September, 1997
Table of Contents
Algae Overload - Excess Nutrients Cause Foul
Waters
Worst Year on RecordKidney Island Land Use Planning
Contributing Causes1. Land Run-OffPossible Algae Solutions
2. Wetland Losses
3. Discharge Pipes
4. Rich Sediments
5. Shoreline Development1. Fund Non-point Control ProgramsCitizen Involvement
2. Fund Sustainable Agriculture Training
3. Support Erosion Controls at Construction Sites
4. Protect and Restore Wetlands
5. Tighten Wasteload Allocations
6. Buffer Strips and Livestock Fencing
7. Support Strong Standards
How You Can Help
Transportation and the Environment
The toll on our bodiesWater Quality Monitoring - How and Why is it Done?
The toll on our environment
The toll on our communities
Escape the Vicious Cycle!
What You Can Do
Please Write Today! Fox River Clean-up
News ManipulationMinergy Incinerator Update
Public Outreach Stifled
Risky Projects?
Public Trust ViolatedCitizen Training Workshop for Wetland Watch Network
Toxic Pollution
Supreme Court Will Take Our Case!
Can Private Citizens Defend Public Rights?
Phony Intervenor Kept Out of Case
State Gives $265,000 to Minergy
Congress May Undercut Toxic Clean-ups
Algae Overload - Excess Nutrients Cause Foul Waters
Lake Winnebago and Little Lake Butte des Morts have been awfully green
this summer.
In fact, at its peak, the algae growth was so thick and foul that lake
recreation was impossible. If the wind was right (or wrong, depending on
your sensibilities) the odor was noticeable blocks inland.
Many long-time residents believe this year’s algae was the worst they’ve ever seen. Summer storms washed nitrogen and phosphorus into the lakes and stirred up rich sediments on the bottom.
When hot, still days followed, conditions were perfect for exploding
algae growth.
The trouble was increased for some communities when winds pushed the
algae against the shores to create continuous mats of decaying, smelly
green stuff --- thick enough for ducks to walk on.
It’s unlikely that just one factor caused the algae problem, and many different actions will be needed to safeguard against repeat summer performances by the algae in the years to come.
Rain and melting snow carry large amounts of fertilizing chemicals off the land into the water from:
a. livestock manure
b. dog and cat droppings
c. rich topsoil from exposed gardens and farm fields
d. construction site run-off
e. eroding stream banks trampled by livestock
f. street run-off, including air pollution fallout, lawn fertilizers,
and home car-washing
Lake levels have been raised as much as 3 feet on Lake Winnebago, to
improve recreational opportunities for boaters and shoreline property owners
on this shallow lake.
Unfortunately, the high water has submerged hundreds of acres of wetland
marshes which once lined the lakeshore. This caused a dramatic drop in
the ability of the lake system to filter nutrients out of the water. Because
shoreline plants no longer use up phosphorus and nitrogen, the floating
algae are happy to take their place.
Many industries, paper mills, food processors, and municipal sewage
treatment plants still dump significant quantities of phosphorus and nitrogen
into Lake Winnebago and Little Lake Butte des Morts, and their tributaries,
such as the Wolf River and Upper Fox River.
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) allows each of
these dischargers “rights to pollute” (called Wasteload Allocations) and
argues that rivers can handle a certain level of pollution without violating
state water quality standards, because flowing water carries pollution
“away.”
But these allocations don’t solve the problem of accumulation of phosphorus
and nitrogen in lakes and impoundments. Over the long term, this build-up
will make algae blooms more frequent and severe, unless some method for
removing phosphorus and nitrogen is found.
The bottom muds in Lake Winnebago and Little Lake Butte des Morts are
already very fertile from a century of phosphorus and nitrogen accumulation
dating back to the erosion caused by cutting down the great Pine and Hardwood
Forests of Northeast Wisconsin, and the following agricultural and urban
uses.
Even if no new land run-off or discharges occurred, the existing sediments
would fertilize algae.
Storms, boat traffic, and bottom-feeding fish like carp all stir up
the sediments and make nutrients more easily available for algae growth.
The system will likely stay at least somewhat fertile because of this.
Some fertility is good, because it feeds Lake Winnebago’s outstanding
fisheries and wildlife.
More people are building homes and businesses along the waterfront.
Too frequently, well-meaning owners “improve” their property by building
walls, sandy beaches, or stone piles along the water’s edge.
This eliminates all the shoreline plants which used to filter phosphorus
and nitrogen pollution out of the water.
In addition, too many shoreline property owners install heavily fertilized
and chemically treated grass lawns right up to the water’s edge. The fertilizers
add “fuel to the fire” of algae growth.
1. Fund Non-point Control Programs
State and federal programs for controlling land run-off need stronger
public support. This run-off pollution is referred to as “Non-point Source”
pollution to distinguish it from “Point Source”pollution which comes from
discharge pipes.
Non-point pollution is one of the most serious environmental problems
facing Wisconsin, partly because control programs are underfunded and unmandated.
Watersheds like Lake Winnebago’s need much more attention.
Unfortunately, two years ago when the state’s Biennial Budget was passed,
the Republicans, in a straight party-line vote, cut $4.6 million from the
DNR’s $6.4 million Non-point Pollution Control program.
In addition, Republicans cut bonding authority from $24 million to
$20 million for Priority Watershed Projects. (These projects provide comprehensive
planning and cost-sharing for voluntary clean-up of serious run-off sources,
such as livestock manure piles.)
As a result, the Priority Watershed Program now faces a $5 to $7 million
shortfall. This hurts several projects to clean up Lake Winnebago and several
other watersheds in Northeast Wisconsin.
This year, the Republican’s Biennial Budget proposes to ease
the shortfall by adding $3 million back to the Priority Watersheds, but
this may not survive Gov. Thompson’s veto pen. They also propose
to eliminate the non-point pollution motorist user fees which had helped
fund Non-point Programs over the past several years.
Lobbyists from the Dept. of Agriculture Trade and Consumer Protection
(DATCP) argue that a $2 million fund is provided in the budget for a one-time
allocation of competitive grants for water quality projects, but this is
outside of the Priority Watershed process.
The Republican’s also propose several major changes which take authority
away from the DNR and gives it to individual Counties and the DATCP.
Many observers fear this will weaken the program, dilute the availability
of funds, divert funds from Priority Watersheds to less-vital cleaner areas,
increase administrative costs and confusion, and delegate authority to
agencies which have been unwilling to enforce controls in the agricultural
and local sectors. $500,000 would be taken away from Priority Watersheds
to fund staff in every county, whether the Counties qualify for priority
watershed
status or not.
The agencies have bickered for years over who gets the authority and
money --- and this detracts from getting the job done. The DATCP has been
jealous of DNR’s Priority Watershed program for years.
The Republican’s budget bill would also authorize some pollutant dischargers
to trade their pollutant reduction efforts with another discharger’s reduction
efforts. This allows polluters to buy and sell the right to pollute PUBLIC
waters, a concept we have opposed for years.
2. Fund Sustainable Agriculture
Training
Two years ago when the state’s Biennial Budget was passed, the Republicans,
in a straight party-line vote, eliminated all the staff overseeing Wisconsin’s
nationally renowned Sustainable Agriculture Program. The program had helped
farmers reduce dependence on expensive energy, fertilizer and chemical
usage, and to conserve top soil and adopt other environmentally sound practices.
It was a small, low-cost program which would have helped to reduce non-point
pollution and helped small family farmers.
This year, the Republicans propose to completely eliminate the last
$200,000 available for farmer-to-farmer education projects promoting sustainable
agriculture.
3. Support Erosion Controls at Construction Sites
In this year’s Biennial Budget, the Republican’s propose to exempt construction
sites from any non-point pollution control standards established by the
DNR or local government ordinance.
One or two family homes are regulated by the Dept. of Commerce, but
larger construction sites such as subdivisions would not be regulated as
required by federal law. These sites are a major source of soil erosion
and water quality degradation, as nutrients cause excessive algae blooms
and the soil clogs fish spawning beds, boat harbors, and shipping channels.
It’s not fair to hold farmers to a high standard for protecting water
quality, while giving developers a green light to allow tons of soil to
run off building sites.
4. Protect and Restore Wetlands
Wetlands filter nutrients out of water, therefore increased wetland
plants growing along the shoreline would help reduce algae blooms.
One strategy used on some lakes is a temporary drawdown of water levels
to allow the sediments to dry out, oxidize, and become compacted. This
also allows wetland plants to regenerate. After one season, the water
is allowed back and often dramatic water quality improvements are seen
which persist for many years. The increased wetlands also support
increased fish and waterfowl populations, so sporting opportunities increase.
The obvious drawback is the loss of one boating, swimming and fishing
season --- a huge impact in an area the size of Lake Winnebago. The
impacts on the Fox River would also have to be considered carefully.
In any case, wetlands which exist now along the lakeshore should be
guarded as the treasures they are. If you’d like to help, please join us
at our upcoming workshop described on page 7.
(Another state budget item involves a Republican amendment which would
greatly reduce the acreage of restored wetlands which are currently required
to offset wetlands destroyed for building highways. Another bad idea.)
5. Tighten Wasteload Allocations
The Wisconsin DNR should tighten discharge standards for sewage treatment
plants and other dischargers of nutrients, especially when a lake or stream
is obviously suffering from severe over-fertilization as Lake Winnebago
and Lake Winnebago are suffering.
In fact, our last newsletter argued that the Fox River allocations
are also not working, because we’re getting algae and low dissolved oxygen
violations in Green Bay as well, downstream from the Lake Winnebago system.
6. Buffer Strips and Livestock Fencing
Experts agree that when natural vegetation is maintained along our waterways,
this reduces streambank erosion and filters pollutants out of run-off before
the stormwater reaches the stream.
We need statewide policies which fund or mandate “buffer strips” along
waterways, with fencing to keep livestock away from the water. The start-up
costs may be substantial, but the longterm maintenance would be low. Water
quality could improve dramatically for some degraded areas, which has already
been proven in some watersheds.
DNR and DATCP have been told to start developing performance standards
for controlling non-point pollution. At best such rules usually take 2
years, but if the non-point programs are underfunded, they could take longer.
The rules may include proposals of the Animal Waste Advisory Committee,
from a year and a half ago: (1) No overflow of manure storage structures;
(2) No unconfined manure piles within Water Quality Management Areas; (3)
No direct runoff from feedlots or stored manure to waters of the state;
and (4) No unlimited livestock access to waters of the state, where high
concentrations of animals prevent adequate sod cover maintenance.
Unfortunately, up to now the state legislature (which must approve
the final rules) has been unwilling to mandate non-point controls for farmers,
and lobbyists from the Farm Bureau have pushed hard in opposition.
After years of education and cost-sharing assistance on a voluntary
basis, most farmers manage their manure well --- but a minority of bad
actors are still out there causing serious water quality problems. Strong
enforcement measures are needed to finally convince this minority to protect
the public’s water quality downstream.
It’s clear that citizens who care about water quality must get more
involved if progress is to be made.
Special interest groups have blocked good non-point rules for years,
and only a strong outpouring of public demand will make a difference.
Public hearings will be held and citizen comment letters will be needed
when the rules are finally proposed --- but the DNR and DATCP are not the
decision-makers. State legislators and Governor Thompson are the ones setting
policy in our state. The agencies only follow their orders.
Citizens need to direct their attention, letters and comments to these
decision-makers to make progress on this issue.
Individual citizen letters can make a huge difference. Please write to your elected representatives and tell them what you think about state budget proposals and possible algae controls.
Letters don’t need to be long or fancy. They can be handwritten or typed. Just let them know how this issue affects you, and ask them to take action. Follow up with another letter if you don’t get a satisfactory response.
State Senator
P.O. Box 7882
Madison, WI 53707
State Rep. (Last Name, A thru L)
P.O. Box 8952
Madison, WI 53708
State Rep. (Last Name, Mc thru Z)
P.O. Box 8953
Madison, WI 53708
(If you don’t know who your elected state representatives are, call the Legislative Hotline 1-800-362-9472 on weekdays.)
Kidney Island Land Use Planning
Thursday, Sept. 18
4:00 p.m.
Northern Building, Room 650
305 E. Walnut Street, Green Bay
Now that our legal actions have stopped the Kidney Island expansion,
the future of the existing 55 acre dump offshore from Bay Beach Amusement
Park is under consideration.
The first meeting of a Citizen Advisory Committee appointed by the
County and City will be held:
This is an open meeting which citizens may attend. We still don’t know whether this committee will open up to public comments or arrange for a public hearing. Clean Water Action Council will formally request both actions.
Transportation and the Environment
by Jeanne Hoffman,
New Transportation Alliance
When people think transportation, they probably think cars and roads. Of course, transportation encompasses much more than just automobile traffic. Even in the U.S., a lot of people regularly travel by rail, bus, bike, and walking.
Until the 1991 passage of ISTEA (the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act which controls federal transportation funding), these modes were largely ignored by federal transportation policy makers. Pre-ISTEA policies resulted in a forced over-reliance on automobile travel. Indeed, it was a one-size-fits-all transportation formula. The consequences -- on the air we breathe, the water we drink, the land on which we live, and even how we live our lives - have been grave.
The tons of carbon monoxide and other poisonous gases poured into the air each year by burgeoning automobile traffic has been linked to the steady rise in debilitating respiratory ailments - particularly in children - in this country.
Miles of roadways and acres of parking lots damage our watersheds. Extensively paved areas dump huge quantities of storm water run-off --- loaded with oils, debris, toxins --- into our streams, rivers, and lakes and wetlands.
Each paved acre, increasingly deprives the soil of its natural ability to sop up excess rainwater. The result for our streams and rivers: too much, too fast. Floods, more frequent and severe, go hand in hand with extensive paving.
Over-reliance on highway widening goes part & parcel with
sprawling development. As people attempt to escape the highway dominated
landscapes of the city and older suburbs they live farther and farther
from their daily destinations, thus making every trip, a car trip. A walk
to the store for a gallon of milk is no longer possible.
Children’s activities are no longer reachable by a neighborhood bike
ride. High speed arterials and highways stand between home and the
nearby baseball diamond. Fearing for their kids safety, mom and dad get
to ferry them from activity to activity in the car.
All of these extra car trips put more pressure on the road systems.
Transportation planners then plan more lane capacity. Thus, the very highways
people tried to escape, land in the neighborhood. The cycle of sprawl-development
and highway building continues, as residents flee the newly built highways
for locations ever farther from work, play, worship and civic
activities.
Congress is currently debating the next 6 years of transportation funding.
This legislation will shape the future of our transportation system.
In 1991, ISTEA increased public input, funding flexibility, and multi-modalism.
This landmark legislation encouraged neighborhoods and communities to get
involved in the transportation debate.
Public meetings to discuss transportation choices and goals are now
the norm. ISTEA provided communities with funding flexibility. As
a result, communities across Wisconsin have been spending more money on
bus, van-pool, and bicycle and walking facilities. Finally, ISTEA emphasized
the need to develop other modes of transportation and to look at the long-term
effects of our transportation decisions.
Reauthorization of ISTEA is currently being debated in our U.S. Congress. Please write to your elected representatives and tell them what you think about our transportation needs for the future:
Senator Russ Feingold
U.S. Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510
Senator Herb Kohl
U.S. Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510
Congressman Jay Johnson or
Thomas Petri
House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515
Water Quality Monitoring - How and Why is it Done?
You’re Invited --- Bring a Friend!
Join us for a fascinating program on the methods and reasons for water quality monitoring in lakes and streams. Our guest speaker will be Scott Liddicoat, a teacher at Southwest High School in Green Bay, who teaches a class called “Chemistry in Our Community” each year. He will give a wonderful slide presentation, demonstrate the use of a water test kit, and describe his water quality education efforts with area high school students (part of a larger community-wide effort.)
Thursday, September 18
at Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary, Green Bay
7:00 p.m. --- Meeting and Issue Reports
7:30 p.m. --- Program and Guest Speaker
Popcorn, coffee, tea, and cider will be offered as refreshments
Please Write Today! Fox River Clean-up
It has been difficult to sort through all the different agency and industry claims of progress in designing a clean-up plan for the PCB-contaminated sediments in the Fox River and Green Bay.
The industries have hired a powerful public relations firm from St. Louis Missouri to put a “positive media spin” on the story --- to give the impression that the polluters are being helpful and thoughtful.
However, we’re hearing reports that they’re trying to convince the media that everyone’s attention should be focussed on farmland run-off instead --- even though this has nothing to do with the chemical contamination problem which makes our fish and ducks inedible, and our wildlife sick.
Rebecca Katers, of Clean Water Action Council, was invited by the Wisconsin
Dept. of Justice to serve on a committee planning public outreach opportunities
this fall on this issue. The programs would have focussed on sediment detoxification
and disposal issues, human and wildlife health risks, government programs,
and industry concerns --- and all programs would have ended with public
comment and discussion opportunities.
Rebecca had travelled to Madison for meetings, participated in conference
calls, and researched speakers, only to discover at a recent Fox River
Coalition meeting that the DNR had unceremoniously cancelled the committee’s
activities and without informing us or apologizing, had given the task
to the Fox River Coalition, the biased group dominated by industrial polluters
who for 5 years have refused to hold public hearings. It will be interesting
to see what they do now.
The Fox River Coalition is taking credit for planning 2 small sediment
hot-spot clean-up projects next year, but one of the sites will be paid
for entirely from taxpayer funds, not by the paper industries responsible
for creating the toxic PCB hotspots.
The other is a critically important hotspot downstream from the Fort
Howard (Fort James) mill --- the worst spot in the river. At this
site, DNR has only 2 sediment samples, but has already determined they
have only $7 million to clean this site up (money from the secret settlement
which was announced last January between DNR and the polluters.)
This is a dangerous, backward approach. The site should be studied
first, a good clean-up plan written, and then the polluters should provide
as much money as necessary.
The clean-up should not be limited and done poorly because DNR has
gotten only $7 million so far. The clean-up should be done right.
Last summer, Clean Water Action Council joined with local Neenah citizens John and Ann Gillen, William Dunwiddie, and a local group called Friends of Our Neenah Parks in a legal challenge of a city permit to allow construction of a huge private sludge incinerator on top of Public Trust Land on the edge of Little Lake Butte des Morts, in downtown Neenah.
The land was created by filling into the lake, starting in the 1950’s,
after a lakebed grant was issued by the Wisconsin Legislature with the
understanding that the new land would only be used for public purposes
and a public park forever into the future.
This is an important legal definition under Wisconsin’s Public Trust
Doctrine, which holds all lake and stream beds in public ownership forever.
It is critically important for our government to respect and abide by this
doctrine, to protect the future of Wisconsin’s water resources. The Minergy
Incinerator sets a terrible precedent.
Unfortunately, the DNR, under Governor Thompson’s control, signed a
stipulation and agreement with the company and city allowing this improper
use of public trust land --- before the public was even aware of the effort.
In the past, citizens have relied on DNR to be a staunch supporter
of the Public Trust Doctrine, so this marks a major negative shift in policy
for the agency. (... just one of many under Gov. Thompson.)
Clean Water Action Council is also concerned that the incinerator will be a major new source of toxic air pollution (without a scrubber) in the already polluted Fox River Valley, and that the filled area of the Lake (the building site for the incinerator) contains hazardous waste levels of PCBs in contact with groundwater supplies, and these toxic chemicals needed to be cleaned up, not simply built on.
Supreme Court Will Take Our Case!
Last summer the local judge refused to hear our case, claiming we should
have challenged DNR and not the City. We were never allowed
to present our arguments. When our attorney, William O’Conner, appealed
to the next higher court, they decided the issues raised in the case represent
significant issues of statewide concern and sent it to the Supreme Court
without making a decision.
Now, we’ve just been notified that the Wisconsin Supreme Court has
agreed to take the case, an exciting but nervewracking development. It
may be many more months before they reach a final decision.
Can Private Citizens Defend Public Rights?
One of the big legal questions, and one of the most disturbing, is whether
any of us has the legal “standing” or right to argue on behalf of the general
public’s rights.
Private citizens may not be allowed to defend the Public Trust Doctrine.
We might only be allowed to challenge actions where we can prove we are
personally injured, a more difficult test.
This was a key issue when Gov. Thompson and Republicans in the
state legislature, in a straight party-line vote, destroyed the Wisconsin
Public Intervenor’s Office two years ago.
For 27 years, the Intervenors had been charged with protecting public
rights in Wisconsin natural resources, and had been champions of the Public
Trust Doctrine on many occasions, but now they are gone.
The Wisconsin Dept. of Justice (DOJ) also has legal standing to protect
public rights, but seldom does, because they have a conflict of interest
--- the DOJ is charged with defending the DNR’s decisions, and in this
case DNR violated the Public Trust Doctrine. So who’s protecting our public
rights?
Phony Intervenor Kept Out of Case
When the Republican’s destroyed the Intervenor’s Office they created
a phony Intervenor Office in the DNR. The attorney is a sincere and well-meaning
person, but she has no power or support for true Intervenor legal actions.
Recently, she requested permission to file a “Friend of the Court”
brief in support of our legal effort, to help shore-up our legal rights,
but the appointed Board which controls her work turned her down. She argued
that “Friend of the Court” briefs are only advisory or informative documents,
and would not make her a formal party to the suit, but her Board felt it
was the kind of “legal action” that Republicans abolished.
The five Board members are Thom Ciske of Menasha, John Rose of Green Bay, Don Mills of Madison, Louis Andrew of Fond du Lac, and State Assembly member Tom Hebl of Sun Prairie.
State Gives $265,000 to Minergy
To add insult to injury, the construction has proceeded despite our
unresolved legal efforts.
And now, the Wisconsin Recycling Market Development Board (also under
Republican control) has awarded a $250,000 grant to Minergy Corporation,
to assist with the construction and operation of the 1,000 ton per
day paper sludge incinerator. DNR is also giving $15,000 to help
Minergy market the final bottom slag as a construction aggregate. The state
funding will help purchase the plant’s boiler system, where the sludge
will be burned.
This is disturbing for obvious environmental reasons, but the taxpayer
issues are just as alarming.
1. The company doesn’t need this taxpayer handout. Four major paper companies and the largest utility in Wisconsin (WEPCO) are invested in this project. They can afford the costs. It’s ironic that Wisconsin Republicans are ending welfare for children, while continuing Corporate Welfare.
2. It’s outrageous to define a sludge incinerator as a “recycling” operation. We have supported market development for recyclables, but this is not what taxpayers consider recycling. This is a misuse of public funds.
Citizen Training Workshop for Wetland Watch Network
We’re looking for a few unique individuals who enjoy getting their feet wet, don’t mind getting their hands dirty with local politics, and are willing to act as the “eyes and ears” of their community to protect wetlands. (Hip boots helpful, but not required.)
You could be such a person!
Clean Water Action Council is co-sponsoring a special workshop by the Wisconsin Wetlands Association for volunteers in the Fox Valley Region. You could be part of a statewide network for protecting and promoting wetland stewardship --- and at this workshop you will receive training, a special citizen’s handbook for wetland protection, and regular updates and consultation.
Saturday, September 13
9:00 am - 3:00 pm
Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary in Green Bay
Through slide and video presentations, role-playing and a wetland field
tour, you can learn to be a more knowledgeable and effective wetland protector
in your community.
Future optional activities could include: monitoring specific wetland
sites, reviewing permit applications to fill or drain wetlands, getting
involved in local zoning decisions, encouraging wetland restoration, and
promoting policies and regulations to preserve wetlands. You will be part
of a statewide network, as well as a Great Lakes region network of citizens
working to preserve aquatic habitat.
For more information, call Rebecca Katers at 920-468-4243.
Mark your calendars and get your registration forms in --- our Pedal, Paddle, Plod Triathlon is just around the corner --- Saturday, Sept. 20 at Green Isle Park in Allouez.
All members should have received our race brochure --- if you haven’t please give us a call today.
This is a really fun event to watch and participate in --- but we also could use some help with timing, safety marshalls along the route, food preparation and serving,,T-shirt sales, and registration tables.
We generally need at least 30 volunteers altogether. If you can help, please call us at 414-468-4243.
Congress May Undercut Toxic Clean-ups
Republicans in Congress have introduced legislation which would seriously
weaken the federal Superfund and Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA)
programs for cleaning up toxic contamination sites across the country.
This could have a direct impact on the Fox River, Green Bay and Lake
Michigan, by pulling the rug out from under us.
The only reason we’re seeing some action on Fox River clean-up is because
the federal government has finally stepped in with the threat to impose
Superfund and the NRDA unless the state and the polluters can come up with
an adequate clean-up plan and assured funding by January of next year.
The state has tried the “voluntary approach” for 11 years without success.
The congressional action would reduce protection for wildlife and eco-system
health, reduce protections for groundwater drinking supplies, removes preference
for cleaning up hotspots, makes cost-effectiveness as important as health
considerations (whereas health protection is now considered more important
than cost, as it should be), requires the use of questionable risk assessments
before requiring clean-ups even where known health standards are violated,
requires the federal government to “work cooperatively with states” (this
is dangerous given Gov. Thompson’s unwillingness to get tough with polluters),
and allows polluters to re-open the legal Record of Decision which decides
the clean-up plans, which opens the way to extended years of legal wrangling,
primarily over cost objections.
Citizens will have no rights to challenge the Record of Decision.
Please write a letter to Congress and tell them your views on this issue ---
Senator Russ Feingold
U.S. Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510
Senator Herb Kohl
U.S. Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510
Congressman Jay Johnson or
Thomas Petri
House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515
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