Current Issues
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...
Army Challenging WDNR on Cleanup of Toxic DNT in Groundwater
The Army has proposed enhanced bioremediation of the toxic explosive DNT in groundwater flowing from the former Badger Army Ammunition Plant. The proposal would utilize Emulsified Vegetable Oil (EVO) injected into the subsurface to stimulate bioremediation as a means...
Congressional Audit of Natural Resources Damage from Domestic Burn Pits Sought
A national coalition of 26 environmental organizations has submitted a formal joint request to the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee for a financial audit to inform both Congress and the public with a measure of damages caused by open air burning and...
Badger Army Groundwater Cleanup Plan Omits PFAS
In a formal letter to WDNR Secretary Adam Payne today, Citizens for Safe Water Around Badger (CSWAB) asks that the Department require the U.S. Army, as the acknowledged responsible party, to incorporate PFAS and other emerging contaminants in its pending...
EPA Set to Defer Cleanup of Alaska Burn Pits for Decades, Again
Anchorage, ALASKA -- For more than 40 years, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has deferred cleanup and closure of a former hazardous waste burning area at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Alaska. If approved, a pending EPA permit will leave this wound...
Renewed Permit for Burning Hazardous Waste Questioned
‘They have to convince us’: Concerned residents react to Clean Harbors Colfax’s renewed permit By Alena Noakes COLFAX, La. (KALB) - With the news of a hazardous waste permit renewal for Clean Harbors Colfax (CHC) comes the same wary approach by some Colfax residents...
Lawsuit Challenges Navy Firing Weapons into the Potomac
WASHINGTON, DC (June 21, 2023) – Potomac Riverkeeper Network (PRKN) and NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) filed a lawsuit today against the U.S. Navy in federal court in Maryland over violations of the Clean Water Act. The U.S. Navy uses a long stretch of the...
CSWAB Shares New Public Records on Badger Army Groundwater Plans
CSWAB recently received the following documents through an Open Records Request to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. Because we wanted to share these records with you as soon as possible, we have not had the opportunity to review them and have no comment...
Wisconsin Groundwater Standards Critical for Military Base Cleanup
In order to assure that Wisconsin residents, military base workers and service members are fully and promptly informed of potential risks to public health, groundwater standards recommended by state health officials should be immediately adopted by the state...
National Call to End PFAS/Toxic Burning in Louisiana
In a joint national letter today, 81 environmental and social justice organizations from across the U.S. and its territories are urging the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and U.S. EPA to immediately halt all open air burning and open detonation...
Badger Advisory Board Members Urge WDNR to Improve Environmental Testing on Former Army Lands
WISCONSIN – Representatives of local government, impacted residents and environmental groups serving on the Badger Restoration Advisory Board have co-signed a formal resolution calling on the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) to order improved testing...