[CPEO-MEF] CSWAB says "Protect Badger Wildlife"

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

May 31, 2005  
PRESS RELEASE 
For Immediate Release  
Better Cleanup Needed to Protect Badger Wildlife  

Citizens for Safe Water Around Badger (CSWAB) is challenging a recent
decision by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to require ?no
further action? on a 4-acre parcel on the Wisconsin River which is part
of the closing Badger Army Ammunition Plant.

In a letter to the WDNR today, CSWAB said that it believes residual
levels of lead in soils, caused by sand-blasting of old paint at the
River Pumping Station, may place birds and mammals at risk.  Levels of
lead in soils, which were found as high as 248 parts per million (ppm),
may be too high to protect wildlife based on recently-released
recommendations from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

In March 2005, the EPA published an Ecological Soil Screening Level for
lead.  Known as Eco-SSLs, these values are concentrations of
contaminants in soil that are protective of ecological receptors that
commonly come into contact with soil or ingest biota that live in or on
soil.  The EPA recommends a maximum of 56 ppm lead in soils for
protection of mammals and only 11 ppm for avian species.

CSWAB also points to the WDNR?s requirement for a maximum of 30 ppm lead
in surface soils at other contaminated areas at Badger.  The 30 ppm
value was proposed by the Army in 1993 based on potential risks to
ecological receptors and formally approved by the WDNR and EPA in 1994
under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, a federal hazardous
waste law.

A 1998 biological inventory by the WDNR established Badger as one of the
most important habitats in Wisconsin for the conservation of grassland
birds.  Badger is home to 22 species of birds of conservation concern. 
These include birds listed by the State of Wisconsin as endangered,
threatened, or of special concern, as well as species to watch which are
experiencing steep population declines.  

-END-

Citizens for Safe Water Around Badger 
E12629 Weigand?s Bay South
Merrimac, WI  53561 
Phone (608) 643-3124 - Fax (608) 643-0005 
Email: info@cswab.org - Website: www.cswab.org 

-- 


Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org
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