Laura Olah / Citizens for Safe Water Around Badger – 2017-07-04 19:42:53
ACTION ALERT: Cease Fire Campaign — Stop Burning Military Toxics
Laura Olah / Citizens for Safe Water Around Badger (CSWAB)
(July 4, 2017) — Toxic pollutants are released when munitions are open burned, open detonated or incinerated. These toxic emissions endanger public health by contaminating air, groundwater and soils near open burning/open detonation (OB/OD) operations.
Military personnel are often the most exposed to these toxic pollutants, along with nearby communities. Across the country, hundreds of communities and thousands of military personnel have felt the adverse effects of these toxic pollutants.
Please VIEW and share this important 4-minute video.
And sign the PETITION to EPA Administrator Pruitt.
End Open Air Burning of Waste Munitions
In communities across America, open burning and detonation of hazardous waste explosives results in the uncontrolled release of toxic heavy metals, energetic compounds, perchlorate, nitrogen oxides, dioxins and other carcinogens to the environment, placing the health of our soldiers, workers and neighbors at risk.
It is time to recognize that the exclusion adopted by the EPA in 1980 for the open burning and detonation of waste explosives is no longer relevant. Over the past 15 years, the Department of Defense Explosives Safety Board has certified a number of technologies as safe for the destruction of hazardous wastes which are explosive. These technologies are now in use by the Department of Defense and the private sector for the treatment of explosive hazardous waste.
Petition to EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt
It’s very important that you add a brief personal comment at the end of the petition! The EPA typically gives much greater weight to a petition with a personal note. Then complete the form to the right and click ‘Submit’.
Dear EPA Administrator Pruitt:
I am writing to urge you to protect human health and the environment by calling for the immediate implementation of safer alternatives to open air burning, open detonation and incineration/combustion of military munitions.
I urge you to require safer alternatives that encourage waste prevention and recycling, prevent the release of toxic emissions and pollutants, and advance the principles of environmental justice by assuring that all people enjoy the same degree of protection and access to the decision-making process.
CSWAB’s Mission
The mission of the group is to support, unify and strengthen citizens concerned for the safety of water resources in and around the Badger Army Ammunition Plant; to effect expedient cleanup of any contamination caused by negligent handling of toxic waste; and to exercise means as necessary to guarantee water resources are totally free of toxic contamination for us and the generations to follow.
Our goal is to build a sustainable future which will preserve, and where possible, restore the integrity of natural systems — including soils, water, air, and biological diversity.
Position Paper on Remedial Goals:
Summary Statement
The US Army has proposed degrading the level of cleanup currently approved by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and the US Environmental Protection Agency. We believe the approved level of environmental cleanup at Badger Army Ammunition Plant should not be compromised.
Every effort should be made to clean up soils and water to natural background levels and for those contaminants not normally found in our environment, the goal should be complete cleanup.
CSWAB believes it is the Army’s responsibility to preserve and restore the integrity of natural systems including soils, water, air, and biological diversity.
CSWAB believes the public must hold all chemical industry, including the US military, accountable for the environmental damage they have caused. Demanding a complete and comprehensive cleanup ensures future generations will not be burdened with the legacy of pollution from Badger.
This goal may indeed be expensive in the short term, but will provide a strong incentive to change the disposal, manufacturing, and training activities of the US Department of Defense and reduce pollution at the source — the only long term solution to our national military toxics problems.
History & Vision
The history of CSWAB is an inspirational story of how ordinary people can create extraordinary good. Our challenge — to assure that the Pentagon fulfills its commitment to the complete cleanup of toxins that have placed ecological and human health at risk — has been no small task.
Environmental cleanup of the 7,400-acre Badger Army Ammunition Plant will be the largest such project in the history of the state of Wisconsin; expected remediation costs have been estimated to be as high as $250 million.
For More Information, Click Here
Citizens for Safe Water Around Badger
E12629 Weigand’s Bay South
Merrimac, WI 53561
phone: 608-643-3124
info@cswab.org
