Badger Army Ammunition Plant

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Please distribute. 

PRESS RELEASE 
For Immediate Release 

For more information contact: 
Laura Olah, Executive Director, CSWAB (608) 643-3124 

ARMY DEMANDS HO-CHUNK HAVE EQUAL VOICE IN BADGER CLEANUP 

WISCONSIN  --  The U.S. Army has issued a letter urging members of
Badger’s Environmental
Board of Advisors (BEBA) to grant the Ho-Chunk Nation full
representation and voting rights –
challenging the board’s decision last month to offer the Nation a seat,
but no voting rights. 

"The Ho-Chunk Nation is a prominent stakeholder whose opinions are
valuable to me in making
informed cleanup decisions at BAAP," wrote Colonel William R Pulscher,
Chief of Staff
Industrial Operations Command headquartered in Rock Island, Illinois. 
"In the interest of
ensuring that the diverse views of the community are represented on the
Restoration Advisory
Board, I have determined that the Nation should be granted full
representation on the BEBA, with
equal status to other community members." 

On May 3, a majority of the BEBA members rejected a motion by Citizens
for Safe Water Around
Badger (CSWAB) to include the Ho-Chunk Nation as an organization with a
voting membership
on the board, giving the Nation the same rights as other local
government.  Sauk County,
Township of Sumpter, Township of Merrimac, and Township of Prairie du
Sac currently all have
voting positions on the board.  CSWAB protested the board’s action by
suspending its
membership last month. 

 "We are hoping the Army’s letter will encourage board members to
reconsider their vote," said
Laura Olah, Executive Director of CSWAB. "With this additional
information in hand, I am
confident they will do the right thing." 

The Ho-Chunk Nation has a vested interest in the cleanup at Badger as it
is a stakeholder and may
eventually own part of the property.  The Nation has requested the
transfer of a portion of the
Badger land in trust for restoration as prairie and bison habitat and
for the preservation of historic and cultural sites.  The land
comprising the Badger plant lies within the territory that the United
States recognized historically held by the Ho-Chunk Nation.  Ho-Chunk
has patiently waited since June 1998 for a vote on its petition for
membership on the BEBA. 

The BEBA is a federally-funded Restoration Advisory Board formed in 1993
by the Army to
provide independent advise to environmental regulators and the Army on
environmental cleanup
activities at the closing 7,354-acre Badger plant.  Badger was one of
the first bases in the country to establish a Restoration Advisory Board
receiving more than $80,000 of support from the Army.

The board has 18 voting members, seven representing local government,
labor, and community
organizations.  The remaining ten (10) voting members are area
residents.  The Army, regulatory
agencies (WDNR and EPA), and Sauk County Environmental Health Department
representatives
are non-voting members of the BEBA board. 

The next meeting of the BEBA board will be on Monday, June 7 at 7 pm at
the Sauk City Village
Hall.  The meeting is open to the public. 

*     *     * 
-- 
Laura Olah, Executive Director 
Citizens for Safe Water Around Badger 
E12629 Weigand's Bay South 
Merrimac, Wisconsin  53561 
olah@speagle.com 
Phone (608)643-3124 Fax (608)643-0005 
Website  http://www.speagle.com/cswab