[CPEO-MEF] CSWAB UPDATE: Community Board Challenges Army Decision

["Laura Olah" <cswab@merr.com>]

CSWAB UPDATE
Badger Restoration Advisory Board Challenges Army Decision
 
Today, members of the Badger Restoration Advisory Board (RAB) took the first
step in a formal appeal of the Army?s recent denial of their request for an
independent technical advisor.

The January 24 letter to the installation director at Badger Army Ammunition
Plant asks the Army to reconsider its decision to deny the board?s
application for funding to hire an independent provider under the federal
Technical Assistance for Public Participation (TAPP) program.  

According to Army guidance, if a TAPP appeal is not resolved with local Army
officials, the appeal proceeds up the chain of command to as high as the
Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army, Installations, Energy and the
Environment.  Badger officials said that they are not aware of any other RAB
that has undertaken such an appeal.
  
The requested consultant would review and interpret the Army?s pending
Alternative Feasibility Study for the largest contaminated site at Badger. 
The 60-acre Settling Ponds area spans the width of the Badger property from
U.S. Highway 12 to the Wisconsin River.  Much of the site is classified as
meadow wetlands.  

If approved by state regulators, proposed changes at the Settling Ponds
would allow the Army to leave behind much higher concentrations of soil
contamination than are currently allowed.  

As justification for its denial, the Army said that either the Wisconsin
Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) or contractors working for the
military could provide the requested technical support.  However, the board
maintains that that neither the Army nor the WDNR are in a position to
provide the RAB with independent technical interpretation and review of
their own work.  

 ?We believe that having an independent provider will enhance environmental
cleanup at Badger and will help assure that the board and the public have a
clear and comprehensive understanding of the potential environmental and
human health implications of proposals by the WDNR (as the regulating
agency) and the Army (as the regulated agency),? the RAB wrote.

RAB members who signed the letter include Laura Olah (CSWAB), Mary Carol
Solum (At Large Member), Bill Wenzel (Village of Prairie du Sac), Bill
Stehling (At Large Member), Ron Lins (RAB Community Co-Chair and Town of
Prairie du Sac), Dick Anderson (At Large Member), Charlie Wilhelm (At Large
Member), Lance Delaney (At Large Member), Mary Jane Koch (At Large Member),
Michelle Hopp (Village of Merrimac), Judy Ashford (Sauk County Board), Paul
Herr (Town of Merrimac), and Ken Lins (At Large Member).

Posted by:

Laura Olah, Executive Director
Citizens for Safe Water Around Badger (CSWAB)
(Member of the Badger RAB and chair of the RAB TAPP Committee)
E12629 Weigand's Bay South
Merrimac, WI  53561
(608) 643-3124
info@cswab.org
www.cswab.org

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