2007 CPEO Military List Archive

From: Lenny Siegel <lennysiegel@gmail.com>
Date: 25 Jun 2007 15:43:53 -0000
Reply: cpeo-military
Subject: [CPEO-MEF] Re-send - Disappointing Results at Gruber's Grove Bay
 
[I'm re-sending this as plain text because our listserve software apparently does not include HTML messages in the Digest version. - LS]

CSWAB
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

June 25, 2007

PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
For more information contact:
Laura Olah, CSWAB (608)643-3124

Disappointing Results at Gruber's Grove Bay

In a June 7 letter to Citizens for Safe Water Around Badger (CSWAB), the Wisconsin DNR said it has found mercury concentrations more than 25 times the required cleanup goal and almost 400 times higher than levels reported by the Army in sediments at Gruber’s Grove Bay on Lake Wisconsin. The sediment contamination was caused by the historical discharge of sanitary and industrial wastewater from Badger Army Ammunition Plant directly to the river.
Despite a second multi-million dollar cleanup effort by the Army last 
summer, 8 of the 10 sediment samples tested by the WDNR exceeded the 
cleanup goal of 0.36 parts per million (ppm).  WDNR test results for 
mercury ranged from 0.24 to more than 9 ppm.  Army contractors tested 65 
sediment samples from the same areas of the bay and reported that all 
were well below the required cleanup goal; their results ranged from 
0.006 to 0.34 ppm.
 "The results are shocking and disappointing," said Laura Olah, 
Executive Director of CSWAB.  "Mercury is a powerful environmental toxin 
that affects the health of the river and our fisheries.  Leaving mercury 
in the bay is not an option."
Ironically, the WDNR tested bay sediment to meet requirements of the 
Clean Water Act and not to validate the Army's results.  The state was 
hoping to have the bay removed from the federal Impaired Waters List 
following the Army's recent $6 million dredging effort.
 The WDNR said that they are in the process of gathering more 
information to explain the significant discrepancies in test results. 
An evaluation of both the Army's and WDN's sampling and laboratory 
procedures was conducted by two separate reviewers, the WDNR told CSWAB. 
 No inadequacies were identified, state officials said.
The campaign for cleanup of mercury, chromium, lead, naphthalene, and 
other toxins in bay sediments was led by CSWAB, a community-led 
organization that has been working for more than 17 years to assure a 
healthy and sustainable future for the Badger lands.
The WDNR previously described the Lake Wisconsin bay as "one of the 
worst localized mercury contaminant sediment situations that we know 
about on a state-wide basis."  State officials promised to keep CSWAB 
and local residents informed with new information as it becomes available.
-END-

--

Laura Olah, Executive Director

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


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