[CPEO-MEF] Army ditches TAPP contractor at Badger Ammo: Help by Posting Comments on Newspaper Website

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

Army ditches scientist studying Badger ammunition site 
By Lee Bergquist of the Journal Sentinel 
Posted: March 27, 2010 |(1) COMMENTS

The U.S. Army says it doesn't like the conclusions of a scientist who
criticized the Army's cleanup plans at the sprawling Badger Army Ammunition
Center near Baraboo, and it told him in a letter Friday that it was
canceling his contract.

The Army said scientist Peter deFur's work was "not objective" and
"contained many personal opinions and accusations" about the Army's plans to
remove contaminated soil at the shuttered munitions factory, the letter
says.

DeFur was hired as a consultant to review the Army's revised strategy at
Badger, including plans to remediate smaller amounts of contaminants used to
make explosives than previously proposed.
Spanning more than 7,000 acres just south of Devil's Lake State Park, the
complex manufactured munitions from World War II through the Vietnam War. It
has been inactive since 1977.

Plans call for the Army to clean up areas contaminated by gunpowder and
propellant, then turn over the property to various entities, including the
Department of Natural Resources and the Ho-Chunk tribe, by 2013.

To date, some 2,000 acres have been conveyed to the U.S. Dairy Forage
Research Center.
"They didn't like the results, and now they are trying to shoot the
messenger," deFur said. "They are getting rid of me because they didn't like
the answers."

To read the complete article, go to
http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/89311817.html


ACTION ALERT!

YOU CAN HELP by posting your COMMENTS on the Milwaukee State Journal
WEBSITE.

The U.S. Army's demands at Wisconsin's Badger Army Ammunition Plant to edit
and otherwise alter reports from technical consultants and scientific
professionals hired under contract with the DOD -- particularly those
engaged through the community TAPP and TAG programs -- sets a serious
NATIONAL PRECEDENT.  

Please voice your support for full public disclosure, preserving the
integrity of technical and scientific opinions, and for reinstating the
technical advisor selected by the community, Dr. Peter deFur.  

GO TO http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/89311817.html#postComment

Dr. Peter deFur is an environmental scientist with experience and expertise
in the fields of ecological and human health risk assessment, toxicology,
dioxin and PCB toxicity, contaminated site clean-up and related issues.  To
read more about his credentials and experience, go to:
http://estewards.com/about/bios/peter

POSTED BY: Laura Olah, TAPP Committee Chair for the Badger Restoration
Advisory Board and Executive Director of Citizens for Safe Water Around
Badger

--
Laura Olah, Executive Director
Citizens for Safe Water Around Badger (CSWAB)
E12629 Weigand's Bay South
Merrimac, WI  53561
(608) 643-3124
info@cswab.org
www.cswab.org
 


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