C06. THIS MAYOR AND HIS ADMINISTRATION

C6.:

Wolfville’s and a present PCB issue?

Dear Mayor:
Dear Councillors:

On March 31, 2008 I provided all of you with a copy of my e-mail sent to the CAO, Mr. Brideau, covering in detail different points discussed with him during our previous meeting on March 08, 2008.

During the meeting I addressed the CAO directly regarding a possible PCB issue. Hereafter, you will find excerpts from my notes:

• "... Thereafter, I showed you (the CAO) a printout of an important notice to residents taken from the Town's website. I asked you if Mr. Whitford's investigation and excavation would be in relation to the filled-in PCB ponds with - according to what I was told - overflow pipes into the harbour.
• Your answer was a strict "no" and then you tried to tell me that you don't really know the subject of the investigation because it was ordered by Nova Scotia Power and not by the Town.
  (To me, there seems to be no logic in telling me "no" to PCB and then "I don't know what the investigation is all about". I even have a big problem to believe that the Town, its Administration and its Councillors knew/know nothing about the PCB ponds. I shall find out.)
• I told you that I had been in the process of writing a second investigative request to the Honourable Mark Parent, Minister, in relation to the PCB ponds and then had stopped after finding the Whitford-notice on the Town's website.....
  But thank you for your "sweet talk" that the Town would do and would have done everything to keep harm from its residents. Such a talk is expected of you in any case…."

On April 07, 2008 I e-mailed to all of you copies of my e-mail to the CAO which reads:

"Sent questions this morning to the Honourable Mark Parent and Jacques Whitford.
Spoke to quite some people in the meantime regarding the filled-in "PCB ponds". Your statement at our meeting that you, the Mayor and the Town's Administration know nothing about the filled-in "PCB ponds" created quite a variety of reactions with these people. Some could recall talking about the "PCB ponds" with the Mayor, some called you strict a liar, some said that you should not hold the job as CAO if you really don't know anything about the "PCB ponds".

Whatever is true, if the CAO really lied to me, all his "sweet talk" about keeping harm away from the residents would have to be regarded as hypocrisy and I would have to ask myself if I and/or the public could trust you at all."

On April 22, 2008 Jacques Whitford Ltd. wrote back to me stating: "We are not aware of any in filled PCB ponds, nor was the remedial work associated with such contaminants, as noted in your letter."

On July 08, 2008 Mr. Bob Petrie, Regional Manager of the Western Region of the Environmental Monitoring & Compliance Division located in Kentville, wrote back to me on behalf of Minister Parent responding to my correspondence regarding PCB concerns.

Mr. Petrie writes:

"... According to an Environmental Site Assessment report, remediation was completed on the NSPI property in 1997 to address pentachlorophenol (PCP) contamination which was the result of the area being used as a storage area for utility poles. In addition to PCP testing, testing for PCBs and hydrocarbons were conducted and these were found to be limited to a small area. Soil from this area was subsequently removed, and this area is inaccessible to the public. NSPI has more recently retained an environmental consultant to investigate historical impacts. The Department has not yet received reports on this recent work as it is ongoing."

Thanks to the Department of Environment & Labour there is now the confirmation that the Town of Wolfville has a present PCB contamination problem!

Even if it is limited to a small area (what does this actually mean?), it is a fact. Why would it have been made "inaccessible to the public" otherwise?

If some remediation was done in 1997 it is unbelievable that the CAO - being in his job as such since May 1996 already - does not know anything about it.

In hindsight, I personally regard it as a very bad joke to be told by him that the Town would do anything to keep harm from its residents. If he really would understand his responsibilities in keeping harm from residents, he could have found out since very many months that a 10-year old child can easily pass the remaining fence parts surrounding the area "inaccessible to the public". I took photos of the broken-down fence this morning. Furthermore, I am missing any kind of warning sign. Congratulations CAO!

In the meantime I have paid my fees and filed another application under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act to get the complete documentation of the clean-up as of today.

I would like to get questions answered like:

• Where was the polluted PCB soil taken?
• How many truck loads were taken?
• Where were the burned-out transformers (filled with PCB when in use) stored and then taken? (I was told about a different storage location at the West end of Town)
• What about the in filled ponds with overflow pipes into the harbour?

Whatever will come out of this environmental issue, it seems to be fact again - as with the clock-tower park pollution issue - that the Town and its Administration does nothing to advise and/or warn you - a resident and tax payer of Wolfville - of or about still present risks and the possible impacts on you and your health.

Why would there be those restrictions and limitations otherwise?

No one can really calculate and/or evaluate these still present risks and its possible present/future impact.

But do you want to be kept stupid about these risks? Wouldn't you expect to be told the truth paying this Administration with your tax dollars?

Give your answer in this Election Year. Make the current Administration understand that they do not own the Town and get new faces with new ideas and a better understanding on what serves Wolfville's residents best voted in!

Lutz E. Becker / July 22, 2008


P.S.: Just recently I witnessed two workers from an Environmental Consultancy Company in Dartmouth taking samples from the NSPI property. On order from NSPI they took ground-water samples from 15 pre-drilled and secured holes all over the parking lot and the lawn and put them into a cooler for a lab analysis. Handling the water samples they had covered their hands all the time by rubber gloves. Obviously, they must have known or expected some toxidity levels present.

When I asked the workers what they were doing and if they would check for PCB levels, their answer was that they would take samples for a water-quality check.

The questions here are:

• Why does this company still have to monitor the ground-water quality more than 10 years after NSPI left the property to relocate to Truro?
• What kind of pollution with what kind of toxidity level is still out there?

Lutz E. Becker / 06/30/2009