BASED ON EXPERIENCE I HAVE ZERO CONFIDENCE IN MOST INVESTIGATIVE/ENFORCEMENT BODIES

 From first hand experience I can confidently state that our judicial system as in Superior Court in Kitchener is a piece of crap . Maybe that's inherent and maybe it's simply an awful judge such as Robert Reilly and possibly Gerald Taylor who I believe presided over the Woolwich Township versus Frank Rattasid civil trial a few years back. Then there is MECAC. That is a plain farce in which mostly former politicians gang up to protect current politicians from accountability regarding the election process. Both Scott Hahn and Sandy Shantz benefited from that pack of dishonest swine.  There is the College of Teachers which is just one more self-regulating and self-serving group mostly going through the motions of serving the public interest. And on and on.

Yesterday I filed electronically (maybe?) a complaint with RECO and WRAR. I say maybe because unlike say my on-line orders of CBD Oil for my arthritis in which I receive a confirmatory e-mail immediately afterwards, there was nothing from either. Also when I sign on-line environmental petitions there is usually a confirming "Thank You" afterwards from the sponsor of the petition. Again nothing from either RECO or WRAR. 

At the moment I can't fully recall what those letters stand for although both allegedly are some kind of enforcement of real estate agents Rules & Regulations. RECO is the provincial body and WRAR the more local, regional one. Maybe the WR in WRAR is Waterloo Region .... and the RE in RECO is Real Estate... something? Not certain. The point is I am appalled that prospective buyers of homes in the subdivision on the east side of the Bolender Landfill and most especially those very close to it are not informed about the existence of the Landfill and particularly about the fourty years of methane monitoring and detections far above the health and safety criteria. 

Yesterday's post here explains some of that. Possibly on the RECO complaint under the heading of whom I was complaining about I listed the real estate agent's name along with the words in brackets "(sort of a complaint)". The fact is that I don't know who exactly is really responsible. Is there a serious duty upon the agent to do serious due diligence or is it simply a loosey goosey matter of whether he recalls any serious issues nearby or not? I do not believe that I have ever met the real estate agent or have any connection whatsoever to him. It certainly is not personal.

Long story short I expect literally nothing from either RECO or WRAR. If however my "complaint" does assist in greater early disclosure of local problems and issues to prospective buyers then that is a good thing.  If the real estate agent relies upon either the municipality (Woolwich) or even the Ministry of Environment (MECP) then he is a fool along with most of the rest of us. Both Woolwich Township and the MECP are dishonest bodies and ultimately they should be held responsible for their behaviour that is  contrary to the public health, safety and interest.     

MONKEYSHINES CONTINUE AT THE BOLENDER LANDFILL

 

Does the lying ever stop? Are politicians so short sighted and so stupid that they think that everybody forgets their lies? One possible reason for the Township's decades old coverup of the seriousness of the methane gas is the fear of lowering property values in nearby homes on High St., George St. and others. I guess the Township feel that lying to everybody is better than having to buy homes nearest the landfill due to the Township's culpability in siting the Landfill next to this subdivision. 

I've recently noticed another issue regarding the Bolender Landfill As the trees have been thinned out one can more readily see the earthen berm along the back end (east side) of the former scrapyard. In the past I've seen the flooding Canagagigue Creek go over its' banks and totally submerge Bolender Park. Due to the berm behind the scrapyard I suspect that the flooding included significant parts of the landfill itself. If so this would explain the repeated failures of the methane gas monitoring and venting systems over the decades. When the tubes are filled with water the methane can not vent to the atmosphere. Even a high water table can cause this but when combined with surface water it's even more egregious. 

I thought that real estate agents were legally bound to disclose nearby hazards and issues to prospective buyers of homes. Apparently not as the realtor for 10-A  High St. has not been doing so. He claims that he has no knowledge of the nearby former landfill. Wow! This is Woolwich Township folks. "See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil".   

SHOULD WE GIVE LANXESS MASTER POLLUTER STATUS ?

 

This would be based upon the entire picture including the amount of pollution versus the amount of bullsh*t going along with it.  In other words a polluter with larger volumes being discharged might not rank quite as high as a modest polluter immersed however in massive bullsh*t. 

One such example of massive bullsh*t  are the polluters spending time and some money with elaborate CAPS or Citizen Public Advisory Committees. Now although we have horrific environmental bullsh*t throughout Woolwich Township and Elmira, that is not all. In fact we have massive horsesh*t as well, literally all over the roads. This is after all Elmira, Ontario home of a large Old Order Mennonite population whose transportation is primarily horses and buggies. I wonder why cattle (i.e. bulls) take such a bad rap (i.e. bullsh*t) when rarely if ever do I hear the term (horsesh*t) here. I think that that might be discriminatory.    

Regardless there is yet another point. Are all CAPS necessarily bad? Perhaps a Cap by any other name is. Examples abound locally including UPAC, sometimes past CPACs and most certainly RAC, TAG and the latest pig with lipstick namely TRAC.  But what about the Sulco Cap here in town? From everything I;ve heard it is actually the real deal. Sulco (i.e. CCC) ownership/management apparently do not lie or deceive their Cap members. They do not treat local citizens with contempt. They honestly attempt to answer all questions.

The Lanxess Cap claims to only deal with current events not past ones.  That is a lie as they to date refuse to discuss the ongoing Risk Assessment of the Canagagigue Creek. That alone is good reason why Dr. Holt should not be still on that Cap. It is also good reason why he should not be enticing other local citizens to join that Cap.

Similarly Sebastian should have resigned long ago from TAG as he claimed he would. He is now on the new TRAC which is simply a conglomeration of the old, failed RAC and TAG members. TRAC is simply a rebranding of one of the grossest examples of perverted public consultation possible (RAC & TAG) and honest, sincere individuals should not tarnish their name by being on it nor should they give TRAC credibility it does not deserve based upon who manufactured it (Woolwich, Lanxess, Sandy & David)  and who most of the members are (Lanxess fellow travellors). 

I believe that all this Lanxess public relations effort should be rewarded with a Master Polluter designation.

TRAC AGENDA ITEMS HAVE NEVER BEEN VIGOROUSLY DISCUSSED OR DEBATED

Why would they start now? The best case scenario is that Sebastian humbly requests the consideration of his fellow colleagues on TRAC and they as usual ignore him. He and Susan might also however advise that enough Woolwich citizens understand and are aware of the downstream "hotspots" (Agenda Item  8.2  ). Agenda Item 7. is very unlikely to receive much intelligent discussion although it should. I posted here about the last four months of utterly pathetic non-pumping both on and off site last week  (Tues. April 16/24). This Item  7. is allegedly going to seriously discuss just the last three months namely January, February and March. Item 6. is the 2023 Annual Monitoring Report which is just another cheerleading exercise in which Lanxess and friends brag about how much the plume has shrunk and how many kilograms of NDMA they have removed (or not).  They will studiously avoid how high above drinking water criteria concentrations continue to be throughout large areas of Elmira.

It's all for show folks. I have attended in the past in order to keep up to date on basically what they are not doing that they should be and to hear first hand any new lies or deceptions they are selling to the public. Woolwich Township are miles and decades past any semblance of honesty or transparency. All politicians at all levels are on board with the scam. 

    

FIRST TRAC (Totally Rotten & Corrupt) MEETING THIS COMING THURSDAY

 

Just to be clear my acronym above for Sandy and Lanxess's tame committee refers to those in charge namely the Chair, the mayor and the lair (lair is misspelled in order to rhyme with chair and mayor). Lanxess may be better ethically than Uniroyal Chemical or they may simply be better in public awareness and public relations. There are likely some decent, honest and informed persons on TRAC but rest assured they will never be in the majority even with the self-serving, biased setup leaving the mayor and Lanxess fully in charge.

The meeting will be held in Council Chambers at 6 pm. April 25, 2024. TRAC are literally an amalgamation of the well trained, well disciplined and totally deferential wimps, wimpettes and in over their heads fellow travellors who have made up RAC and TAG for the last few years. Also co-optees are welcomed along with conflict of interest queens (Pat is gone). Missing are the very best locally informed CPAC members who have more sense than to join this abomination of Lanxess cheerleaders and sycophants. Also missing are what should be the majority of honest, local citizens on this committee.

Interestingly even at this late date Sandy, Ramin, David, Jason, Esther and others in charge are still afraid of the public. Boy did they stay the hell away from the Elmira Environmental Awareness Event back in February. The only other access the public have to speak  and ask questions is at this grossly contrived,  proven public consultation failure even publicly stated by one of their own members (Sebastian). It's in the TAG Minutes possibly of February 2024 (Woolwich Township website) although I expect the Township to move it around or make it disappear eventually.  Honesty is never the best policy for professional liars and their supporters. 

POLITICS IS LIKE SEWAGE: THE YOU KNOW WHAT FLOATS TO THE TOP

 Today's Record advises us that "Kitchener development a threat to drinking water supply: report". Well news flash folks, pretty much all development threatens the drinking water supply.  Just the same as all population increases threaten our surface water (Grand River etc.) as larger and larger discharges of partially treated human sewage get discharged into them.

The major damage has been done long ago by industry throughout Waterloo Region. Most of our pollution laws are toothless tigers and those that aren't are rarely if ever enforced whether provincially (Min. of Environment-MECP) or by our local municipalities via by-laws or by complaints to the MECP. Salt on our roads has not helped nor excess fertilizers on our farm fields. 

The article in today's Record suggests that development in the south-west part of Kitchener will cover much of the Waterloo Moraine's recharge area. That is not a good thing although ensuring rain water from residential and industrial roofs goes into the ground versus into roadways and storm sewers can be improved. The repeated mention of a Lake Erie Pipeline is interesting. I view that as more of an excuse for the inevitable than as a threat that will only occur if development is situated on recharge areas. My belief is that regional politicians know that they have been  incompetent and complacent regarding groundwater protection despite their words to the contrary. 

Similar to the mess in Elmira they are looking for an exit strategy that will leave them untarnished and unblamed for the groundwater damage that has been done in Waterloo Region. See my two posts earlier this week regarding groundwater contamination (Mon. & Wed.).

LOTS OF TURNOVER ON RAC, TAG, AND THE RAGTAG TRAC

 RAC - Rotten And Corrupt

TAG - Totally Asinine Garbage

TRAC - Totally Rotten And Corrupt  

MECP - Ministry of Expanded Corporate Pollution

These acronyms will help you identify the players and their motivations. Wilson Lau has departed which I find peculiar. His expertise in Risk Assessment seemed apparent yet dare I think, hint or suggest that maybe, just maybe he found his expertise being used to support an unlikely supposition namely that there are no unacceptable risks in the downstream Canagagigue Creek? I do not know for sure but I feel better about him thinking this.

TAG lost Bill Barr, Joe Kelly and Katarina Richter over the years. Also Pat McLean departed but that was no loss whatsoever. Sebastian has stated his desire to resign numerous times over the years but to date still hasn't done it. Hydrogeologist Dustin Martin also walked a while back. I think others have also departed but I can't recall their names at the moment. Susan Bryant is neither a Canadian citizen nor a Woolwich Township resident but has brought credibility to TAG etc. to the point that she has received appropriate compensation for her long complicity. Eric Hodgins (former RMOW) is back after a long absence and seems intent upon maintaining the status quo.

I may not live long enough to see it but nevertheless am confident that eventually history will get it right. The above groups including mayor Sandy Shantz and CAO Brenneman will not be regarded well in long term hindsight. Their collegiality with the MECP, Lanxess, Chemtura, Crompton and Uniroyal Chemical will eventually be their undoing. The failures to protect the health of all Elmira and Woolwich residents and citizens as well that of the natural environment will be exposed and obvious.