree that that was it. No more sampling whether groundwater or soils anywhere in that area. That private deal is an abomination in which Chemtura/Lanxess and CRA/GHD have colluded over the last six years to avoid accountability and accompanying financial responsibility for the probable "sink" of Dioxins/Furans, DDT and any other hydrophobic compounds that settled out into this low lying area (i.e. low ground surface elevation) on the Stroh farm. ..................................................................................................... One minor clarification. Back on September 11/20 here in the Elmira Advocate I suggested that TAG had delayed Sebastian's presentation/appeal until the December TAG meeting. In fact there has been some error and confusion in regards to the dates for RAC (Remediation Advisory Committee) and TAG but the latest information is that TAG is meeting on November 26/20 and RAC on December 10/20. ............................................................................................ That there was no public discusiion or debate at TAG on this substantive matter is to the shame of their Chair. Especially for newer members (Katarina, Dustin and Wilson) it can be extremely difficult to rock the boat and oppose a matter of which they can not possibly yet be familiar i.e. extent of east side contamination. Even for older members (5 years) such as David and linda it can be difficult to oppose something that is strongly recommended by the TAG Chair who is also a hydrogeologist. All this being said I expect the TAG members to pay acute attention to Sebastian's presentation on November 26. I also expect the TAG members to do their homework ahead of time and read the reports on Sebastian's already presented Bibliography (plus two more) when they receive them. Lastly I expect intelligent questions from those same TAG members to Sebastian after his presentation. Anything less will further damn what passes for public consultation here in Woolwich Township. ..................................................................................... P.S. To "attend" the virtual TAG meeting please e-mail Lisa Schaefer at lschaefer@woolich.ca

I MUST BE AN OPTIMIST TO STILL SEE ANY LIGHT WHATSOEVER IN THE DECADES LONG ELMIRA COVERUP - THURSDAY'S TAG MEETING

I've said it before and I'll say it again. There were in my opinion and others, dishonest schemers and manipulators present at Thursday night's TAG meeting. I need not name them right now. At the same time there were lots of both good and smart human beings present. Some of those I will name such as Katarina Richter, (Dustin was absent), Sebastian Seibel-Achenbach, David Hofbauer, probably (hopefully) newest member Wilson Lau. Geez now I'm up against it. I've admired and appreciated Eric Hodgins knowledge and experience for a very long time but dang if he isn't employed by the Region of Waterloo who have done both wonderful things environmentally over the decades and at the same time had to take direction from a bunch of neandrathals pretending to be regional councillors. Alright Eric you get the nod. Oh crap I almost forgot Linda Dickson. She's one of the good "guys". ............................................................................................. Agenda Item 3.2.1 discussed the Bibliography that Sebastian has given to TAG members. There are two additions to it which I trust Sebastian will pass along. This Bibliography is of technical reports from the 1980s and 90s which unequivocally advise that Uniroyal Chemical's wastewaters flowed onto the Stroh farm both via ground and surface water. These numerous reports include Figures showing the groundwater contours being higher underneath the pits (not surprising) and flowing to lower groundwater elevations on the Stroh property. Lisa Schaefer (Woolwich Township) advised that she has passed the Bibliography on to the Township but has as yet not received any reports back. Both she and TAG Chair Tiffany Svensson indicated that they will keep trying and will pass them on to TAG members as soon as they have them. I have earlier indicated my confidence in the Township providing these reports from their Archives as at least as good as zero to nil. Please Woolwich Twn. feel free to prove me wrong. ........................................................................................... Joe Ricker of Earthcon made an interesting presentation to TAG. Unfortunately his company does have a history with Lanxess which down the road might prove problematic for them. Hard to say. He showed various statistics and analytics regarding mostly the off-site Municipal Upper and Lower Aquifer concentrations of NDMA and Chlorobenzene over the last thirty years. The claims of reductions in 1) contaminated aquifer area 2) mass of contaminants present and 3) concentrations of the two compounds were certainly impressive. 1) if they are true 2) if they are even half true. My question is does Lanxess or the Ont. Min. of Environment really think (or care) that the older, experienced citizens believe a single word that they say anymore? ........................................................................................................... A point of clarification. Would you drink water contaminated with NDMA at 1,000 times higher than the Ontario Drinking Water Standards (ODWS)? Likely not. What if the water was only contaminated with NDMA ("a potent carcinogen") at thirty times the O.D.W.S.? Those are the alleged results that Earthcon, Lanxess and GHD are bragging about. Even if they are true the water is still poisoned for human consumption. That noise they are currently hearing is me clapping one handed for their results. .................................................................. The chlorobenzene percentage of mass removed is less than that of NDMA. It also travels slower in groundwater than NDMA. Thus while the NDMA plume has always been larger it has also been easier to remove from the groundwater than chlorobenzene and likely most of the other hundreds of contaminants in Elmira's groundwater. This concerns me as the entire inadequate pump & treat system may have secretly been predicated on removing NDMA first and foremost and to hell with some of the rest. By the way kudos to Ramin Ansari of Lanxess. He again has confirmed that Uniroyal Chemical was not the only source of chlorobenzene to the Elmira Aquifers. Hallelujah! I've been saying that for years. If the source was Borg Textile who are very near to free phase DNAPL found near the Elmira water tower, then shame on the Ontario M.O.E. for not finding it. If the source was Varnicolor Chemical (also very close to the water tower) then both shame on the M.O.E. and there should be serious charges laid for their falsifying results showing chlorobenzene as non-detect on the Varnicolor site. .......................................................................................................... Eric Hodgins (RMOW) advised TAG members that the Region of Waterloo will not get water from Elmira. Possibly for decades, possibly forever. Sort of makes at a minimum, Uniroyal, Crompton, Chemtura, CRA and the Ontario Ministry of Environment look like a pack of liars doesn't it? Between provincial regulations, known risks involved and unknown risks the Region will continue to monitor from afar. This reminds me of back in the 1990s when the Region warned UPAC (Uniroyal Public Advisory Committee) that if they kept ignoring the Region's position and advice then they would leave UPAC, which in fact they did. ............................................................................................................ Tiffany suggested that a 1/2 day or full day workshop might be an idea in order to explore the question of new goals, new understandings, new approaches to the Elmira Aquifers restoration. Several members seemed interested and presumably this idea may go forward. The biannual Biomonitoring Report was discussed and agreement was reached that while clam studies will continue, leeches will be discontinued due to ND. levels of chlorphenols for some time now in their tissues. .................................................................. TAG member Wilson Lau and Linda Dickson each presented different reports. Wilson discussed the Annual Environmental Report and that it was recommended that Sump s #2 and #38 should be repaired ASAP. This is necessary because otherwise they leak contaminated wastewaters into the ground. Linda discussed the August and September 2020 Progress Reports. Off-Site pumping well W9 still (after years of failure) is not operating nor is On-Site pumping well PW5. Linda advised that it has been shut down since June with a plugged line. Hmm I may have to doublecheck that. I know its' pumping rate has been reduced by a plugged line but I thought it was going at a reduced rate. Hmm. ..................................................................................... All in all a very civilized meeting which is the very low standard for success within Woolwich Township meetings. Lying, deceit, gilding the lily, delay etc. are all part of the package but heaven forbid anyone ever call a spade a spade and offend a polluter, bureaucrat, government employee or worse.