Current Issues
All Wisconsin Public Drinking Water Systems Should be Tested for PFAS Chemicals
CSWAB submitted formal comments today voicing strong support for the Wisconsin DNR’s proposed plans to address PFAS contamination and calling for immediate testing of all public drinking water systems as the state’s first priority. “Of the more than 11,000 public...
DNR Raises Concerns for Environmental Impacts of Bringing F-35 Jets to Madison
By Laurel White, Wisconsin Public Radio The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has raised concerns with the U.S. Air National Guard's draft environmental impact statement for bringing F-35 jets to Madison’s Truax Field, including the military’s plans to address...
Wisconsin Groups Join Together in Call for Regulating PFAS
Today – on this national Imagine a Day Without Water – 28 environmental and social justice organizations from around Wisconsin sent a joint statement to dozens of state legislators with known PFAS releases in their home districts. The coalition, which includes groups...
EPA Unwilling to Challenge Military on Open Burning PFAS
EPA Region 4 Administrator Mary Walker has rejected CSWAB's citizen petition for intervention that would prohibit open air burning of PFAS and other hazardous chemicals at Holston Army Ammunition Plant in Tennessee – a practice that constitutes an ongoing imminent and...
EPA Urged to Block DOD’s Thermal Disposal of Explosives Containing PFAS
by Suzanne Yohannan, Inside Washington Publishers - Local citizen groups are petitioning EPA Region 4 to block the U.S. military from using thermal methods for disposing of explosives and other materials containing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) at a...
Citizens Petition EPA for Ban on Burning PFAS Munitions
In solidarity with effected residents, Citizens for Safe Water Around Badger has petitioned the U.S. EPA to immediately prohibit further open air burning of PFAS-contaminated munitions wastes at the Holston Army Ammunition Plant (Holston) in Tennessee as posing a risk...
CSWAB VICTORY! Citizens Key to New Groundwater Standards for PFAS
Today, the Wisconsin Division of Health issued its recommendations for groundwater quality standards for PFOA and PFOS – the culmination of years of work by Citizens for Safe Water Around Badger! The health-based threshold of 20 parts per trillion is for the summed...
Extent of Mercury Contamination at Gruber’s Grove Bay Revealed
A new report from the U.S. Army at Badger Army Ammunition Plant describes the extent and volume of mercury-contaminated sediments at Gruber’s Grove Bay on Lake Wisconsin, underscoring the necessity for the Army's planned removal of polluted sediments in 2020. The Army...
WDNR Directs Army to Remedy Expanding Groundwater Contamination
The detection of unsafe levels of explosives in a rural drinking water well near the former Badger Army Ammunition Plant has prompted State regulators to call for quick action to address expanding groundwater contamination caused by the U.S. Army. The May 15 letter...
Communities: Proposed PFAS Policy Not Protective of Infant Health
NATIONAL NEWS - More than 40 groups from communities across the country with toxic PFAS contamination in their drinking water and groundwater issued a unified statement today criticizing EPA's proposed cleanup goals as not protective of public health, especially for...
Wisconsin Bill Tackles PFAS Crisis
On May 23, 2019, Governor Evers and Wisconsin DNR Secretary Cole accompanied Senators David Hansen (Green Bay) and Mark Miller (Monona) to announce one of the most comprehensive bills in the nation to address contamination by per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances...
Military Munitions Disposal is Polluting Puerto Rico, Despite Safer Alternatives
In solidarity with the citizens of Puerto Rico, more than 40 organizations from around the nation are calling on the U.S. EPA and the U.S. Congress to immediately end the relentless open air burning and detonation of hazardous and mixed wastes on the island...