[CPEO-MEF] press release

["Laura Olah" <cswab@merr.com>]

Citizens for Safe Water Around Badger

July 26, 2007
 
PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
 
For more information contact:
Laura Olah, CSWAB (608)643-3124

SOLUTION TO EXPLOSIVES CONTAMINATION REJECTED

Citizens for Safe Water Around Badger (CSWAB) is challenging a WDNR proposal
to cover up readily-accessible contamination at a major hazardous waste
disposal site at Badger Army Ammunition Plant.  Contaminated soils at the
Propellant Burning Grounds are the source of a 3-mile plume of contaminated
groundwater that discharges to the Wisconsin River just north of the Village
of Prairie du Sac. 
  
"The Army only evaluated excavating the entire soil column to a depth of
more than 100 feet so the option was quickly dismissed," said Laura Olah,
Executive Director of CSWAB. "The WDNR should evaluate the potential for a
more moderate approach to source removal; this additional step could save
millions of dollars by significantly reducing the number of years that
groundwater extraction is required." 
 
CSWAB is urging the WDNR to require excavation of another 10 to 20 feet of
the most contaminated soils before the Army installs a permanent cap over
the entire site.  The Propellant Burning Grounds, located on the west side
of Badger near U.S. Highway 12, contains 3 major waste pits with explosives
concentrations as high as 17,000,000 parts per billion (ppb).  By
comparison, the groundwater standard for the explosive contaminant is only
0.05 ppb.  

The community-led group also points to the failure of a similar hazardous
waste site that was capped in 2003.  Despite the cap, unsafe levels of
explosives have been detected in groundwater more than 3,000 feet from the
Deterrent Burning Grounds - a disposal site that is located in the northeast
corner of Badger in the rural township of Merrimac.  

The Army has announced that it will begin testing the wells of 26
neighboring families to see if their water has been affected by groundwater
contamination from the Deterrent Burning Grounds.  The residential well
sampling is planned for August 6 and 7.  

Historical waste disposal activities at both the Propellant and Deterrent
Burning Grounds were very similar.  Army records indicate that approximately
500 gallons per week of liquid chemical wastes were dumped in unlined pits
at the Propellant Burning Grounds from 1966 to 1970.  After 1970, these
wastes were dumped and burned at the Deterrent Burning Grounds.  Toxic
contaminants included dinitrotoluene, diphenylamine, dibutylphthalate,
benzene, and trinitrotoluene.
 
Citizens for Safe Water Around Badger is a non-profit environmental
organization that was formed in 1990 by neighbors of the Badger Army
Ammunition Plant in support of a healthy and sustainable future.  The entire
report and related documents are available on CSWAB's website at
www.cswab.org.  The public comment deadline for the WDNR's proposal is
August 1.  

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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