Current Issues
Environmental Groups Urge EPA To Strengthen ‘Arbitrary’ OB/OD Proposal
Environmental and public health groups are attacking EPA’s proposed rule on open burning/open detonation (OB/OD) of waste munitions, saying that if the agency will not back their long-running calls for a total ban on the practice it must at least strengthen elements...
Organizations Invited to Co-Sign Letter to White House
Please join California Communities Against Toxics and Citizens for Safe Water Around Badger (CSWAB) in calling for a national BAN on open burning PFAS and hazardous munitions wastes. To add your GROUP to the following letter, please fill out this FORM. President Joe...
Comment Period Extended for Opposing Stateside Burn Pits
The U.S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has extended the deadline for public comment another 30 days – the NEW deadline for comment on the proposed federal rule is June 20, 2024. Military bases and private facilities across the country release harmful pollutants...
Comment Period Extended for Opposing Open Burning Hazardous Waste
EPA has extended the deadline for public comment another 30 days – the NEW deadline for comment on the proposed federal rule is June 20, 2024. Military bases and private facilities across the country release harmful pollutants into surrounding communities and the...
Tell EPA to BAN Open Burning of PFAS, Toxic Munitions
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is requesting public comment on proposed regulations that will allow for the open burning and detonation (OB/OD) of waste explosives. In communities across America, open burning and detonation of energetic hazardous waste...
EPA: Open Burning PFAS and Highly Toxic Chemicals Will Continue at Domestic Burn Pits
The Department of Defense, Department of Energy, NASA and the private sector currently operate more than 60 open burn pits across the U.S. and its territories – causing the uncontrolled release of PFAS and other toxic chemicals to the environment. A new federal...
Does U.S. Military Chaff Contain PFAS?
In August 2023, the U.S. Department of Defense issued a legislatively-required report to Congress on the uses of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) that the military considers “critical to the national security of the United States.” The detailed 27-page...
EPA Touts Alternatives to Burn Pits but Rulemaking Remains Stalled
In this national news report by InsideEPA, CSWAB comments on the deeply entrenched resistance by DOD, DOE, NASA and private industry to modernize their hazardous waste treatment systems. EPA has quietly published a compendium of alternatives to open burning/open...
Clean Soil is Key to Successful Reuse of Badger Army Lands
Today, CSWAB submitted detailed public comment on a draft Environmental Assessment (EA) by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) on the proposed construction and operation of a new 101-acre Dairy Forage Research Center complex along U.S. Highway 12 on former...
EPA Responds to Citizen Comment on Alaska Burn Pits
In response to joint public comment by CSWAB and Alaska Community Action on Toxics, EPA Region 10 is requiring Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson (JBER) in Anchorage, Alaska to collect additional environmental information to determine if the long-delayed closure...
Communities Push for EPA Ban on U.S. Burn Pits Here at Home
Photograph: EPA continues to permit Indiana's Crane Naval Surface Warfare Center to open air burn and detonate as much as 109 million pounds of hazardous energetic waste every YEAR. Despite the availability of advanced alternative technologies, open burning units like...
PFAS Contamination at Defense Sites Threatens Drinking Water Nationwide including WISCONSIN
PHOTO: Groundwater monitoring wells have detected unsafe levels of PFAS at the southern boundary of the former Badger Army Ammunition Plant. Groundwater discharges to the Lower Wisconsin Riverway at Prairie du Sac, according to Army reports. Underground plumes of PFAS...