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
August 14, 2006
PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
For more
information contact:
Laura Olah,
CSWAB (608)643-3124
Military Exemption Will Set Dangerous National Precedent
Pentagon
Ignoring Alternatives to Burning PCBs
Nearly 100
explosives-contaminated buildings originally slated for open burning have been
safely dismantled at Wisconsin’s
Badger Army Ammunition Plant so far, preventing the uncontrolled release of
dioxins, lead, PCBs, and other toxins to the environment. Community
members hope that this will pave the way for the safe disposal of unwanted
buildings and the end of open burning at closing bases everywhere.
At Nebraska’s
Cornhusker Army Ammunition Plant alone, more than 1,200 contaminated buildings
have already been burned – spewing toxic emissions onto nearby surface
water and the prairie landscape. Thousands more have been burned at
closing bases across the country including the Joliet Arsenal in Illinois, Sunflower
Army Ammunition Plant in Kansas, Indiana Army Ammunition Plant, Picatinny
Arsenal in New Jersey, and the Ravenna Arsenal in Ohio.
In response to public and
regulatory concerns about air quality during an open burn, the Army at Badger
has been using what it calls “conventional wet
demolition”. This is a detailed process that involves
multiple inspections by explosives safety officers, removal and decontamination
of explosives and other hazardous residues, and finally, under a constant spray
of water, demolition with armor-plated equipment.
In an apparent disconnect with
efforts here in Wisconsin, the
Department of Defense is pressuring the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) for a precedent-setting exemption to existing hazardous waste regulations
and permission to open burn PCB-contaminated buildings still remaining at
Badger and the Ravenna Arsenal.
To that end, the Army recently
awarded a $100,000 contract to Battelle Laboratories in Ohio to
predict toxic air emissions that will be released from heating PCB-contaminated
paints. In July, Battelle submitted a formal request for EPA approval of
the test.
At Badger, PCBs are found in
paint on pipes and walls at concentrations as high as 22,000 parts per million
(ppm); the regulatory threshold is only 50 ppm. Open burning of
PCB-contaminated wastes is prohibited under current law because it results in
the uncontrolled release of highly toxic by-products of combustion including
dioxins and furans.
Citizens for Safe Water Around
Badger (CSWAB), a local environmental group that has organized a national
campaign to stop open burning of the military’s hazardous waste, says
research and development is needed for non-thermal alternatives – not
more burning.
Alternative solutions to wet
demolition will be needed for some buildings at Badger. Buildings that
contain high explosives such as nitroglycerine, for example, remain a
challenge. In these cases, non-thermal techniques – which include
biological deactivation, demolition by explosives, chemical deactivation, and
water blasting – are possible alternatives.
Despite the meticulous process
involved in wet demolition, Badger officials report that this method does not
cost more than open burning. In addition to being
environmentally-friendly, the new approach has been a big plus for the local
economy. The base currently employs 125 people from the surrounding rural
communities to work on building demolition and cleanup.
Workers are also busy with
salvage and recycling operations which are currently generating as much as
$190,000 per month. Officials at Badger report that approximately
38 percent of all demolition materials are reused or recycled. Recycled
materials are primarily metals including copper, steel, lead, and
aluminum. This money is then used for other environmental cleanup
activities at the base.
Representatives of CSWAB recently
traveled to Washington DC to
discuss with Congressional representatives their concerns about the risks
associated with open burning especially for infants and children – a
group that is especially vulnerable to environmental toxins. Already,
more than 140 organizations have joined CSWAB’s anti-burning campaign.
More information, including an
action alert, is posted on their website at www.cswab.org.
*
* *
Photographs available by email
upon request:
·
In 2002,
three-quarter-mile-long Load Line 1 was set ablaze at Cornhusker Army
Ammunition Plant in Nebraska, filling the prairie sky with thick black smoke. (Photographs
by the Independent/Gerik Parmele and Barrett Stinson.) (.pdf file)
·
Wet demolition
in lieu of burning explosives-contaminated buildings at Badger Army Ammunition
Plant in Wisconsin. (U.S. Army photograph obtained
by CSWAB through the Freedom of Information Act.) (.jpg file)
Additional photographs and
information are also available at: http://www.cswab.com/burningpcbs.html
- -
Laura Olah, Executive Director
Citizens for Safe Water Around Badger
E12629 Weigand's Bay South
Merrimac, WI 53561
Phone: (608) 643-3124
Email: info@cswab.org
Website: www.cswab.org