Monday, October 14, 2024
MARINETTE COUNTY – Led by a retired hydrogeologist in the Town of Peshtigo, Save Our Water is collecting petition signatures in support of state PFAS groundwater regulations.
“We have a petition out statewide asking people if they believe PFAS should be regulated by the state and standards created,” said Jeff Lamont, president of Save Our Water, which aims to educate the public about contaminants and the need for groundwater regulations to protect people’s health.
Getting standards in place are a necessary step to preventing the health issues the “forever chemicals” have been linked to, such as cancer, liver and thyroid issues, said Jeff “Buddha” Budish, president of Save the Menominee River, another active group dedicated to preserving the Menominee River and advocating for environmental protections.
For both men, fighting for clean water is how they spend their retirement. Budish likes to fish but throws back his catch because he fears it contains poison --- and because he’s seen too many people who have contracted cancer in the area. “I’m angry,” he said.
Lamont’s home is in an area with PFAS-contaminated groundwater eligible for a deep well paid for by manufacturer Johnson Controls’ Tyco unit, though he prefers to use a water treatment system to purify the drinking water he consumes. Tyco has manufactured Aqueous Firefighting Foam in the area for decades, but this June switched to a non-fluorinated formulation, a spokesperson said.
Budish lives just outside contaminated area referred to locally as “the plume,” and this is a point of aggravation because no one has taken responsibility for contaminated groundwater outside the plume yet. The PFAS, often referred to as forever chemicals because they are so difficult to get rid of, are in the groundwater and the biosolids used on farmland in Marinette County well beyond the area Tyco is working to address, Budish said.
Within the designated area of Marinette and the Town of Peshtigo where Tyco has assumed responsibility for contaminated groundwater, the company said it has cleaned up its act. It’s no longer making the product, an aqueous fluorinated firefighting foam containing the chemicals, and has switched to a nonfluorinated formula called Ansul NFF concentrate, made in Marinette with no added PFAS, spokesman Jeff Philips said.
“This product is free from any intentionally added PFAS chemistry and precautions have been taken to avoid PFAS contamination,” the company said. Philips said Tyco has cleaned and monitored its equipment for any trace amounts of PFAS, as the chemicals are still in many products.
Tyco also is cleaning up its spill in a limited area where it has assumed responsibility, to the tune of $100 million. “We’ve spent over $100 million to date on our efforts, including successfully operating the $25 million groundwater extraction and treatment system (GETS), fully removing soils with aggregated PFAS from our property to federally licensed handling facilities out of state, and ensuring all neighbors affected by our historic activities have safe drinking water,” the spokesperson said.
But Budish said contaminated groundwater flows beyond the boundaries of the geographic area Tyco refers to as the Potable Well Sampling area, and Lamont said no one knows for certain whether Tyco’s new formulation is safe.
Within the Potable Well Sampling Area, Tyco has replaced about 78 of 169 wells used for residential drinking water. About 47 more deep wells are scheduled to be constructed in this area, where PFAS contained in firefighting foam used at a Tyco training facility in Marinette over a period of years contaminated the groundwater. Residents must request the deep wells, and many haven’t yet.
“The vast majority of our neighbors in the Town of Peshtigo have asked us to ensure their long-term water quality by building new deep drinking wells for them, and we are pleased to report we are on schedule to meet those requests,” Tyco said in an email in response to a reporter’s questions. “We have ample capacity to install additional wells as owners continue to sign up. Bottled water and/or POETS (Point of Entry Treatment Systems) service will continue to be provided by Tyco for these queued wells until the completion of this installation process,” the company said.
Tyco is footing the bill for the improvements and will cover maintenance expenses for 20 years, the company said.
But Budish said it’s not enough. He’s been battling state politicians and large corporations for years, but the problem of contaminated groundwater and biosolids continues. “I’m retired. You think I enjoy doing this? I hate it,” Budish said.
PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, have been linked to health issues — such as cancer, thyroid problems, low birth weight and liver conditions — contributing to an estimated $99.4 million in health care costs, according to the state Division of Executive Budget and Finance. Rural communities are disproportionately affected, the state said. The chemicals have been used in firefighting foam, nonstick coatings, carpeting, shoes, food wrappers, wastewater biosolids used for fertilizer and some consumer products, such as dental floss and shampoo.
So far, over 200 people have shown support for PFAS regulations by signing the petition, Lamont said. He is hoping for several thousand signatures.
Many residents, like Budish and Lamont, are frustrated it’s taking so long for Wisconsin lawmakers to regulate groundwater quality for consumption, as it provides drinking water for two-thirds of Wisconsin households, according to the state Department of Health Services.
“What’s happened here, it’s sad. Look at these little kids who have cancer,” said Budish. Three high school students who live near Budish have been diagnosed with testicular cancer, he said. “That’s all the byproduct of the disease from PFOA.”
Fighting it is costly and tiring. “It cost me $8,000 to have a home filtration system so I could have my grandkids here,” said Budish, who lives outside the Potable Well Sampling Area. He has been advocating for state leaders to do a better job of protecting the environment.
“The politicians are doing nothing for us. They’re not holding the manufacturers responsible,” Budish said. “We don’t even have a set groundwater standard for our water.”
Stalled funding
It’s not for lack of available funding, as Gov. Tony Evers has earmarked $125 million to work on cleaning up PFAS contaminants, but the funds have been caught in political gridlock. Republicans introduced a “poison pill” to oppose the spending by including a provision that would no longer hold corporations accountable for PFAS contamination on their properties. Instead, the Republican measure would push the cleanup burden to local governments. By failing to hold corporations accountable, the watered-down version Republicans prefer would give corporations no reason to stop PFAS contamination, Lamont said.
The Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce Inc. has been highly effective at blocking efforts to clean up toxic chemicals. The organization, which is battling the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, won in appellate court, but on Sept. 11, the Wisconsin Supreme Court agreed to review the case.
Marinette resident and Common Council member Doug Oitzinger said he is involved in the litigation, as he filed a friend of the court brief through the nonprofit Midwest Environmental Associates, which engages in litigation and advocacy to reduce PFAS in drinking water. “We were granted permission to partake in those arguments,” Oitzinger said. “I’m watching it closely. If it overturns the spills law — the spills law has been working for something like 50 years — it could have a devastating effect on the future clean up of PFAS from Tyco’s contamination spills,” he said.
Hazardous Spill Law
According to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, The Hazardous Substance Spill Law
“requires anyone who causes, possesses or controls a hazardous substance that was discharged into the environment to take action to restore the affected air, land and waters. Immediate reporting to the DNR is required, and the law applies equally to a recent spill or to old contamination newly discovered.”
Former Town of Peshtigo Board Chair Cindy Boyle, a longtime resident with a thyroid issue, has spent hundreds of hours on the PFAS issue. She’s read the research, testified before government boards, and watched litigation related to PFAS throughout the state and nation. But since the Town Board changed composition, she said she has taken a step back from the local effort.
Oitzinger said he hasn’t been to any Town Board meetings recently. “There’s nothing new that I know of going on other than they’re drilling a bunch of wells,” he said.
The Town of Peshtigo Town Board hasn’t been discussing the water issues lately, said Town Board Supervisor 3 Tim Bergeson, who joined the board this year. He said it’s been several months since a citizen has brought it up at a Town Board meeting.
Jennifer Friday, the current Town of Peshtigo Board Chair, campaigned on the water issue but moved on to other issues after embracing deeps wells provided by Tyco as a way to address the PFAS contamination in groundwater, Oitzinger said. Friday wasn’t immediately available for comment.
“Jennifer Friday decided Tyco is going to be drilling wells, and that’s the solution, and the town doesn’t have to do anything more,” Oitzinger said. “She can spin it any way she wants, but she hasn’t been seeking out a water line solution. She told people what she was going to do, and she’s doing it,” Oitzinger said.
Water experts at the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and elsewhere have said deep wells are an interim solution, but shouldn’t stand in the way of constructing a municipal water line, Oitzinger said. Deep wells bring up radium and other dangerous compounds, so the deep wells should be used with a filtering system to remove toxins, he said. “You traded one set of poisons for another,” Oitzinger said.
The Town of Peshtigo’s previous boards had made PFAS remediation a regular topic on their agenda and appointed a Water Committee, but Bergeson said he didn’t think there was such a committee today.
Communities in other areas affected by PFAS are exploring ways to clean up their water supplies, Oitzinger said. “There’s a lot of news nationally in terms of PFAS,” he said.
In the Marinette area, Oitzinger said he feels he’s the only one watching a Wisconsin Supreme Court case involving the spills law, as it could have an impact on efforts to remediate PFAS throughout the state. “Other than me, nobody’s watching it,” he said. “It’s a biggie. The DNR’s authority right now is entirely based on the spills laws.”
Lamont is also watching the Wisconsin Manufacturers Commerce Inc. v Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources case because it could nudge state officials to establish standards for PFAS in groundwater used for drinking.
The Wisconsin DNR and Wisconsin Natural Resources Board must file a legal brief explaining their position by Oct. 11, according to Brittany Wieland, associate deputy clerk at Wisconsin Supreme Court and Court of Appeals. The Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce Inc. will then have 20 days to respond with a brief or a statement indicating no brief will be filed. A spokesman for WMCI said he couldn’t comment on the case because it is ongoing.
In Appellate Court, attorneys for Wisconsin Manufacturers Commerce Inc. persuaded the court a business shouldn’t be held responsible for cleaning up chemicals on the site when the alleged contaminants aren’t regulated.
Without established standards for the chemicals involved, the spill laws don’t apply, Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce said. Clarifying who should be held responsible for cleaning up an environmental hazard and at what level the spill becomes an environmental hazard is at the center of the case, which involves chemicals found on dry cleaner Leather Rich’s site in Oconomowoc County.
Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce won in appellate court, but that was before municipalities began discussing ways to implement the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency’s recommended PFAS standards for drinking water from surface water, which might have persuaded more Town of Peshtigo residents to consider the benefits of a municipal water line.
The state of Wisconsin hasn’t approved standards for groundwater used for drinking water, Oitzinger said. Information on the state’s website indicates the Wisconsin Department of Health Services’ recommendations for groundwater quality standards include enforcement standards for PFOA and PFOS of 20 nanograms per liter (ng/l) with a Preventive Action Limit of 2 ng/l.
The WDHS recommends enforcement standards of 450 micrograms per liter for PFBS and 330 nanograms per liter for HFPO-DA, according to documents from the Wisconsin Department of Administration.
But many people say the recommended levels should be lower when the groundwater is used as drinking water. Efforts to pass the lower standards stalled when opponents, concerned about the cost to businesses of remediation, blocked them. As an alternative, Republicans in February passed Senate Bill 312, which puts the onus on state and local government agencies to remediate a PFAS contamination, not the corporations involved.
EPA’s surface water limits
The recommended state levels are higher than the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Maximum Contaminant Levels for PFAS in surface water used for drinking water, such as 4 nanograms per liter for PFOA and PFOS and 10 nanograms per liter for PFHxS, PFNA and HFPO-DA, commonly called GenX chemicals. Often, more than one forever chemical is contained in drinking water, the EPA said, so a level of zero is preferred for PFOA and PFOS.
In Marinette County, previous concerted efforts by the Town of Peshtigo’s Town Board, Water Committee and other concerned citizens to hold Johnson Controls accountable for a PFAS contamination in groundwater resulted in the company paying for bottled water, water treatment systems and now deep wells for residents in an area near the company’s former firefighting training center, where foam containing PFAS was used for years and polluted the groundwater.
In April, Tyco’s publicly traded parent company Johnson Controls International recorded a $750 million charge related to a settlement of the same amount in a U.S. District Court case in South Carolina. The legal complaint alleged PFAS from Tyco’s Aqueous Film Forming Foam (AFFF) was detected in a nationwide class of public drinking water systems. In exchange for releasing the claims against Tyco and Chemguard Inc., the company agreed to pay $750 million, according to an 8-K financial document. However, this case isn’t related to Tyco’s Marinette operations, a spokesman said.
In Marinette County, where many residents believe groundwater contaminated with PFAS remains an issue, they say there’s still more work to be done.
Exactly how far the PFAS contamination stemming from Tyco’s Marinette firefighting foam center stretches isn’t clear, and some residents of the Town of Peshtigo who live outside the plume say they shouldn’t have to foot the bill themselves for cleaner drinking water when neighbors who reside within the plume have received substantial assistance from Tyco in the form of newly constructed deep wells or a water treatment system the publicly traded company has provided as another option.
“Tyco says, ‘We’re responsible for this area, but across the street, we’re not responsible,’” Lamont explained. The contaminated area starts just north of Johnson Controls’ facility at 2698 Industrial Parkway and extends south to University Drive. From the west, it runs from Roosevelt Rd. to the lakefront, or bayfront, Lamont said.
“The DNR is trying to say, ‘You’re responsible for more,” such as the house across the street from the plume, Lamont said.
Tyco still discharges PFAS contaminated water, he said. “The system they put in place still can’t get it down to zero,” Lamont said.
How much better Tyco’s newly formulated firefighting foam will be isn’t certain. “These chemicals should be tested before they’re put out to use. They introduce these, and 20 years later we learn they’re terrible for public health,” Lamont said.
Healthwise, Lamont said, municipal water from the City of Marinette is a better option than deep wells, but it would require annexation and compliance with City of Marinette regulations, including bans on burn pits and ATVs, which many Town of Peshtigo residents would oppose.
Deep wells
Many residents of the contaminated plume have opted for new 500-foot deep wells, paid for by Johnson Controls, but Lamont doesn’t regard the deep wells as a panacea. “I have chosen not to have one of those deep wells. It’s like you’re trading one problem for another,” because they still rely on groundwater, he said.
Investigations into the amount of PFAS in groundwater outside of the designated plume continue, but without groundwater standards for forever chemicals, Johnson Controls could be off the hook in the future, he said.
While the Wisconsin Natural Resources Board has reintroduced a scope statement regarding drinking water standards, Wisconsin’s REINS Act is preventing the standards from moving forward, according to Lamont.
The REINS Act, which mandates more government accountability and transparency, requires the state legislature to authorize administrative rules that come with costs of $10 million or more over a two-year period. This can slow the approval process of state spending for remediation of contaminations.
Wisconsin put $125 million in a trust fund for PFAS testing, facility upgrades, remediation and solid waste disposal, but the funds haven’t been released yet because of this act. “Something needs to be done with the REINS Act,” Lamont said. This issue shouldn’t be about politics, he said.
Clean water is a bipartisan issue, according to Lamont. He encouraged those concerned about groundwater contamination and the quality of drinking water in the state to “have a serious talk with their state rep candidates about how important it is to provide clean water to residents of the state of Wisconsin and protect their families,” he said.
If the Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce Inc. prevails in the Supreme Court case, it would mean companies like Johnson Controls’ Tyco unit wouldn’t be encouraged to be proactive in avoiding contaminations. They also wouldn’t be forced to clean them up.
Taking responsibility
“If no one is responsible, the state pays the clean-up costs,” Lamont said, but he believes pushing the burden onto state government and ultimately taxpayers reduces the incentive for companies to be environmentally conscious.
It’s this argument that persuaded Gov. Tony Evers to veto a state bill last year that would have provided new funds for PFAS mitigation because it would have undermined the spills laws.
The state’s Natural Resources Board could have set standards for groundwater years ago, but declined to do so, with a majority siding with those who said any PFAS level it picked as a limit could lead to litigation over the number selected. Underlying this stance are financial considerations for businesses about the cost of cleaning up areas contaminated with the forever chemicals per the spills law.
“We need people to stand up in arms and stand up for what’s right — not to sit back and do nothing,” Budish said. The Supreme Court could force the issue with an order for Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce Inc. to proceed with remediation based on the levels Wisconsin believes are safe. This could have an impact on other chemical contaminations in the state, including the one in Marinette County.
“As has long been clear, Tyco’s first priority is to ensure the community’s water is safe. We have ensured just that, as all neighbors have had safe water through new deep wells, Point of Entry Treatment Systems (POETS) or bottled water service,” a Tyco spokesperson said in a written response to a reporter’s questions.
The Tyco spokesperson also called the company a leader in PFAS remediation related to its Marinette firefighting technology and said, “We have built and are successfully running a state-of-the-art groundwater extraction and treatment system that is meeting and exceeding standards and requirements.” But, as Lamont pointed out, groundwater standards don’t yet exist.
