This time, Kipp. There hasn’t been a neighborhood meeting since 2012 and people want to know why . . . I’m guessing I know the answer . . . cuz Marsha Rummel, queen of the neighborhood meeting, certainly isn’t afraid of her constituents!!!
And, on the topic covered here beyond public meetings, is this how we handle environmental health issues in this city, county and state? Hand the communications details with the neighbors over to the corporate polluters? And then if they don’t inform people, people don’t know, and they don’t ask questions.
We like to believe we live in a city that encourages public participation, but Maria asks a good question “What is democracy in Madison coming to when public health agencies hand over this important risk communication task to the corporate polluter?”
Others ask even better questions in my summary of the issue below, if in fact this is a “fear of lawsuits” issue in the “AND THE STORY CONTINUES . . .” section.
Forgive me for this cut and paste job and extreme rush job on this post, this is NOT my area of expertise and I ran out of time, but I’ve heard enough about the issue to be concerned and of course, the democracy angle is always of interest to me! And if I wait to get it perfect, it won’t happen at all. I put the most relevant part about a long email thread going horribly awry first, and there is much more background information below for those of you who are more interested in this topic.
I don’t want to bury the lead, so here is the punchline . . . as told by one of the people who alerted me to this:
. . . the bigger issue is really the way elected officials and government agencies are protecting the corporate polluters, protecting the status quo, ignoring/dismissing and ridiculing citizens, and ignoring significant risks to public and environmental health. If they are handling Kipp this way, how are they dealing with the huge pollution issues at MGE? Kraft Oscar Mayer? The UW? TRUAX military field (highly contaminated). Etc. Etc. What would happen if people in those neighborhoods started to raise question about the pollution? John Hausbeck would say there is no risk whatsoever, Katie Crawley would swoon, the attorneys would say “don’t say anything, don’t engage them, we will be sued,” people would be dismissed, ridiculed, ignored…all the elected officials would be silent…and citizens and their children and grandchildren will pay to filter this pollution out of their drinking water for decades to come. Or they will drink it unfiltered. Flint isn’t the only place with these problems…
The email thread goes on for a month before this, with neighbors trying to get information. This is November 6th, suggesting a meeting to Public Health.
John,
It has been 2012 since the last meeting. A lot has happened since that time. I was wondering what would be necessary to have the city or DNR arrange a public meeting to discuss the current status of pollution abatement at Madison-Kipp. A request from concerned residents, Alder Rummel, the SASYNA Kipp committee, SASYNA, or perhaps our state representatives?
Thanks for keeping up with the discussion.
Steve Klafka
A few days later (November 9th), Jim Powell makes a more official request to the elected officials.
Supv. Hendrick & Ald. Rummel:
The worst industrial pollution documented in Madison’s history has happened at Kipp in your district and you have done nothing about it, least of all let your own constituents know the severity of the problems and facilitate opportunities for them to discuss these issues with other citizens, government agencies, and their elected officials. When are you going to do something about it?
Here’s an incomplete list of Kipp issues that remain even after the 2013 multi-million dollar citizen RCRA lawsuit settlement and the 2015 EPA air pollution permit violation and fines:
- Very high levels of PCBs under and inside the Kipp Waubesa factory (under orders from EPA to remove); What have Kipp workers been exposed to all these years?
- PCBs along the city bike path and in the rain garden (which kids stood in while digging it!)
- VOC groundwater plume that extends from Lake Monona to north of Milwaukee Street, and far to the east and west of Kipp (the extent still hasn’t been fully defined!)
- Ongoing emissions of fine particulates and other highly toxic pollution from Kipp that Goodman Center and Lowell School children (many of whom are low income and minorities) are exposed to
- Toxic die lube chemicals emitted from Kipp stacks and wafting out of open windows and doors (why won’t agencies measure what these emissions consist of and at what levels?)
- PCE, TCE, metals, and PCBs discharging from Kipp’s stormwater drains and groundwater extraction system into Starkweather Creek and Lake Monona
- A secret maze of drainpipes under Kipp that takes contaminants to the stormwater system (that the City apparently knew nothing about until we brought it to their attention in 2014)
- Dioxin – Kipp still emits dioxin (which was a focal point for Clean Air Madison’s work in the early 2000s; DNR said there would be no dioxin, yet there is)
- Repeated violations of DNR air pollution permit (yet DNR does nothing)
- PCE breakdown contaminants in the Olbrich drinking water well; the Water Utility keeps pumping that well seasonally, which keep pulling the PCE plume towards it
- Incessant noise pollution to neighbors on Marquette and Waubesa
- The “sound reducing” wooden fence that doesn’t reduce sound at all and wasn’t built where it was supposed to that the City paid Kipp for
- PCE groundwater extraction system recently malfunctioned, causing a magenta discharge of permanganate into Starkweather Creek and causing a fish kill
- A recent explosion that sent molten aluminum through the the roof at Kipp into an adjacent homeowner’s yard
- Ongoing emergency calls to the factory when workers collapse, are injured, fires/explosions occur, etc; again, does anyone care about Kipp workers?
Does any of this register with you? The highly-respected technical expert for the RCRA lawsuit, also an advisor to EPA and other federal agencies, called Kipp one of the worst sites he’d ever seen. Not only should there be a public meeting to talk about all these issues, there should be an investigation into Kipp’s activities and also why public agencies (state, county, city) bend over backwards to serve this business “customer.”
I know one of the City’s main concerns is its own liability since it owns the land under the Kipp Fair Oaks factory, Kipp Waubesa factory parking lot, and the infamous rain garden (that it just leased to Kipp after Kipp was found to have polluted it!), as well as the polluted bike path. The City has seriously undermined its credibility to protect its own residents and exposed itself to lawsuits (even if it’s Kipp that’s sued again).
There is an unbelievable amount of information about this sordid story on the MEJO website at mejo.us. It’s not like this is new information but the denial simply has to end.
—
JIM POWELL
Midwest Environmental Justice Organization
mejo.us ~ 608.240.1485
Skip ahead . . . from November 9th, to February 3rd.
Supv. Hendrick & Ald. Rummel:
It has been three months since a number of us–the neighborhood association, our environmental organization and others–have asked for a public meeting in order for the public to know what is going on with Kipp’s PCB, PCE and other pollution (see the email messages below). I have not seen an email reply in acknowledgement (or even dismissal) of the concerns raised. Please reply so that the public will know what you are doing on their behalf.
Thank you.
JIM POWELL
And here’s where it takes a really bad turn. At this point, media, elected officials, city, county and state staff, Kipp, neighbors, neighborhood association folks, mayor’s office, environmental geeks etc are all copied on this.
Mr. Powell,
Thank you for your message about Kipp. I would have no fear at all of a public meeting. In fact, I am attending one tomorrow. That meeting will address a number of issues related to public safety and the environment.
John Hendrick
County Supervisor
Head scratcher for sure.
Mr. Hendrick:
Thank you for your note. It is good to know a meeting is planned tomorrow related to the many questions on this topic. Somehow, somewhere, however, I have missed any information that may have been disseminated about where and when such a meeting is to be convened, who is convening it, who are the participants, and so forth.
Do you know whether the general public is invited? Could you please be so kind as to bring the rest of us “into the loop” by providing this information about where and when the meeting is to take place, in case anyone interested in these subjects happened to be able to attend on such short notice?
Thanks so much,
D. Kester
And this response:
On 2/3/16 8:13 PM, John Hendrick wrote:
https://dane.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=A&ID=447416&GUID=4372AADF-5E3F-42DD-9D04-0D6ED68483D6
John Hendrick
(608) 446-4842
Dane County Supervisor, District Six
Personnel and Finance Committee
Sustainability Subcommittee
Air Pollution Inventory Workgroup
Citizens Utility Board of Wisconsin, Inc.
C.R.A.N.E.S. executive committee
(Capital Region Advocacy Network for Environmental Sustainability)
W.I.N.G.S. Wisconsin steering committee
(Working Interdisciplinary Network of Guardianship Stakeholders)
Some ridiculously usually well-informed folks respond:
I went through the agenda you linked to, Mr. Hendrick. I found nothing in there about Kipp. Your county government agendas are notoriously opaque. Perhaps I missed something and you could direct us to the proper agenda item.
Sincerely,
Michael Barrett
2137 Sommers Ave
Madison, WI 53704
Mr. Hendrich:
Like others, I am befuddled by your responses. I see nothing related to Kipp on this agenda.
Please clarify what you are trying to tell us.
Thanks,
Maria Powell
February 4th response:
I apologize for any confusion. The subject line was elected officials and public meetings. I thought that was what we were talking about.
It is true that the issues on the county board agenda are the things the county board votes on. You are correct that there is nothing about Kipp on that agenda.
John Hendrick
Meanwhile . . . residents continue to request meetings, but I haven’t seen responses from the electeds that are meaningful. Please note: Rummel is dealing with a family crisis so that may explain her lack of response . . . or maybe she had another conversation with the city attorney . . . sigh . . .
February 4th
I’m Sharon Helmus and would definitely be interested in hearing what’s going on with the rain garden and our environment. I will do my best to be front and center at all meetings.
Mr. Hendrick:
Thanks for clarifying this. I hope you will take the time to at least read the email addressed to you in November (see below) outlining some of the Kipp issues citizens would like to discuss in a public meeting.
Citizens requests for public meetings on Kipp go back years now. The below letter was sent to public officials by SASYNA in March 2013 asking for a public meeting and clarifying what that means. No such public meeting happened. The last public meeting on Kipp was in February 2012.
What will you do to help facilitate a public meeting on Kipp?
Maria
February 8th
Supv. Hendrick, Alder Rummel,
My fellow residents and friends have been beleaguered for years over the discovery, long response and now seeming obfuscation over access to facts and progress regarding the continuing discovery of highly toxic chemicals from the historic pollution from Madison Kipp Corp. As noted by Steve Klafka, the last public meeting was held in 2012.
Four years is long enough. We should not have to “find other ways to answer our many questions,” as Maria Powell of Midwest Environmental Justice Organization (MEJO) recently put it. It is the responsibility of our elected and taxpayer paid positions in city and state government to handle that task.
I had not been aware of these most recent facts such as a horrific “recent explosion that sent molten aluminum through the roof at Kipp into an adjacent homeowner’s yard” or that Kipp workers are subjected to requiring emergency calls for injuries incurred on site at such frequency. How recent was the explosion and what is the injury rate for workers at the Kipp plant?
I am both concerned, for myself and my community, that I hadn’t been informed about these incidents in a timely manner. As others on this thread have already experienced, we also should not have to beg and ingratiate ourselves on our own in order to find which agency or position might be best to contact for information on the cleanup and how a public meeting might be held. I was under the impression that such lines of communication had become more clear cut and established by now.
Thank you Maria, as well as Laura Olaf of Citizens for Safe Water Around Badger, for your dogged attention to this matter. Your support shows this is to be a larger bio-regional issue as well as a localized, neighborhood issue. Thanks to Sharon Helmus for being that voice, and always to vigilant Steven Klafka.
I also thank Jim Powell of MEJO for his comments (11/9/2015) which summarizes this kabuki dance perfectly: “the denial simply has to end.”
At some point the complexity of the subject and your continuing denial to explain in a public setting this intrusion into our own private and public spaces becomes interpreted as rude and offensive. I believe you really don’t intend it to look that way.
We who live here shouldn’t have to become amateur sleuths or scientists in order to gain access to pollution data and information that threatens our homes, public spaces and natural resources, although we already have taken on those roles.
And as we continue on, this looks more and more like the 1958 Steve McQueen film, The Blob, only this monster is real.
I am compelled to ask that our elected officials and public employees on all levels to please arrange for a public meeting on all matters regarding the Kipp pollution as soon as possible. It is necessary that information be presented in a clear manner with full accountability and answers to questions that collectively we have already asked.
I appreciate your ability to provide such material and am more than happy to help make such an event happen.
Thank you,
Gary Karch, Kipp committee chair, Schenk-Atwood-Starkweather-Yahara Neighborhood Association (SASYNA)
AND THE STORY CONTINUES . . .
Will there be a public meeting? Why hasn’t there been one for 3 – 4 years, what are people afraid of? Lawsuits? I’m just spitballing here, but . . . I’m hoping that isn’t the answer.
I’m sure there is more to this story. Hopefully this post might help us get more information. I, like the others in this long email thread, won’t hold my breath. We’ll probably get some city attorney approved response.
As Ed Kuharski explained about my post on the Tony Robinson resolution that was squashed by the City Attorney:
I think the most troubling thing about Michael May’s memo is the suggestion that our elected officials are subject to the direction of the corporate entity such that they should be gagged if they wish to speak on behalf of their constituents. That is a very dangerous notion.
To put it even more starkly, in the words of Amelia Royko Mauerer:
What’s especially interesting about all of this is, in the case of an officer involved killing of an unarmed victim where the victim’s family has filed for a fair and impartial investigation (lawsuit), if you have a city lawmaker like Marsha Rummel who has the guts to continue acting on behalf of her constituents, she will be found in conflict of the city’s interest to maintain an unbiased and ethical appearance and she can therefore no longer represent her constituents.
Who then do we the non-elected, non-law enforcement have?
We are abandoned and manipulated by our city when our loved ones are killed by police. We are abandoned by our city, whom we elect and pay, when we seek an objectively impartial investigation that will turn all stones.
———-
BACKGROUND INFORMATION: For those who want to more about the Kipp details
This discussion started in October:
To: Marsha Rummel, City Engineering, City Attorney and one more person, I’m guessing state staff. cc’d to Rebecca Kemble)
I and several Kipp neighbors have been observing the bike path PCB excavations. We were glad to see that there are covered dumpsters, a dust monitor, and yesterday there were dust barriers next to the bike path. It is a really busy scene down there (see attached photo). However, on Tuesday when they were excavating in the raingarden area near the bike path and just behind the home at 102 Marquette, we didn’t see any dust barriers.Did the city, PHMDC, DNR, and Kipp all decide not to communicate at all with the neighborhood listserves about the excavation? My friends on the SASYNA list said they received no official information about it as of today. Also, yesterday some people walking around near the excavation were asking what was going on and wanted to know how long it would continue.
Thanks,
Maria Powell (Midwest Enrivonmental Justice Organization)
From city engineering:
Maria,
There is not a conspiracy against notifying the neighborhood. MKC had previously agreed to notify the SASYNA listserv prior to starting excavation. Alina notified Lance Green of the Kipp Committee in SASYNA and he told her he would post something on the listserv. Apparently that didn’t happen. She also notified Alder Rummel. I just got off the phone with Alina and she is going to post something directly after she runs it by Tony. She hopes to have the work completed yet this week.
Brynn
Whoa. That’s a little harsh.
Hi Brynn:
Thanks. I didn’t think there was a “conspiracy against notifying the neighborhood” (For the record, I’m not a person who usually buys into conspiracy-type explanations for government actions/inaction–the reasons are often much more mundane). I actually ran into Lance yesterday and he told me that Alina notified him about the excavation one day before it was to begin. He asked her for more details to share, and she said they were in the Arcadis workplan. He didn’t know where the workplan was–it is not posted on the DNR website–so he didn’t know the relevant details to share with the neighborhood. I have copied him so he can chime in to correct me if this isn’t what happened.
Regardless, this is essentially the same as Kipp, the city, PHMDC, and DNR deciding not to communicate with the neighborhood via the listserve. Passing the responsibility to communicate with the neighborhood listserve about this very important public health issue to a citizen is a very problematic risk communication approach, in my opinion. It is not fair to place this important responsibility on a citizen. Government agencies and/or Kipp should do this.
Lance, please chime in if you disagree with anything I have said or how I have construed it.
In any case, I’m glad Alina will post something (albeit a bit too late). Brynn, can you please ask DNR again to post the excavation plan on the website?
Maria
Lance backs up Maria
Maria basically has the story right. Alina e-mailed me Monday 10/5 that “the work” would begin Tuesday and be done by Friday. I replied and asked for a bit of detail to post to the SASY list and she sent back a brief message Tuesday (see below). I was hoping for more details and could not find the DNR-approved plan on DNR website so I could summarize the work and post something to the SASY list.
Meanwhile I also saw that Steve Klafka had posted about this work Tuesday on the SASY FaceBook page. After I ran into Alina yesterday at the site I posted to the SASY FB page that she said the work would be done Friday.
I see that Alina has just now posted a note on the work to the SASY listserve. I appreciate that and that Alina had e-mailed to me, but agree with Maria that it is the responsibility of Kipp to post about their activities of interest to the neighborhood, giving enough details to help us understand their actions.
I also agree that the DNR should be keeping up with the evolving information and plans with posts to their website so we neighbors can understand what’s happening. You will see the latest “Neighborhood Update” there is dated 11/12/14 and the excavation plans are not posted.
Here’s the exchange between Lance (neighborhood association) and Alina (Kipp):
Hi Lance,
I wanted to notify you that our excavation between the bike path and our facility will begin tomorrow. The work will not disrupt bike path traffic, and we anticipate work being complete by the end of the week.
Please let me know if you have any questions.
Thanks,Alina
—-
Thanks so much for the notice, Alina. Could you give a brief description of the work that will be done and timeline. I will share that with other SASYNA members.
Thanks again,Lance Green
—
Hi Lance,The work will be conducted in accordance with the work plan approved by the WDNR. We anticipate the work being completed this week.
Thank you,
Alina
Here’s a request to city engineering for more information – this is now the end of October, the work began on the 6th.
Brynn,
Here are two information requests related to the cleanup earlier this month of the PCB contaminated soil along the bikepath between Kipp and Goodman:1. Confirmation Soil Samples – The Arcadis’ August 2015 Capital City Bike Path Excavation Work Plan says on Page 7 there will be confirmation soil samples analyzed after work was completed. It says:
A total of 11 confirmation soil samples will be collected from the sidewalls and base of the excavation as shown on Figure 3. Samples will be collected approximately every 20 feet along the sidewalls and base as recommended by WDNR.
If the results of this sampling is complete, can you provide the results?
2. Particle Monitoring – During the excavation work, a continuous monitor for measuring airborne particulate matter was operated nearby. If the particle measurements are available, could you provide these results?
Thanks for your help on this cleanup project.
Please let me know if you have any questions about this request.
Steve Klafka
City Engineering Response to the info on the clean up
Steve,
Sorry for the delay—I’m off Fridays and Mondays. The attached Figure 1 summarizes the most recent round of PCB results for the drainage swale between MKC and the bike path. It includes the data from the City’s sampling and the earlier MKC sampling in this area. We received this map 10/21 and met the next day onsite with Mike Schmoller from the DNR to discuss the results. It was agreed that the 3-foot deep excavation (shown in blue) did not excavate all of the material—MKC will need to go deeper and expand out to the SW, NE, and into their parking lot. The only place the results were low enough to leave in place was up against the bike path, maybe because any contamination was removed during construction of the bike path. I’m trying to track down the City plans for this construction to see what was done.The DNR is requiring MKC to take a series of additional geoprobe borings which go deeper and the sides of the excavation. The idea is to better define the extent of the contamination before requiring additional excavation. The attached Figure 2 shows the location of the proposed borings.
Unfortunately, I don’t know anything about the particle monitoring—I would recommend you contact Alina at MKC directly.
Regards,
Brynn
More questions about the work to be done
Brynn,
Thanks for the sampling results. I see the western side of the excavation closest to Waubesa Street had 362 mg/kg, 2000 times the safe residential contact level. It appears each time there is sampling along the bike path more contamination is found.
The November 3rd Arcadis plan for additional sampling only extends 6 feet from the recently excavated area. When PCB contamination was investigated between Kipp’s buildings and adjacent homes, a systematic dense sampling grid was used. Rather than investigate piecemeal, should there be a more comprehensive investigation along both sides of the entire bike path?
A lot has happened since the last public meeting in 2012 on the cleanup of contamination on and off Kipp’s property. Is it time for a another public meeting to provide a status report?
Steve Klafka
And here we start talking about public meetings (November 3). The city says the DNR isn’t planning to have any:
Steve,
Kipp will be required to continue to step out from the contamination until it is defined. That may mean they are required to remobilize if they don’t fully define it during this next sampling round.As far as I know, DNR was not intending to have another public meeting. Mike Schmoller is very involved with this new round of investigation and clean up, but relatively speaking it would not be considered a major remediation. I’m not trying to downplay the magnitude of the contamination, but rather put it in context with other clean ups around the County. I’ve emailed DNR twice recently requesting that they update their website with the more recent report data. But I know that DNR doesn’t typically have separate websites for cleanups, so I can only imagine it takes significant resources to keep it current.
Brynn
Marsha Rummel chimes in – in favor of public information, by Kipp.
Thanks for keeping us informed Brynn. I would urge Alina and Kipp to report on progress
The to: list is getting longer, Maria sums up why public meetings aren’t happening on November 5th:
Thanks everyone for your questions and input.
In sum, here’s what I have heard about why there have been no public meetings about the ongoing city bikepath PCB findings and other Kipp pollution issues:
-The DNR is too busy (and has been since 2012) with bigger remediation sites/cleanups in the county to have public meetings on Kipp (open houses for citizens in the lawsuits aren’t really public meetings).**
-Since Nov. 2014, the DNR has been too busy to post new data and reports about the raingarden/bikepath PCB situation on the website or place it in libraries.
-The city is not willing to organize a public meeting about PCB excavations along the city bike path, which have been ongoing since early 2014
-The city is not willing to send reports on the PCB situation to the SASYNA list or other listserves, or to put the information in public libraries.
-Government and elected officials think that a Madison Kipp representative sending general info (no data or reports) to the SASYNA listserve is adequate public notification about bikepath PCB findings, excavations, etc.Please let me know if I misunderstood/misconstrued anything anyone said–or made incorrect assumptions based on what they didn’t say. I’ve copied other interested citizens and officials so they can chime in if they have questions.
Thanks!
Maria**I would like to learn more about the othe major Dane County remediation/cleanups. Are there public meetings we can attend? Can Mike or someone let us know? Thanks!!
Public Health (County and City) now, rather defensively, replies.
Maria,
Your summary does not accurately summarize the City’s position. The only request we (City Engineering and Public Health) are aware of for a public meeting has come from MEJO. We are not aware of a request from SASYNA, other nearby neighbors, or other bike path users.Second, we have openly shared information with SASYNA, both members and the listserv. We have pressured Kipp to handle the outreach—we believe it is their responsibility to be communicating with the public. But we have responded to all requests for information. In addition, Brynn Bemis, City Engineering, has periodically reached out to SASYNA board members asking if they have any questions or would like someone to attend their meetings to talk about the work.
John
A well thought out and reasonable response to public health . . .
John:
Thanks for clarifying the city’s position. Apparently asking for a public meeting to discuss high levels of PCBs being found and excavated along a highly-used public bike path is a pretty extreme request from the city’s perspective–and if the request comes from MEJO, it doesn’t count (though we are Madison citizens). Regardless, it is clear the city is absolutely not willing to have a public meeting about Kipp. We will not ask again.
Anyway, some responses, for the record:
1. We (MEJO) are not the only ones asking for a public meeting. In fact, if you scroll down to emails below, you see that Steve Klafka, a member of the SASY Kipp committee, asked for a public meeting, which is what prompted my response. I know he and others in the neighborhood have asked for public meetings more than once over the last several years. Alder Rummel received some of these emails. Perhaps she didn’t forward them to you or other city staff?
2. We very much appreciate the responsiveness of Brynn and other city staff to my and other citizens’ questions and requests for information and have told them this many times. However, sharing information with a few citizens who know enough to ask questions is not public engagement, and does not replace public meetings, where everyone can discuss the issues together–they can hear each other’s questions, share information, and ask their government representatives what they have done and will do to address the problems. Again–is this not a core aspect of democracy? Are you not public servants?
3. People in the neighborhood are not going to ask for public meetings on the very serious PCB and other toxic pollution issues in their midst if they aren’t aware of them in the first place. We and others in the neighborhood who know about these serious pollution issues are asking for public meetings because we know about them and feel others in the neighborhood (and broader community) should be aware of and engaged in discussions/decisions about them as well. This is a core aspect of environmental justice work (which is what MEJO does!)–and should be a core aspect of democracy. Apparently here in Madison, public officials do not think so.
4. Many (if not most) people in the Kipp neighborhor who were engaged in the past have given up on even contacting city and state government officials, forget about asking for public meetings. I don’t blame them. They have concluded, based on their experiences over the years, that government officials care more about protecting Madison Kipp (and/or their own jobs?) than protecting public or environmental health or engaging the citizens they serve. Many who were engaged in the past got tired of their questions being repeatedly dismissed/ignored, and being treated as if they are stupid and their concerns are irrational. Many close Kipp neighbors have seen no evidence that public health or other officials care about how Kipp’s pollution might be affecting their health and wellbeing (many are ill). So they are demoralized and silent. You don’t hear from them at all. This is what happens when people aren’t engaged respectfully (or at all) and their concerns are dismissed by the government officials who are paid to serve them. They give up. Democracy is in bad shape when it comes to this.
5. Communicating with the SASYNA listserve, which Kipp’s CEO actively monitors, and the very small SASY Kipp group (3-4 people?), does not suffice as public engagement or outreach. I respect the SASY Kipp group very much, but they should not be held responsible for communicating with the public about serious toxic pollution to the neighborhood–and they don’t do so. I appreciate Brynn’s willingness to meet with the group, but this is not a public meeting. Also, as I have said many times, many people in the neighborhood are not on the SASYNA listserve and receive no information from the SASY Kipp group about Kipp pollution right in their backyards. If you had PCBs of hundreds and sometimes thousands of parts per million being dug up just feet behind your house, sometimes spilling into your yard–and/or along a public bike path you and your children use every day–wouldn’t you want to know about it?
6. As far as public health agencies and government officials asking Kipp to be responsible for communication about PCBs and other highly toxic pollution on city land, I am somewhat stunned. What is democracy in Madison coming to when public health agencies hand over this important risk communication task to the corporate polluter? We know now from experience with the recent PCB bikepath issues that at best Kipp’s representative will send out extremely vague information to the SASYNA list with no details, no data, no maps, no reports. PCB levels and locations are not shared. Nothing was done to notify the neighborhood about the Oct. 6-9 PCB excavation, which involved excavation of PCBs orders of magnitude above the direct contact standards– until a couple days after it began, and then only prompted by citizens’ requests.
All this said, it’s clear that city and state officials are definitely not willing to have even one more public meeting about Madison Kipp. Why are they so afraid of this?
We will find other ways to answer our many questions, and to share and discuss information about toxic pollution with the community.
Maria Powell, PhD
Midwest Environmental Justice Organization
1311 Lake View Ave
Madison, WI 53704
www.mejo.us
And here’s a request from 2013
March 27, 2013
Linda Hanefeld, NR region program manager
Wisconsin DNR, South Central Region
3911 Fish Hatchery Rd.
Madison, WI 53711-5397Dear Ms. Hanefeld,
The Schenk-Atwood-Starkweather-Yahara Neighborhood Association (SASY) is concerned by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources’ failure to respond in a timely manner to our letter dated October 21, 2011 in which we requested information on pollution from Madison Kipp Corporation’s operations.
Specifically, SASY again requests that the Department provide maps delineating the full extent and nature of all contaminants found, clearly illustrating their concentrations and location throughout their horizontal and vertical extent in the soil, water, homes and public buildings in our neighborhood. We also ask that information concerning ongoing and future efforts to delineate contamination and reduce or eliminate pollutants be provided in a timely manner.
In addition, SASY calls for an independent, professionally facilitated public meeting to be convened very soon wherein the WDNR and representatives of other concerned agencies explain the extent and nature of the pollution and its possible health effects. We request that this be in the format of a community meeting, with presentations to and Q&A with the whole audience.
As a neighborhood association it is our responsibility to advocate for the health and safety of our affected neighborhood. It is in this capacity that we make this request.
Respectfully,
Lou Host-Jablonski
Chair, SASY Neighborhood Association
