Try something different-TELL THE TRUTH-UPDATED

I snickered last week when I was watching A-Channel News. The bottom news ticker mentioned the County of Simcoe may hire a Toronto PR firm to undo some of the bad publicity and fallout from Site 41. While I was at the Springwater Township Council meeting on September 21, two of the Site 41 committee mentioned this is old news. The decision to spend another $250,000 with a PR firm was apparently passed in closed session on August 25th.
I have a better idea and it would save the County and me a lot of money. Just do what Maple Leaf Foods did with the listeria contamination. The Chairman went on the media and said they did not follow procedure and apologized for the terrible consequences of that action and promised to fix it. Most people believed him. It is a new concept in today's world. It used to be common practice. It is called telling the TRUTH!!!
Instead of wasting money on attempting to put a spin on a bad situation, Warden Guergis could do the following. First he could apologize for the actions of the CAO, Manager of Environmental Services and himself for undertaking an injunction, laying charges against some senior citizens and threatening a lawsuit on two of the protesters if in fact this was done without direction from County Council as most people suspect. He could then apologize for procrastinating on the release of the modflow reports and admit that yes there is a downward gradient at certain times of the year at the site that has been denied for three years. He could admit that senior staff had been negligent by not informing council of other means of disposal using shared resources such as incineration technology in neighboring counties that would negate the need for site 41. He could also admit, based on the success of the organics and recycling programs, that the life span of the existing County landfill sites had been extended many years negating the need for site 41. Of course that would require courage, credibility and honesty.
It is not the County that is being held in contempt Mr. Guergis, it is you and some of your out of control senior bureaucrats. You have embarrassed the County, some of the Councillors and dedicated staff who are all trying to do their job to the best of their ability.
It is time to stand up and take responsibility for an ill conceived project that started 20 years ago and one you could stop. If you did that you could be a man that people would respect.
There, I saved the County $250,000 and gave the Warden a plan that would be effective.
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You can polute the Water, but don't let anyone voice their Concerns

Imagine a Dump on Top of an Aquifer. Come to Simcoe County and see for yourself. The Warden will tell you there is no other solution!!! The diagram below outlines a typical aquifer.

I have not said much about Site 41 except to say that from the beginning, it did not make any sense where it was located. My initial objections were related to taking good farmland out of production. However as the science was researched and its proximity to the Alliston aquifer was recognized, someone should have had the common sense to realize that dumping garbage on top of one of the finest aquifers in the world, is not a good idea. If you care to gamble, go to Casino Rama to get your fix.

I have recently visited the spot on a few occasions and my disagreement grows stronger. The county has argued that there is continuous positive pressure from the ground water (upward gradient) that will push out any possible contaminates avoiding pollution of the aquifer itself. With a liner as a safeguard, the county suggests there is no possibility of any negative environmental impact. I think the same guy also sells swampland in Florida part time. However not being a scientist, I have observed one interesting noteworthy item. The county sought and was granted a license to pump or drain virtually millions of litres of water to allow the liner to stay in position once installed based on the premise that there is always positive ground pressure (upward gradient hydraulic pressure) and it would make the liner float. I think either the County research is wrong or was misunderstood and now they have discovered that in fact there is not always positive ground pressure year round. It has been a rainy Spring and Summer and yet no water is pooling and staying in the hole they have dug. I think that it may have upward pressure from October to March, but now believe it has downward pressure (downward gradient) during the summer months, making it a time bomb. To me that suggests that contaminates will be absorbed and drawn downstream in the aquifer as it makes its way to Georgian Bay and all points south as far as the Oakridges Moraine. Is that why the County will not share the engineering report? Have they found that after spending millions of dollars that it was just a bad decision and should be abandoned.

I can only conclude from his unwavering position (which came after he was elected as Mayor of Springwater) we have the same problem at the County as we do in the Township of Springwater, a lack of Leadership. Is that because the same person is both a Mayor and the Warden?

Get involved and stop this atrocity called Site 41. Come out this Saturday July 25 at 1:30 and support the protesters and donate to their legal fund, as now the County is attempting to intimidate the organizers by launching lawsuits. Go to this link for more details: http://www.canadians.org/water/issues/Site41/index.html

Let us all help them take on Big Brother and show the politicians that we are the citizens of the township and county, not its subjects.

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If you have comments or thoughts on any of these matters email me at bill.french@hotmail.com