IT'S BEST ALL DONE QUIETLY & PRIVATELY

 

Lanxess are talking, discussing and maybe negotiating with the downstream Old Order Mennonites living and working the land along the Canagagigue Creek.  What exactly are they talking about? My suspicion is that want something from this community and are willing to pay an enormous sum for it although they won't weaken their negotiating position prematurely. Potentially cleaning the Creek sediments and creekbank soils along with some floodplain soils could cost a hundred million dollars and take years to accomplish.  Think about it. There is more than five miles of Creek winding it's way downhill towards the Grand River just south of West Montrose. Think about dredging a couple of feet or more of the bottom sediments for that distance. Think about removing large areas of soils above the Creek waterline for that distance. Think about the floodplains themselves and how much contaminated fields there might be.

Or the alternative and totally irrelevant to the biased and phony HHERA (Risk Assessment), perhaps the 22 downstream families might accept say a million dollars per family to sign off on the whole mess. Just call it all an act of God while ignoring all the executives, bureaucrats and politicians who clearly had neither respect nor caring for the men, women and children affected by their self-serving decisions since 1942. Heck if necessary I'm sure some of the guilty parties would cheerfully throw some taxpayers money at these Old Order Mennonite families if they will sign a release indicating that they will never sue for damages.

If many of these families have either young or old members requiring serious health care whether directly, indirectly or not at all from Uniroyal Chemical toxins; they would certainly have an incentive to mitigate their health expenses especially as they generally are not covered by OHIP.  I expect some families would be relieved, others maybe not. There might even be a holdout or two. Regardless Lanxess would not be talking to them out of the goodness of their hearts. Lanxess are a corporation not a charity and it's all about the bottom line and what is best for Lanxess Canada.  

  

NEXT TRAC MEETING PLUS UPDATE ON WOOLWICH TWN. BEHAVIOUR

 

O.K. so the next TRAC meeting has been moved up to Monday December 9/24 at 6 pm. No I do not recommend anyone attend without an extensive background in Elmira politics as well as environmental matters. The reason is because of the volume and extent of bulls**t that will be thrown around at the meeting as if it came straight from above. Which it doesn't . In fact it comes from straight below and gives the devil much amusement. Keep in mind one can attend virtually as even some of the TRAC members who don't live in Elmira or Woolwich like to do to avoid winter car travel.  Don't ever get confused and think that all TRAC members are either locals or for that matter even Canadian citizens. They are not with Susan B. being the most egregious. Finally the in person meeting video seems to appear on the Woolwich Township website about five days after it's completion.

Yesterday's Woolwich Observer carries the ad for this upcoming TRAC meeting. It also states "Delegations must be submitted a minimum of eight (8) days prior to the Technical Remediation Advisory Committee meeting date to be included on the agenda."  That raises a number of issues such as why do the contents of  Delegations have to be submitted in advance at all?  Asking to be on the Agenda with a title of one's submission relevant to TRAC's mandate and the Elmira water issues should be sufficient. Secondly submitting one's Delegation eight days prior when at most the Minutes from the previous meeting as well as the proposed new Agenda do not get released until six or seven days prior is weird. Afterall you may well decide to present as a Delegation only after you see what is already planned to be discussed at TRAC. Lastly of course is the usual failure of TRAC (TAG) members to ask any intelligent or otherwise questions of Delegates of whom they have been advised not to ask questions of at all. 

All of this is typical Woolwich hunker down behaviour. They give lip service to openness and transparency while weeding out disparate voices and opinions, especially those of citizens far more knowledgeable on the subject matter than they or their bought and paid for Qualified Pe****s are. Both Luis and Allan D. are second stringers for GHD which indicates how  little concern Lanxess have for the reduced local opposition and critics ability to be heard in Woolwich and by Woolwich. 

ALWAYS ARROGANT, KNOW IT ALL AND PRETENDING TO BE MORALLY ABOVE THE CITIZENS THEY WORK FOR

 

I think that was what really set me off back in 2015 with Woolwich Township. They (Sandy & Mark) had just lied and manipulated as well as defamed volunteer CPAC members all to gain support from Uniroyal/Chemtura and the Ministry of Environment (MOE/MECP).  They clearly were part of the multi agency (RMOW, GRCA, Woolwich Twn., Ontario-MOE) conspiracy to let Uniroyal/Chemtura off the hook with their relatively inexpensive and ineffective alleged cleanup of our ground and surface waters. Yes the decades of air pollution which likely made many sick and eventually killed others has been improved although it took decades of talk, lies and bulls**t  before real action was taken.

Hence I have seen fit to make my contempt and disrespect for Woolwich Twn. very clear. They do not deserve my respect or for that matter anybody else's. Now of course here is where it gets tricky. Every four years we tend to get a new crop of councillors. Should they be automatically condemned for their audacity to run for political office? Should they be condemned for going into office possibly believing that public service is a noble and honourable profession? Obviously not especially if they are young and naive which they would have to be to believe that hooey. 

So township councils get second and third and fourth chances and eventually you've lived long enough to understand how the system works. New members are quickly indoctrinated into an us versus them attitude. It's a lot like policemen who are trained to view the citizens they are sworn to protect as often dangerous thugs. Yes a very few likely are but the vast majority of citizens just want to mind their own business and get home at the end of the day without incident.   

Woolwich Twn. continues to coddle dangerous polluters and skirt around the law. Just because every second rate politician at all levels (municipal, regional, provincial) and every second rate bureaucrat serving these second rate politicians, long ago decided that the easiest route for them was to go along to get along, doesn't make it right. No one has ever laid out the options, including the do nothing option, clearly for local citizens. No one in authority has ever explained what the environmental effects, much less the human health effects are for constantly permitting Uniroyal and successor corporations to make all the pollution decisions for the rest of us. No one has had the nerve or the honesty to spell out why so many citizens all around us are contracting cancers and suffering and passing on prematurely as a result. 

Our authorities/politicians have long ago sold us out and if they had any brains they would realize that they've also sold out their own friends and families just to get themselves re-elected and remain on the gravy train. Is it status and ego or is it money? Hard to believe that Township councillors (other than the mayor)  would sell out for the small money involved. Maybe some of them are true believers that those with the money and power should make all the decisions. Maybe on the other hand most of them have connections to the big money locally and are confident that they and theirs will be eventually rewarded if they stay the course.      

 

TRAC QUESTION 2 IS THE NEXT ITEM TO LOOK AT

 Luis Almeida and all the rest of the Lanxess/GHD crew as well as TRAC have been avoiding this issue for the last few years despite a number of written comments I've sent in comparing the pumping rates both on and off site since 1998 (Off-site) and since 1992 (On -site). Mr. Almeida's response in this forum is pretty much as weak as anybody else's with a whole lot of gobbledygook mostly ending with an exasperated sort of "Trust us". Well sorry Luis but that ship sailed decades ago.

Luis also claims that "It's also important to note that Lanxess has set target rates are above pumping rates that achieve containment." Yeah that's important if it's true. For literally decades though it's the opposite of what we were told at UPAC and CPAC. It is also the opposite of what GHD WRITE below their pumping results in each and every monthly Progress Report . There they make it plain that they GHD recommend that Lanxess maintain the Target Pumping Rates for both on and off-site pumping wells. 

I mentioned gobbledygook back in the first paragraph. CRA/GHD have been known and been caught! assigning off-site Sentry Wells in the past such as CH44 and CH100 that they knew were screened in both the shallow aquifer as well as in the municipal upper aquifer. This gave artificially high groundwater elevations just off-site allowing Chemtura/Lanxess to claim hydraulic containment when it did not exist. Hydrogeologist Wilf Ruland argued this exactly in a private meeting with Chemtura but ran for cover when CRA objected loudly. Dr. Regier was present as was a number of less honest persons than Dr. Regier and myself. Months later the Environmental Review Tribunal agreed with my assessment on this well being improperly assigned by CRA   as an off-site Sentry Well.

LOTS MORE DECEPTIONS, LIES, TYPOS (Ha!), IN GHD'S RECENT REPORT TO TIFFANY SVENSSON

 

First off this might surprise readers. Tiffany is not dumb. To my knowledge she is a professional hydrogeologist who knows perfectly well when deception attempts are being made. I guess however she does know where her bread is buttered. Did I not recently see that she received $30,000 for her efforts last year as Chair of TAG?  That's pretty damned good for a part time job in my opinion. Think of all the volunteer Woolwich citizens (not Susan B. who is neither a citizen of Woolwich nor Canada) and the literally years that they have spent giving of their time and effort to try to help cleanup the Elmira Aquifers and the Canagagigue Creek.  Other than a couple of individuals (only one of whom is a citizen from here) who have been well rewarded for their service to the Woolwich mayor and Chemtura/Lanxess , all the rest have been given the cold shoulder or much worse.

This latest argument is just Woolwich constantly pushing. They are frustrated because they know that to date they have been unsuccessful in shutting me up or down. Yes only Sebastian of the former 2010-2015 CPAC is on TRAC however that membership has slowly over 9 1/2 years gone from problematic to embarrassing to counter productive. TAG, RAC and TRAC have done zero good for the public and significant bad by simply providing the professional liars... oops make that simply providing the world class instigators of TYPOS,  cover and protection from appropriate public criticism and condemnation. That said I do acknowledge that Sebastian has stepped up and publicly contradicted his TAG and TRAC colleagues on a number of occasions. They knowing that he won't go any further appear willing to let him do so, right up until they don't and then he'll be shown the door. 

The November  14/24  letter to Tiffany from Luis  Almeida has a total of five questions from TRAC to Lanxess/GHD. To date I have given reasonably detailed responses to GHD's responses to Questions 1 (Stroh property and Stroh Drain, Ditch & Berm (SDDB) as well as to GHD's response to Question 4 regarding Effective Solubilities say of chlorobenzene versus Aqueous Solubilities. GHD responses were shoddy and defective similar to other past reports. Meanwhile TRAC's Question 2 is about below Target pumping rates and actually makes me realize that TRAC and Tiffany make actually be paying some attention to my technical critiques as this is one that I've been pounding on for the last couple of years or more. TRAC's Question 3 is about the revised HHERA (Human Health & Ecological Risk Assessment) and TRAC wanting a response from Lanxess/GHD more than a year later. Also TRAC would like an update on the clean up of "hot spots" in the vicinity of residents along the Creek. This wording I find a little odd as historically the "hot spots" referred to three areas conveniently along roads crossing the Creek downstream namely at the New Jerusalem Rd.,  Northfield Dr, and Jigs Hollow Rd. (outside West Montrose)  . Finally Question 5 is TRAC asking for a Well Installation Log which GHD are somewhat claiming is already done.

So do the additional three questions all need my comments? Perhaps one or two do but not all of them. We shall see. 

PROXY WARS

  Proxy wars is an old term which suggests that various wars over the decades (centuries?) were fought between world powers who did not want to actually get involved in a head to head war with each other. Hence proxy wars. Suggested examples are North Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Ukraine etc. Rather than the U.S. getting into it with China or Russia they support one side in some kind of regional conflict while China or Russia support the other side with weapons and other war material.

Hence to Woolwich Township. CAO Brenneman likely wants to keep his hands clean as does the mayor. In the past I've engaged with Mr. Brenneman and found him to be slippery, sly and deceptive. Not at all interested in straight forward discussion or attempts to actually resolve a disagreement. I have had significant disagreements with Nathan Cadeau and at one time Lisa Schaefer when she was the CPAC and then TAG Support person. I am very pleased to state that at least the last few years of her tenure in that job that we got along very well. I appreciated her above and beyond efforts to answer questions or clarify some issues and I told her that. Now recently out of the blue (it seems to me), the new Support person is on the warpath regarding my usual, normal, strong criticism especially of Lanxess, GHD and the Ministry of Expanded Corporate Pollution (MECP). Yes my writing often has editorial content as well as factual content such as my changing acronyms like MECP or even TRAC.

I attempted a compromise and a softer tone in my first response after the Support person made the frankly idiotic and totally unacceptable demand that I no longer engage in accusations of either incompetence or dishonesty, essentially with everybody. That got me nowhere so back to the blunt approach. How exactly does she think that I am supposed to write that Luis or Alan Deal seem to be at 100% odds with proven facts that everybody has? Mr. Deal misrepresented  the 1% Rule by suggesting out loud and publicly at TRAC that 1% of the Aqueous Solubility (approx. 5,000 parts per billion) was at least a yellow flag that DNAPL could be present. That is bulls**t . It is 1% of the EFFECTIVE SOLUBILITY not of the AQUEOUS SOLUBILITY and the difference could be as dramatic as only 50 or 500 parts per billion of chlorobenzene may very well indicate the presence of free phase DNAPL nearby.

Let me see maybe I could refer to public, blatant, misrepresentation or lies as boo boos. Now of course this would all be moot if Mr. Deal, GHD or Lanxess were willing to admit to their gross errors and publicly rectify them. Hell those twits won't even admit to failing to clean up the Elmura Aquifers for which they have been in total control since day one. Hmm maybe I could refer to their written and spoken disinformation as TYPOS. That's it, typos could be my new code word to replace professional bullsh** artists etc.  Let's see how this goes.

ACCUSATIONS OF INCOMPETENCE OR DISHONESTY TOWARDS LANXESS/GHD/MIN. of ENVIRONMENT NO LONGER PERMITTED BY WOOLWICH TOWNSHIP

 

Well it's come full circle. I've been ordered by the new Woolwich Support person for TRAC not to criticize or disparage those responsible for the failed ground and surface water cleanup in Elmira.  Hence both TRAC and Woolwich Township aren't even hiding the fact any longer that their purpose is to provide cover and protection for Lanxess Canada in order to avoid their legal responsibilities to clean up their toxic mess.

The following was sent to TRAC, Woolwich Council, the media and other stakeholders this morning.

  

November 23, 2024

Stacey: Calling someone a five minute wonder is not an insult but simply a fact. For example Hadley Stamm (Lanxess) is a five minute wonder, as you are. Nathan Cadeau was a five minute wonder. Now he may relatively only be a ten minute wonder. This expression simply makes the obvious point that appointing persons with zero direct experience to an ongoing thirty-five year long problem is more than a little weird and problematic. How do those in charge believe that the appointee will ever have that 35 years of knowledge and history available to them and at their fingertips? Clearly they don't and clearly that is exactly what they want.

Hence please view these words in the light of yourself with zero direct experience dealing with Uniroyal/Crompton/Chemtura/Lanxess(O.K. 5 min.) as well as CRA/GHD and the MOE/MECP. Are you out of your cotton picking mind telling me that I cannot make “accusations of incompetence or dishonesty toward ...any affiliates or stakeholders of TRAC...” You said this in your Thursday, Nov. 21/24 4:31 pm. E-mail to me. The next day (11 am.) you again stated that “Accusations, disrespectful language ... will not be accepted or circulated.“

News flash Stacey. You (or Woolwich Twn.) are not my censor. Is that the major purpose of the past TAG and current TRAC? Are those municipally appointed bodies simply a protective shield for polluters from the truth and from appropriate criticism? Back in 1998 Uniroyal stormed out of a CPAC meeting because they were strongly criticized over their toxic air emissions harming multiple Duke St. residents. They and the MOE did something similar albeit less dramatic in late 2014 because CPAC were pushing them for answers on the Stroh farm contamination. Sandy got elected in October 2014 and immediately gave Chemtura and the MOE/MECP everything they wanted which included getting rid of me and other excellent citizen volunteers who refused to kiss Chemtura's or the MOE's butts.

Neither you nor Sandy nor Woolwich tell me what to write or how to write my technical criticisms of Lanxess and GHD junk science or lies. If you don't like my strong criticism then instead of shooting the messenger try to honestly address the issue/problem. Woolwich Township has become a cheerleader for junk science, incompetence and polluter dishonesty. Nothing has been accomplished in cleaning the downstream Canagagigue Creek fifty plus years AFTER the worst on-site Uniroyal discharges ended.

Our groundwater is still polluted well above drinking standards in all aquifers with Uniroyal chemicals. Despite this the Woolwich folks in charge pretend that more respectful dialogue will magically solve everything. Eventually there will be a resolution which Lanxess and the MECP will like but it will come as it always has at the expense of the public interest and of the environment.

By now you may have correctly interpreted my lack of respect for Woolwich documents being used as a stick in order for Woolwich to get their way, no matter how perverted. Also I might add that your statements that “...it is critical that all correspondence adheres to the Township's Procedural By-Law and Customer Service Standards. This ensures productive dialogue and a respectful environment for all parties...” Really Stacey that is pure rubbish and at least one of us knows it. There has never been a respectful environment at UPAC, CPAC, TAG or TRAC. That is guaranteed by the ongoing lies told to both committee members and the public by Lanxess, GHD and the MECP. Try reading Sebastian Seibel-Achenbach's critique of TAG that I referenced in a recent communication.

I will not be aligning my e-mails to meet either your or Woolwich Township bogus standards that reward liars and punish truth tellers. Take your threats of my critical documents not being “accepted or circulated “ and shove them where the expression suggests.

Alan Marshall