THE INTENTIONALLY DEAF & BLIND STILL LEADING THE DEAF & BLIND

Hmm likely not a politically correct title. Unfortunately the only other interpretations are even less flattering. By the way I do not view either deafness or blindness as some sort of either mental or moral value. It can however sometimes inhibit one's talents and abilities. Along with reading the latest list of reports produced on behalf of the proponent (39A Holdings) I have also been reviewing some of the older technical reports for the Bolender Park Landfill. Boy there is simply no way around saying that in my opinion Woolwich Township have been negligent for decades as far as 1) sharing information with both locals (Elmira Pet Products, High, George and Charles St. residents) and the public. 2) carefully monitoring the entire perimeter of the former landfill for methane 3) collecting/permitting only tiny amounts of methane to escape over the decades 4) extreme tardiness in restoring either broken, flooded or disappeared gas probes as well as maintaining the gas blower allegedly pulling methane from the sub-surface. ................................................................................................................ Will the proposed development (parking lot for trucks and trailers) make it worse? Perhaps this isn't the right question. Perhaps the question should be: What is most appropriate for the health and safety of nearby residents and future workers living and working on or near this site? Atmospheric pressure can reduce methane gas release from the sub-surface. So can simple snow cover in the winter. Possibly a thick layer of even coarse gravel will do the same. Certainly parked trucks and trailers in the future will inhibit remedial activities. As I strongly believe and understand that there are both safety and environmental ongoing threats (leachate to the creek) from this property I do not understand why the Township would willingly tie their own hands by making it harder to ever properly remediate this site.

SUSAN BRYANT CORRECTS WOOLWICH OBSERVER, POINTS OUT WEAKNESS OF RISK ASSESSMENT & THEN FALLS FOR LANXESS'S TRAP (Maybe)

Last Saturday I posted here with strong criticism regarding the Woolwich Observer's headline from a couple of days prior. Their dead wrong headline was "Testing shows creek poses no unacceptable risk to humans". My posting last Saturday was titled "Clarifications in Woolwich Observer's story this week about the Creek". I made it very clear that the headline was a stinker and was false. Lo and behold in yesterday's Observer we have a Letter To The Editor from Ms. Bryant saying the same thing. She is correct "Testing" does NOT show the creek poses no risk to humans. In fact the testing of creek soils, floodplain soils and creek sediments (bottom of the creek) shows incredibly high concentrations of toxic chemicals far in excess of health criteria. Unfortunately the damage is done as likely more people will read the stupid headline than either Ms. Bryant's Letter To The Editor or my Blog post. .......................................................................................................................................... Susan points out the contradiction between scientific facts and the assumptions and value judgements of the Risk Assessment. She feels that "...the assumption in the risk assessment is that because the farming population along the creek is small, the chance of people being exposed to these highly toxic spots is limited. So no action need be taken." If indeed that is accurate then I am even more disgusted. Does the killer of one human being get a pass because he hasn't killed multiple human beings? .................................................................................................................................. Lastly Susan suggests that "The most toxic deposits in our creek are small areas, relatively few, and easily accessible." A more accurate sentence would be "The most toxic deposits in our creek are easily accessible as miraculously they are all immediately beside roads (New Jerusalem Rd,. Northfield Dr.) such that equipment and personnel can be brought directly to these areas." Susan may have fallen into the intentional trap of "locational sampling biases". The polluter intentionally picks his sampling locations in easy areas to access. That would be where you don't have to trudge through bush along the creek carrying all your equipment with you. As soon as you have detections of toxic chemicals from your first easy foray then that success leads to more sampling in the same area. That is what has occurred over the years at the New Jerusalem Rd. crossing of the creek as well as further downstream at Northfield Dr. One you lower costs via easier sampling and two you lower costs by geographically scoping/reducing your area of so called "hot spots". ................................................................................................................................. So does Susan really believe that only one or two "hot spots" exist in the creek? She desperately needs a win after decades of compromises, private meetings and private deal making with the polluter and his successors. Maybe a "compromise" on a tiny cleanup has already been decided. That would be a win-win for Lanxess and Susan. Not so much for the downstream Mennonite farmers, their livestock and or wildlife.

NON-EXISTENT SECURITY AT OUR LOCAL LANDFILLS IN THE 1960s to 1990s

Varnicolor bought Lot 91 from Woolwich Township in 1972, two years after they were banned from using either the Bolender Landfill or the First St. landfill. Do you know why they were banned? They took a load of solvents and other highly flammable substances to the town dump and they caught on fire. This information is in Susan Rupert's post grad degree thesis (Environmental Studies) at the University of Waterloo. Yes Susan Rupert, Esther Thur and Sandra Bray founded APTE, not Susan Bryant. So why do you think Varnicolor bought Lot 91 located in the floodplain of both Landfill and Canagagigue Creek? Illegal dumping! Did Woolwich Township monitor or investigate this purchase? No. Thirteen years later there was a scandal exposed in the Globe and Mail by Jock Ferguson proving that General Motors paid top dollar for hazardous waste disposal of drums that ended up sitting both vertically and horizontally on the ground, exposed to the elements, on Varnicolor's Lot 91 beside the two creeks in Elmira. .......................................................................................................... In the early 1990s Varnicolor were in the midst of another environmental scandal. Their spills and intentional dumping were exposed by me to APTE and the Ontario Ministry of Environment. The MOE came publicly to Varnicolor's defence claiming that there was no contamination etc. When the smoke cleared the owner (Severin Argenton) was charged and convicted of multiple environmental offences and received the longest jail sentence for environmental crimes ever in Canada. Prior to his trial and convictions I exposed one of his scams this time with the Region of Waterloo's landfills. Apparently a skid of used and dirty liquid solvents (highly illegal) ruptured after being dumped probably at the Ottawa St. Landfill in Kitchener (approx. 1987). It took both Varnicolor foremen to clean the mess from the Region's bulldozer combined with a bottle of booze to settle ruffled feathers. No charges of course. The second scam which I personally exposed involved a document (Bill of Lading?) that Mr. Argenton simply photocopied over and over again showing the contents of his garbage to be non-hazardous thus giving him dumping priveleges. Presumably he changed the date as he went along. The Region were appropriately embarassed and the K-W Record had a few more days of highly interesting and inflammatory stories. ....................................................................................................... These events took place AFTER Elmira's landfills (M-1, M-2, Bolender, First St.) were closed in 1936, 1962, 1969, 1972). Do you think that either before or after his dumping priveleges were banned and restored that Mr. Argenton wasn't pulling the same games there? Art Gorman, General Manager of Uniroyal Chemical, was the Chair of Elmira's Sanitation Committee and decided which industries and what industrial wastes they could put into the Bolender Landfill. Also multiple Uniroyal Chemical employees served on Elmira Town Council prior to the Region being formed and the advent of Woolwich Township. No conflict of interests there ...what! Until November 1989 (Elmira Water Crisis) Elmira was a company town i.e. Uniroyal Chemical. ............................................................................................... Currently due to global warming concerns there is a focus from both Canada and Ontario to reduce the release of greenhous gases. Methane is far worse than carbon dioxide and a major contributor is from former landfills. Despite that Woolwich have happily allowed free venting of methane to the air presumably hoping that will avoid any nasty fires or explosions. Regarding the current Stantec Risk Assessment my concerns are with the lack of leachate controls from Lot 91 (Varnicolor), Bolender Landfill and the First St. Landfill. As I have previously mentioned maybe a lot of the buried drums have already ruptured and maybe not. Also solvents and petroleum hydrocarbons can be dumped as sludges, tars and semi solids. All three can be further mobilized via groundwater percolating through and all three are in all of Elmirs's landfills, legal and illegal. I suggest that TAG members do not have adequate knowledge of the history of Elmira's (& MECP) mismanagement of toxic wastes, industries and landfills to be accepting or agreeing to any claims of only acceptable risks to human beings downstream in the Canagagigue Creek. AFTER a major remediation of local landfills and soils and sediments in the Creek plus any other probable sources (Stroh & Martin farms) then go ahead or not if you wish and do an honest Risk Assessment. Perhaps this time it should be under the purvue not of the polluter (or sucessor) but of a nuetral, unbiased party.

PHONY "BACKGROUND" LEVELS HIDE UNIROYAL/LANXESS POLLUTION OF THE CANAGAGIGUE CREEK

................................................................................................... UTTER & COMPLETE HORSE MANURE THAT CREEK POSES NO "UNACCEPTABLE" RISKS TO HUMAN HEALTH ................................................................................................... OIL BUBBLING FROM BOTTOM OF CREEK FOR TWO WEEKS .............................................................................................................. For decades I've publicly stated at UPAC and CPAC meetings that the alleged "Background" concentrations of contaminants upstream of Uniroyal Chemical were bogus. Uniroyal installed numerous toxic waste pits and lagoons alongside the west side of the creek which both overflowed as well as discharged to the creek via groundwater. They were a little more subtle on the east side pretending that those toxic waste pits and lagoons, being farther from the creek, did not do exactly the same thing. They did albeit the overland path to the creek included via their east side neighbour's (Stroh) property. Meanwhile just upstream, across Church ST. (Hwy #86), they dumped their chemical wastes into the Bolender Park Landfill, as well as any and every other nearby landfill that they could including M-2 and the First St. Landfill. Far more likely than not they also contributed to the plume of contaminants that has left the Woolwich Landfill (Seiling Dr.) north of Elmira that has been impacting private wells on Sandy Hills Dr. just north of Elmira. ................................................................................................................................. Having intentionally forgotten pollution upstream lessens the responsibility of downstream polluters as they can hide behind the "other" sources even when they themselves are the "other" sources. That said it also helps to have sloppy friends upstream contributing to the overall degradation of the creek's quality. I would only somewhat hypothetically suggest that that could include the former Silverwoods Dairy and the former Great West Felt Co. both of whom located directly beside a flood prone creek. Now while I have heard stories of dairy products being flushed into the creek I can not say that I've heard anything similar with Great West Felt. There is yet another upstream source however who was responsible for groundwater contamination that has never been made public. Then we have the ERIS (Environmental Risk Information Services) report included in the proponent's consultants reports for development of a truck and tractor parking area on the former Bolender Park Landfill. .................................................................................................................. There are numerous apparently small spills listed in ERIS including the following companies: Martin Mills Inc., Elmira Pet Products, Esso Petroleum Canada, Bio-Bob's Corp. Of these Elmira Pet Products is the number one source of spills and discharges with contaminants being released to the natural environment including bleach solution, sodium hypochlorite, grain feed additives, food preservatives and animal fat and oil. Martin Feed Mills had a spill that is written up as "TEMBIND/Water To Grnd & Canagagigue CreeK". Now "Grnd" is obviously "ground" but what the hell is TEMBIND/Water ? Even with the release of this data the various codes appear intentionally obtuse. Also of interest to me are what appear to be storage of PCBs by Martin Feed Mills. This grabbed my attention because of allegedly unknown sources of PCBs having been released into the Canagagigue Creek over the decades. One page indicates that Martin Feed Mills had 1600 kg. of drums with PCB carrying ballasts in them. Where are they now? ........................................................................................................................ I've saved the "best" for last. We the public in Elmira are supposed to be kept in the loop by the Ontario Ministry of Environment. There has been one perverted form of public consultation or another since 1992 dealing with Uniroyal, Varnicolor, the Elmira Aquifers and the CANAGAGIGUE CREEK. Approximately twenty years ago an allegedly "UNKNOWN" source was the cause of "OIL BUBBLING FROM BOTTOM OF CANAGAGIGUE CREEK, ONGOING 2 WEEKS". Has anyone here in Elmira, Ontario ever heard of this incident of oil bubbling up through the bottom of the Canagagigue Creek non-stop for two weeks!!! I certainly hadn't and I've been paying close attention since late 1989. ........................................................................................................................... So this once again is how our authorities sell their bullshit. Keep public information quiet. Who the hell do you think owns the Canagagigue Creek? It's not Uniroyal, it's not Woolwich Township and it sure as hell is not the Ontario Ministry of Expanded Corporate Pollution (MECP). We the citizens own the creek and you will share information with us or else you will be publicly called out for what you are. This is the ongoing history of the Canagagigue Creek and our municipal council, regional council, MECP, RAC and TAG are on the cusp of approving and accepting a bogus Risk Assessment that says there are no unacceptable risks to human health from the creek. Slap on a bandaid here and there or even put a little lipstick on the report, it's still garbage and toxic garbage at that.

FOUR OUT OF FIVE FORMER ELMIRA LANDFILLS HAVE NO LEACHATE OR METHANE CONTROLS

That would be M-1 beside Shirt Factory Creek at Park and Union St., Bolender Park Landfill immediately north of Church St. and beside the Canagagigue Creek, First St. Landfill literally built on top of a former meander of the Canagagigue Creek and now on the west side of the creek just south of Uniroyal/Lanxess and Varnicolor Chemical's Lot 91 immediately beside Landfill Creek just before it empties into the Canagagigue. Now keep in mind this last one is an illegal industrial landfill whereas the others were all approved by the Town of Elmira. The former municpal/industrial landfill (M-2) on the Uniroyal/Lanxess site is subject to hydraulic containment from the UACTS (Upper Aquifer Containment & Treatment System) which by the way is not perfect and has occasional losses of containment. ..................................................................................................................... Here's where it gets interesting. Various authorities and fellow travellors lie pretty much constantly. For example they minimize how much and what industrial wastes were deposited/dumped into the various municipal landfills. At least with Varnicolor's Lot 91, minor excavations have not revealed any municipal waste but a plethora of buried drums, solvents and even PCBs. Also the First St. Landfill has buried drums in it. This information I sent yesterday to TAG members, MECP, Lanxess, RMOW and half of Woolwich Council. The buried drums came from excavations around 1965 during construction of the Elmira Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) and yes they are documented in at least one of several reports dated 1985, 1991 and 1992. The last two were authored by Conestoga Rovers & Assoc. for Uniroyal (1991) and CH2MHILL consultants on behalf of the Region of Waterloo (1992). The first one (1985) is the well known "History of Uniroyal Waste in Elmira" written by Wayne Jackman, Anthony Smith and a third who escapes memory at the moment. According to the relevant report the drums containing both solid and liquid contents were stacked on top of each other and buried well below ground surface. The problem today is how carefully were they transferred out of the way from the new STP and into the First St. Landfill. In other words how many were ruptured early on versus how many were carefully placed in the First St. Landfill so as not to rupture right away? It is those that have not yet ruptured/rusted through that are the environmental concern. Currently an already bogus Risk Assessment of the downstream Canagagigue Creek is nearly completed and it has not adequately considered how many drums in how many landfills along the creeks (Shirt Factory, Landfill, Larch's, Canagagigue) in Elmira are still ready to give up their toxins including dioxins, pesticides (DDT), PCBs, and a litany of solvents including benzene, toluene, xylenes, chlorobenzenes, trichloroethylene as well as Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH), lindane, endosulfans, mercury and petroleum hydrocarbons (PHC) such as gasoline, diesel, and their components. ........................................................................................................................................ Or TAG and RAC can simply close their eyes, ears and hold their noses while they greenwash and rubberstamp a nonsensical Risk Assessment that tells us to smile, be happy and please die quietly of unknown causes preferably sooner than later.

WOOLWICH PLANNING DEP'T FAVOURTISM ?

Apparently Woolwich Township's poor planning and governance have been with us for a very long time. This particularly includes their alleged environmental decision making. Whether it involves local polluters such as Varnicolor Chemical, Uniroyal Chemical or local landfills it seems clear that human economic activity has and still takes precedence over everything else, especially the natural environment. Polyester resins, tars and sump sludges from Uniroyal Chemical have been documented as entering the in-town municipal landfills. I'm sure that I've also read that foundry wastes were permitted into some or all of the local landfills. These can include phenolic resins which are toxic. At the same time apologists and friends of Uniroyal Chemical have also alleged that the only "industrial" wastes they put into the Bolender Landfill were filter clothes and paper wastes. Time frames vary from report to report but generally speaking the Bolender Landfill was accepting both municipal and industrial wastes from 1962 until 1968-70. The First St. Landfill also accepted municipal and industrial wastes from approximately 1966 until 1972 and after that both Municipal and INDUSTRIAL waste went to the Woolwich Landfill north of Elmira on the aptly named Seiling Drive. It was in operation from 1972 until approximately 1985-88 depending on which report is believed. ................................................................................................................... Then of course we must not forget the former municipal landfill now located on the Uniroyal/Lanxess property known as M-2. It accepted both municipal and industrial wastes from 1936 until 1962. As per testimony at the Environmental Appeal Board hearings (1990-92), Uniroyal routinely dumped and buried herbicides, pesticides, rubber additives etc. into this landfill which they now own. They also buried 45 gallon drums full of wastes including off-spec chemical products which at a later date were unearthed during the construction of the Elmira Sewage treatment Plant. They were then transferred to and reburied in the First St. Landfill. ...................................................................................................... The Ontario Water Resources Commission (OWRC) were so impressed with Elmira and Woolwich landfill decision making that they ordered both the Bolender and the First St. Landfills shut down. Who would have thought that anything could go wrong with burying both municipal and industrial wastes right beside the Canagagigue Creek? Local industrial companies likely all enjoying in town dumping priveleges would include textile companies including Borg Textiles, Link-Belt Foundry, Varnicolor Chemical, Nutrite, furniture companies including the one right beside Uniroyal on Union St., Great West Felt and on and on. ................................................................................................... After this horrific history of either dumb or arm twisted decision making where are we today? Right, Woolwich planners think that building a gravel parking lot for trucks and trailers above the Bolender Park Landfill is a dandy idea. Oddly enough once again they are ignoring provincial rules and regulations but hey currently we've got a Conservative provincial government who just like the Liberals are pro business/industry. I doubt that Doug Ford and company could care less what Woolwich does today with the Bolender Landfill. There were no penalties for environmental and health & safety mismanagement from 1962 until now so why would a few more broken rules be a problem? My reading of the "Guideline D-4 Study" indicates that there can be no development or land use on top of a landfill with either leachate controls or methane gas controls. BINGO! Just get the Township's (& Uniroyal/Lanxess's) consultants to write yet another self-serving report advising that no controls are necessary. At the same time it will be necessary to ignore once again the most recent gas probe results showing methane gas at potentially dangerous levels (> 20% LEL), methane gas at greater than the LEL (Lower Explosive Level) and finally methane gas levels at above the UEL (Upper Explosive Level). Fortunately this is Woolwich Township where many bureaucrats and politicians are Master Level contortionists.

CLARIFICATIONS IN WOOLWICH OBSERVER 'S STORY THIS WEEK ABOUT THE CREEK

First of all the title is dead wrong. That title is "Testing shows creek poses no unacceptable risk to humans". Excuse me but that is 100% WRONG! Testing actually shows incredible risks to human health as DDT, DDD. DDE and dioxins/furans all EXCEED health criteria in both creek soils and creek sediments. In some cases by a very wide margin so please do not misinform the public by suggesting that the concentrations in and around the creek of even just those two toxic groups of compounds (DDT, dioxins) are acceptable. THEY ARE NOT! .............................................................................................................................. Here in the Advocate last Saturday I responded to Jamie Petznick's letter to TAG . Jamie was answering some questions from TAG and as well he provided an informative article from a Donald L. Siegel which explained the difficulties involved with groundwater remediation. I objected to any scenario/interpretation that would let the polluter in charge off the hook for their inadequate and at times incompetent remediation efforts since 1989. .................................................................................................................... Back to the first paragraph: That which shows the creek poses no unacceptable risk to humans is the bought and paid for Risk Assessment (RA) done by Stantec on behalf of Lanxess Canada. Stantec made it very clear that they were relying on Lanxess/GHD monitoring and testing of soils and sediments over the decades in their RA. That testing/sampling has been poor and written about here for many years. Far too many samples are analyzed at Method Detection Limits (MDL) far in excess of the health criteria which both greatly reduces detections at all (i.e. ND-non-detect) and greatly reduces exceedances of the criteria. For example if the MDL is 3 parts per billion and the criteria is 1 part per billion then only samples that are three times the concentration of the health criteria will be registered as present in the sample. Some of these MDLs are ten, twenty and a hundred times higher than their cooresponding criteria. That folks is not scientific investigation it is fraud. It is exactly like the cartoons I've sent out recently whereby the Boss is ordering Dilbert to use blatantly bad data because it's the only data available. .................................................................................................................. .........................................................

........................................................................................................................... LEFT CLICK ON CARTOON TO MAKE IT LARGER ................................................................................................................... P.S. Our authorities simply cover their ears and eyes and pretend that nobody is on to them. That is how they are fooling the media and the public.