PFAS Contamination and Public Information

You can watch a recording of this meeting on our YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/TXuelFgti-U

We welcomed Dane County Supervisor Yogesh Chawla (District 6) and chemical engineer and Safe Skies Clean Water member Mike Farin to our October General Membership Meeting for a conversation about PFAS contamination in Madison.

Farin started the meeting by sharing that Starkweather Creek is indisputably the most polluted body of water in the state when it comes to PFAS contamination. He noted that it was unusual for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to have undertaken testing without first getting the parties who caused the contamination to undertake responsibility.

Supervisor Chawla acknowledged that the County was slow to act in the beginning, but shared that public pressure and advocacy have led to some important positive steps. Chawla, who chairs the County Board’s Environment, Agriculture, and Natural Resources Committee, authored a bill requiring more public reporting PFAS that was passed by the County Board in November of 2021. Chawla also noted that at the federal level, the Environmental Protection Agency’s recently changed PFOS and PFOA health advisory level for drinking water from 70 parts per trillion to just 1 part per trillion. Later in the meeting, Farin observed that this was a dramatic step for the agency, underscoring the seriousness of PFAS contamination on people’s health.

When asked about the announcement from Dane County and the Wisconsin Department of Military Affairs that a pilot remediation project has removed 97% of PFAS contamination from groundwater at the Dane County regional airport, Chawla expressed cautious optimism.

“I think these results are great but I always think it’s best to prove what those results are,” he said. “What I’ve requested is for the contractor and the county lobbyist to come to our committee, the EANR committee, and present their data to us. If they have proprietary information, which is their intellectual property, we don’t really care how they do it. We want to see what the initial tests were and what the final tests were, and we would prefer those to be peer-reviewed by some experts.”

Farin was more skeptical of the pilot project, citing the Wisconsin State Journal article “Experts leery, DNR mum as Dane County claims success with experimental PFAS treatment,” and explaining his concern that an experimental remediation could actually make contamination worse if used on the burn pits at the airport. He emphasized the need for expert involvement in the evaluation of the pilot and its results.

Farin was also critical of Dane County’s lawsuit against the DNR regarding PFAS testing requirements for stormwater. (Supervisor Chawla also expressed frustration with the lawsuit in the past.)

“I’d like to know – maybe someone can explain to me – if you’re planning on fixing the stormwater, why are you suing the DNR to prevent them from enforcing stormwater regulations? That blows my mind. Why are you spending money on a lawsuit to prevent them from making you do something you’re planning to do?”

Additionally, Farin noted that while Dane County, the City of Madison, and the Wisconsin Air National Guard are all technically responsible parties to the PFAS contamination, the City of Madison likely contributed least while bearing the majority of the consequences of the contamination.

“It’s our Well 15,” Farin noted. “It’s mostly our residents that are exposed to the water. It goes downstream obviously, but most of Dane County isn’t really impacted and certain the people at the Air National Guard could care less. There’s a huge difference in terms of where the interest should lie here. The City of Madison ought to be much more assertive about what’s going on.”

Throughout the meeting, both panelists and attendees commented on the role of the US Military and the connection between PFAS contamination and the siting of F-35s at Truax Air Base. Farin shared that he’s less worried than some that construction at the base in preparation for the F-35s will make PFAS contamination worse.

 Chawla shared that including opposition to the F-35s in County Board resolutions regarding PFAS transparency and remediation made them politically unviable. Many supervisors who support action on PFAS were unwilling to take a stance against the Air National Guard. One meeting attendee noted using the expansion of the US military project to deflect from environmental issues is a pattern seen around the globe.

 Toward the end of the meeting, supervisor Chawla also shared resources the public can use to access more information about PFAS contamination, including the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources’ Interactive PFAS Data Viewer and information from Public Health Madison and Dane County and Dane County Regional Airport, which will hopefully be consolidated in the future.