ELMIRA WATER WOES: THE TRIUMPH OF CORRUPTION, DECEIT, AND CITIZEN BETRAYAL

 

ELMIRA WATER WOES: THE TRIUMPH OF CORRUPTION, DECEIT, AND CITIZEN BETRAYAL

TABLE OF CONTENTS


Chapter Two:

Pg.

10 .... Ontario Ministry of Environment

11 .... Surprise Raid

12 .... Full Aerial Response Team

12 .... Bait & Switch

13 .... Shhh

13 .... Infrastructure for Mass Surreptitious Dumping

14 .... Public Inquiry Needed




Chapter 2

Ontario Ministry of Environment

Almost simultaneously with the Elmira Water Crisis and Uniroyal Chemical we had the deeply concerning revelations about another bad apple chemical company in Elmira, Ontario namely Varnicolor Chemical. None of we APT members had any real experience dealing with the government employed deceivers and factually challenged individuals who in hindsight were more concerned with the MOE’s reputation than they were with protecting the environment. With thirty years hindsight I can see much more clearly how individuals who may have started with high expectations and hopes to make a difference were slowly ground down from above. Making waves, as in many organizations, was the cardinal sin. Keep in mind that when I use the word corruption in regards to the Ontario MOE it doesn’t have to be brown paper bags full of cash as was received by a past Canadian Prime Minister. Corruption can be as simple as senior staff telling underlings to either look the other way or always assume the best unless categorically proven otherwise. Even insisting upon unreasonable levels of evidence or proof beyond reproach before even beginning an investigation can be corruption.

The focus of this book is on how our authorities intentionally supported and ran interference for industrial polluters while simultaneously misleading the public. Because of that some of the examples of MOE corruption regarding Varnicolor need to be told. I’ve already mentioned that the MOE were in the habit of cooperating with industrial concerns by scheduling their inspections of their facilities ahead of time. This tended to remove the adversarial nature of inspectors trying to “catch” lawbreaking businesses. The attitude was fostered by the MOE that hey we’re just here to help you avoid expensive problems down the road or to avoid inadvertent bad practices that could be construed as detrimental to the environment. It was an intentionally congenial and collaborative effort all on behalf of the environment and the public interest. After all it had nothing to do with intentional bad apples it was simply that business interests were experts in producing the products of their businesses and the Ontario MOE were experts in helping businesses avoid costly environmental problems down the road. In a sense the MOE tried to establish that they were partners with industry. I can actually see that approach working with some industries and businesses. Profit is not a dirty word. If the MOE are dealing with a company with a truly clean environmental record then it’s in both parties interests to keep the relationship professional, congenial, and respectful. If however they are dealing with a company who have clearly polluted the air, the water, and the ground then a sterner, less accommodating approach is required. Often over the decades, I’ve expressed my opinion in regards to the MOE’s partnership with Uniroyal Chemical by referring to them as partners in pollution with Uniroyal Chemical.

My second exposure to the style of enforcement practiced by the MOE came about when I was ordered into the office of Severin Argenton in early 1990. Severin had a copy of a letter that I had sent anonymously to the MOE advising them of some of the ongoing pollution activities at Varnicolor Chemical. These included both intentional dumping as well as unintended but inevitable spills of solvents on site. Severin was very upset and claimed that he knew that I was the source of the letter. I accurately replied that his claim was nonsense and stated that I had no idea where the letter came from or how he had gotten it. I also read part of it and said that the level of knowledge shown in the letter was far above my knowledge or experience level. I knew that Severin was totally bluffing because I hadn’t told a soul at Varnicolor Chemical about my environmental concerns with what was going on. That was obviously the quickest way to get fired on the spot. Basically the MOE had read my letter and then sent it to Severin probably expecting that he would take care of the problem by firing the offender. In hindsight I expect that he might have hauled a couple of other employees into his office and tried to bluff them as well.

I was indeed quickly “suspended” (fired) after I publicly came out to APT Environment at a public meeting in Elmira in February 1990. Fortunately the next month Dr. Bert Nalliah decided that he had had enough of Severin and his anti social, polluting behaviour. Bert had not only quit but he sent me a letter condemning Severin and Varnicolor for a plethora of polluting practices again both intentional and otherwise. The media jumped on the story and APT were also pleased because Varnicolor did not have the power and prestige that Uniroyal did. Uniroyal were a large employer whereas Varnicolor were not. Uniroyal sponsored community events whereas Varnicolor did not. Therefore criticism of APT waned when it became clear that they weren’t simply anti Uniroyal but were anti polluters in the community.

The MOE however were another story. They rode in to Varnicolor’s defence immediately. They (in the person of Dave Ireland) claimed that a hydrogeological study had been done and that there was only minor groundwater contamination at Varnicolor. He claimed that Varnicolor had always passed their inspections and that while housekeeping was a little lax there were no environmental problems. This story was in the K-W Record prior to Dr. Nalliah’s stepping up.21 When we finally got a copy of the latest groundwater monitoring results done at Varnicolor it was beyond shocking. The sheer numbers of solvents and various chemicals in the shallow groundwater was ridiculous. The concentrations varied from parts per billion (ppb) to parts per million (ppm). The few chemical names that we recognized we looked up references such as the Ontario Drinking Water Standards (ODWS) to see if these groundwater concentrations exceeded them. Many did.

We advised the MOE that there were environmental problems on Varnicolor’s other site located at the extreme eastern end of Oriole Parkway. The site became known as Lot 91. There were old road tankers being used to store various fuels, solvents and what appeared to be liquid wastes. The site itself was scary and stinky. The smell was that of solvents. We also found a few old steel drums in various stages of deterioration on the site. All in all there was no attempt to make this site look even remotely acceptable. Frankly at the time we didn’t have a clue as to how bad it was. Only months and years later did we gain a better understanding of the intentional dumping that had gone on here for a very long time.

Surprise Raid

The May 17, 1990 raid turned the whole Elmira Water Crisis on its head. APT Environment, of which we were all members, had under the tutelage of Susan Rupert and the Co-ordinating Committee been making an excellent name for themselves as knowledgeable, informed citizens who did their homework and asked reasonable, intelligent questions. While many residents were still willing to give the MOE the benefit of the doubt because there wasn’t yet a smoking gun, this incident changed all that. Even the seen it all, heard it all media were shocked by what transpired. I was tipped off a few days before May 17/90 that there was going to be a surprise raid on Varnicolor. It would include many MOE officers, police and scientific experts. How, pray tell, I asked my source, did you get wind of this “surprise” raid? My source who has remained anonymous to this day at his/her request advised me that none other than Severin was bragging to his staff that he’d received a tip directly from the MOE and that he knew exactly when they were coming and what they were looking for. In fact, he even removed some of his computer files prior to the MOE’s imminent raid. I shared my information with APT and we decided to spoil the party and spoil it publicly. If this was true then all the worries about corruption and collusion and private backroom deal making between the MOE and polluters that other activists had been telling us about seemed almost to be small potatoes.

Sure enough the raid was set for 8 am. of May 17, 1990. About 7:45 the media who we’d contacted started showing up in the Varnicolor parking lot. Local newspapers, television and radio were there.22 Farther afield media also had been advised of the “surprise” raid. APT members with more flexible work schedules were there including me and Richard Clausi. At 8 am. in came car after car of MOE officers along with police officers to keep the peace in case Severin misbehaved. That of course wasn’t the problem for the MOE. The problem was that there were dozens of reporters, photographers and media outlets all sitting, waiting for the supposedly secret, surprise raid. The MOE were dead in the water. How the hell could APT have known about this secret raid and tipped off so many media who all showed up to find out if it was a hoax or for real? Within hours the MOE announced that one of their Investigation & Enforcement Branch officers was the leak. Glen McDonald admitted to tipping off Severin days before the raid. Mr. McDonald claimed that he felt sorry for Severin. Wow!

So was there but one bad apple within the Ontario Ministry of Environment willing to give (or sell?) secrets to polluting industries? That was a very difficult question. Were they incompetent or corrupt or a little of both? Again hard to say. Individual grotesque incidents may paint a picture that is worth a thousand words. Or not. Here is another one.

Full Aerial Response Team

I was snooping on Lot 91 in 1991. I was doing this because after my experiences already related here I had zero confidence in the MOE. It was all compounded by their never ending lying to APT members at Varnicolor Liason Committee (VLC) meetings which Rich Clausi, Ted Oldfield and I attended, representing APT Environment. The stories the MOE told did not add up to what I knew first hand having worked for Varnicolor for nearly two years. They also didn’t add up to my inside sources ongoing phone conversations with me. I went on the Lot 91 site with a camera as usual and started looking around. Lo and behold if I didn’t spot a steel drum partly poking out of the ground. Then another one and another one. Some of them were more visible as the grass had been flattened down presumably by greater human activity on the site. A couple of others actually appeared as if some soil had been taken away along an embankment. Some were vertical in the ground and others horizontal.

The next VLC meeting we were blessed with the presence of Arley McDonald MOE, the head of the Investigations & Enforcement Branch (IEB). APT members started talking about buried drums on the Lot 91 site. Now keep in mind the site is off the beaten path plus in the summer months the tree foliage and heavy underbrush hide the bulk of the site from any public property nearby. Darrol Bryant and I had been charged with trespassing on this site several months earlier. In that incident we were videotaping solvents leaking from a tanker onto the ground, and Severin showed up in a very aggressive mood. He was charged with assault. Regardless Arley McDonald knew that the site was private property and that there were no sightlines from off-site so he likely felt confident in assuring us that there absolutely were not any buried drums or even surface drums on this site as the MOE were all over Varnicolor by now and nothing was escaping their eagle eyed attention. Well I gently and politely advised Arley that I had information contrary to his and perhaps he might want to confirm with somebody, anybody, about buried drums before categorically declaring that there weren’t any present. Arley made the mistake of either thinking I was bluffing or that I only had verbal information from my inside source whom by now the MOE understood I had.

What I had were colour photographs clearly showing the Lot 91 site and clearly showing various drums in various states of exposure from the ground. But it was actually much more than that. Beside each and every drum a small wooden stake had been hammered into the ground. On each stake was a small red ribbon clearly put there in order to find the buried or semi –buried drums readily again. And then there was the final nail in Arley and the MOE’s coffin. Arley was not alone representing the MOE at this meeting. Other local officers were present. I had given Arley ample time and opportunity to amend his claim or to even throw in a couple of weasel words or possible outs. Neither he nor any of the other MOE officers backed down an inch. There were NOT any drums any longer on this site as they‘d all been removed. The final nail if you will was that each wooden stake had three letters in black magic marker written on them. The letters were M, O and E (MOE).

When the sputtering MOE officers and others present indignantly demanded to know how we could possibly have gotten colour photographs of such close up quality on a site hidden from the public road to the site, Richard Clausi advised them thusly. We used APT’s Full Aerial Response Team in order to take these photographs. Or FART for short.

Bait & Switch

Were other lessons learned from Varnicolor that shed light on MOE integrity and credibility? Unfortunately yes. Richard, Ted and I helped write the Varnicolor Chemical Control Order during these VLC meetings. One major aspect was that a hydrogeological report had to be done on the processing site at 62 Union St. which examined the full aerial and vertical extent of the contamination on this site. This was crucial to understanding whether or not Varnicolor’s dumping here had impacted the municipal aquifers supplying drinking water to Elmira residents. The MOE was hotly pursuing Uniroyal as the only source and Uniroyal were vehemently denying it. Sure enough when Phillips Environmental expressed interest in purchasing the site, suddenly the control order requirement for deep investigation was missing in action. Talk about a bait and switch. Public consultation was revealed as only for assisting the MOE as a public relations exercise and was not to be an impediment to their ability to make corporate deals not in the public interest. The MOE wanted someone else with money to buy the site and pay for even the greatly reduced investigation and subsequent cleanup.

Shhh

The cleanup on the Varnicolor site continues to this day. That is a tad odd for a site that we were told would require about ten years of pumping and treating after much of the shallow aquifer was excavated and removed from the site. The actual excavations were completed in 1994. The shallow pump and treat system was installed the next year and has been underway ever since. Granted there were complications as a neighbour’s property was discovered to be contaminated years later and had to be integrated into Varnicolor’s containment and treatment system. This of course was all done on the down low in order not to let the public know exactly how serious the Varnicolor contamination actually was. The current owner has been jumping through MOE hoops and loops for over fifteen years now. He has done everything and more that was requested and yet is still waiting for a Record of Site Condition (RSC) that would permit him to develop the property. His hydrogeological consulting firm is known as Peritus Environmental and they completed a Risk Assessment also required by the MOE more than two years ago. That Risk Assessment indicated that six different solvents from Varnicolor Chemical had penetrated through the shallow aquifer, the clay and silt aquitard and broken through to the municipal drinking water Aquifer. All of this was intentionally not investigated back in the early 1990s.

Infrastructure for Mass Surreptitious Dumping

One last issue that revealed the MOE’s agenda was their mishandling of the buried tanker and septic tank in the back yard of Varnicolor. Once again my source inside Varnicolor, after I had been fired, advised me of some astounding news. They reported that the floor drain in the front office building was hooked up to a three way valve inside the building. This valve could send the water, solvents, or whatever Severin wanted to either the storm sewers, the sanitary sewers or out the back of the building to a buried road tanker. Seriously! In fact while the first position of the valve went to only one sewer system the choice of sending the liquids to be slowly percolated into the soil behind the office building had two locations. The first as mentioned was the buried road tanker which in fact was the trailer only not the actual truck tractor that pulled it. The other option was a buried septic tank. Now keep in mind that while a buried road tanker was more than a little bizarre a buried septic tank certainly is not. After all that’s exactly where they are supposed to be such that toilet wastes can be broken down by bacteria within the tank and then the liquid can be slowly percolated through the tile bed into the ground. This septic tank however was not hooked up to the company’s toilets. They were hooked into the sanitary sewers where treatment then took place at the Elmira Sewage Treatment Plant. Prior to 1965 this site quite likely had a septic system consisting of a tank and tile bed. Keep in mind that the company started there in 1962 although the building was formerly owned by one of Severin’s ongoing suppliers namely Bridgeland Terminals (BTL).

Richard, Ted, and I as APT representatives on the Varnicolor Liaison Committee had an ongoing public audience as the media attended the meetings. This included the Elmira Independent as well as often the K-W Record. Also keep in mind that after the expose of the MOE’s likely corruption due to their “surprise” raid fiasco, we had a ton of credibility. The MOE initially denied everything. No it wasn’t possible. No we had bad information. How could you possibly know that? Why hadn’t Mr. Marshall made that allegation months ago? They were adamant but so were we. After all “Deep Throat” had never let us down. His/her credibility was miles ahead of the Ontario Ministry of the Environment. Eventually the MOE caved. Sort of. They set an approximate date and suggested that they would excavate behind the orange building (office building) looking for some imaginary buried tanker. We of course, possibly still unknown to them, were legally and with permission accessing a nearby building which overlooked the Varnicolor property. Lots of film footage, videos and photographs were taken from there. In fact the actual extent of the “lax” housekeeping was readily apparent as was the illegality of most of Varnicolor’s operations. Simple things like having skids of full drums of solvents and liquid wastes no more than two skids high were routinely ignored. All of that was obvious to us while at the same time the MOE were reassuring the public that Varnicolor were small potatoes compared to Uniroyal Chemical as the destroyers of the municipal aquifers. There were even a couple of APT members who expressed concerns that despite APT’s improved public persona by going after Varnicolor, they were worried that Varnicolor might take attention off of Uniroyal.

The dig took place and that evening we were on the roof recording the results. Indeed there was the previously buried road tanker. Just as importantly we could see two pipes coming through the building and where one had been attached to the tanker. Oddly there was a second pipe that seemed to just end near the back of the road tanker. Richard and I arranged a meeting with MOE officers Gord Robinson and Con Papenhuzen. They were very polite and helpful and even provided us with colour photographs which were appreciated. Yes the tanker had been hooked up to the one pipe. No there was very little inside the tanker and no they couldn’t see any holes or openings in the tanker that would allow for liquids discharged from the floor drain inside the building to enter the tank and then slowly drain into the subsurface soils. At the moment they didn’t have an explanation as to why it was there and hooked up to the floor drain but they were making inquiries of the building’s previous owners. Lastly no our information was wrong there was no buried septic tank anywhere in the area near the buried road tanker.

Richard and I were somewhat perplexed. Here was the smoking gun (almost) of what could be construed as a major illegal toxic liquid waste disposal system. We asked/pleaded with the two officers that the tanker be examined in great detail to see if there were either natural breeches in its integrity such as rust holes or damage as well as determining if there were any intentional punctures of the tanker that would allow any contents received from the orange building (office) to be dispersed into the soil. Richard and I were categorically promised that the tanker would not be destroyed but that it would be carefully examined to determine if it was part of an intentional, illegal liquid waste disposal system. We were lied to neither for the first nor the last time.

At that point I went back to examining the Ministry’s colour photographs more carefully. I had great reason for so doing. Something was very wrong in them. These photographs were indeed taken at the time of the excavation and were time stamped. The ones that Richard and I and APT had were taken hours after the excavation. Plus “Deep Throat” (DT) had been present at the time of the excavation. He/she was a trusted, reliable, well paid, and long term employee. It’s even possible that after nearly thirty years that it is time to reveal the identity of my inside source at Varnicolor Chemical. While Severin went to his grave not knowing, as have others in the intervening years, nevertheless credit is due. Perhaps one last phone call may be necessary as a courtesy before this happens.

DT told me that the backhoe readily “discovered” the buried road tanker behind the building. Equally obvious were the two pipes coming through the building and running alongside the wall. One indeed went into the road tanker and the other went into the septic tank immediately at the back end of the tanker. DT then advised me that the concrete lid was lifted off the septic tank using the backhoe, surrounding gravel was scooped up by the bucket and put into the tank after the lid was smashed, broken up and placed into the tank. What the hell were they thinking of? None of this was shared with Robinson or Papenhuzen at the time. They had a story to tell and we wanted to hear it first without them knowing how much we already knew.

Both gentlemen kept on reassuring Richard and I that they had found nothing extraordinary. I found that comment itself extraordinary. It was as if they had been the ones telling us ahead of time that there was a buried tanker there and not the other way around. They kept reiterating that there wasn’t any buried septic tank nor was one expected to be found! This was a little too much, however as I didn’t know exactly how many Varnicolor employees, contractors or MOE were present at the dig I decided not to confront them with their ridiculous story directly. Protecting my incredible source turned out to have been the right move all along even in the early days when I didn’t trust him/her an inch. Instead I pointed out a slight problem with their colour photographs. There the two officers were busily snapping photographs during and after the dig including one lovely shot of the one officer standing at the north end of the gaping hole where the tanker had been. He was smiling as his colleague took his picture. I believe it was the aptly named Con standing there with a couple of steel rods poking out from the gravel Con was standing on. I pointed this out to them. In fact not only were there a couple of pieces of rebar or reinforcing rod sticking out but a very close examination of the photographs showed what looked like a gap somehow in the ground below Con’s feet. The twits or whoever took the picture took it before they’d gotten around to smashing the lid and putting it into the tank. The rebar was from damage to the concrete lid by the bucket of the backhoe while they were digging out the road tanker. The gap that could be seen in the picture was from where the lid of the septic tank had been shifted or raised a few inches. Here was Con Papenhuzen standing on top of what at one time likely was an actively used septic tank with the lid not entirely secure.

Both MOE gentlemen gave the impression of being genuinely shocked and perplexed. Could they have been playing Richard and I? Possibly, but at the time I didn’t think either one was clever enough by half to do that. I suppose I could give them the benefit of the doubt and defend their honour by suggesting that they weren’t so much intentionally lying and covering up as they were simply incompetent. Perhaps the MOE like other less than honest organizations put a premium on loyalty and naivety well above independent thinking. The evidence however seems to put them clearly on site at the time of the excavation. Perhaps their superiors lowered the boom and categorically told them to deceive Richard and I. Results at a later date of samples taken from both the septic tank and the road tanker clarified that indeed both vessels had been used for drainage of liquid wastes from the Varnicolor building.

Public Inquiry Needed

Indeed these photographs further destroyed the MOE’s credibility as we showed them to various reporters and others.23 In hindsight it is absolutely amazing that the talk of some sort of public inquiry into the MOE’s handling of the Varnicolor investigation ended up being exactly that: talk. The media were behind the idea as was the Varnicolor sub-committee of APT. It was from these experiences that I later entered the Uniroyal fray front and centre. Ah politics yet again. Internal politics. Had the new, incoming leadership of APT after Susan Rupert left already made a secret deal with the MOE regarding keeping Varnicolor on the down low and out of sight as much as possible? Disgusting if so.

A couple of further comments before I move back directly to the Uniroyal battles. Not only APT under the leadership of Susan Rupert but Richard and I with help from the very busy lawyer Ted Oldfield had established publicly our bona fides. We had shown grit, determination, smarts and the ability to dig. We had proven our integrity and our honest search for the truth. Little did we know that that was way more than enough for the Ontario MOE not to want to work with us and indeed to keep us in the dark as much as possible.


We stepped back somewhat after Varnicolor closed although we kept an eye on the still leaking Union St. site as the thousands of drums kept springing leaks until they were finally all removed by 1993. We participated at the Environmental Appeal Board when Varnicolor appealed trying to weaken the control order laid upon them. We were available for Severin Argenton’s trial for multiple charges under the Ontario Environmental Protection Act. None of the three of us was subpoenaed by the MOE to testify until we protested and I was belatedly subpoenaed although never called to testify. Speaking of the charges, when they were first laid they were all as Severin derogatorily, and publicly stated, mere “paperwork” charges. Astoundingly the MOE hadn’t charged him with polluting the environment or the groundwater under his site. With large scale groundwater contamination via illegal and surreptitious dumping, including DNAPLS and LNAPLS, how was this possible? Realize that the Elmira Municipal Aquifers that ran under Uniroyal and all the way to the South Wellfield also ran beneath Varnicolor Chemical. It was K-W Record reporter Phil Jalsevac who quickly picked up on this and started asking hard questions. Once again we publicly had to shame the Ontario MOE into doing their job. It was almost as if they categorically did not want the public to know the extent of environmental damage done by this company as they were more concerned about keeping Uniroyal Chemical securely and solely on the hook. In fact at the time Woolwich Township put together another committee under Councillor Ruby Weber to go over the details of the proposed pump and treat system.

During all of this we (APT) were still in regular contact with the MOE through the ongoing Uniroyal Public Advisory Committee (UPAC). Susan Rupert had departed to live in Waterloo and study at the University of Waterloo and I was soon working regularly with Susan Bryant and Sylvia Berg who had stepped up after the departure of Susan Rupert. Despite my comments a few paragraphs previously I trusted Susan and Sylvia implicitly. I simply couldn’t imagine any reason not to at that time. In fact I was so naïve that unfortunately normal human misbehaviour of ego, pride, and status weren’t even on my radar. The MOE promised to keep us in the loop as to developments with the cleanup being proposed by Phillip Environmental for the site. They advised that they would make all meeting minutes available from the new Township Committee. We were to receive documentation related to Varnicolor more or less as long as they were still being remediated. Once again words were nothing but wind from the MOE . Over the remaining decades usually from the public position of UPAC or CPAC (Chemtura Public Advisory Committee) I would demand any news the MOE had of Varnicolor. They always promised and rarely delivered.

Eventually I even got wind after the fact of a groundwater cleanup done at Varnicolor’s west side neighbour Motiveair Inc. This was obviously shallow contamination from Varnicolor that left their property and migrated over to Motiveair. It was also of huge importance and consequence as the MOE had been lying to the public for decades regarding the absence of contaminants leaving the Varnicolor site. How much else was kept hidden from us we didn’t find out literally for decades. To this day the MOE have yet not signed off on the Varnicolor cleanup for the next buyer after Phillips Environmental, namely Elmira Pump. The owners had experience with water treatment operations as they both had worked at Kuntz Electroplating in Kitchener. They were told around 2000 that ten more years of operation of the shallow aquifer pump and treat system and the site would be acceptable for the Ministry to give them a Record of Site Condition allowing them to subdivide the property in order to allow commercial development. To my knowledge Elmira Pump have been jumping through the MOE’s hoops and loops ever since. The Risk Assessment publicly presented by Keith Metzger of Peritus Environmental in May 2016 in Council Chambers, was supposed to be but a few months away from completion and MOE final approval. Still not awarded at the time of publication.





ENDNOTES for Chapter 2


21....Marg Kasten, "Elmira industrialist feels like sitting duck", Kitchener-Waterloo Record,
December 13,1989

22....Catherine Thompson, Phil Jalsevac, "Bradley flayed for leaking Varnicolor raid", Kitchener-Waterloo Record, May 18, 1990

23....Chris Aagaard, "MOE tests second tank from Varnicolor", Kitchener-Waterloo Record, December 5, 1990