Fort Howard Sludge Lagoons
Despite DNR and EPA claims that the Lagoons are 'safe,' serious questions remain at the Sludge Lagoons, where between 300 and 400 tons of wastewater treatment plant sludge are dumped each day, from Fort Howard Corporation's paper recycling operations in Green Bay. The sludge is contaminated with hundreds of toxic chemicals.
Half a Bath Tub --- The Lagoons were not modern engineered landfills. Sludge was dumped into unlined 'cells' for more than 3 decades. When serious concerns were raised about the Lagoons, the company hastily built a 'clay cutoff wall' around the site. This wall extended down into the ground to join with a natural clay layer running underneath the lagoons. Unfortunately, the cut-off wall extends only halfway around the site, in a half-moon arc --- so nothing prevents leakage on the opposite side. It's like trying to hold water in half a bath tub. And no one can be sure the clay under the Lagoons is continuous. Even a small section of gravel or sand interrupting the clay layer would provide a direct route for toxic water to leak into drinking water supplies.
Pumps Guaranteed to Fail --- The only thing preventing groundwater contamination from the Lagoons is the pump which sucks groundwater toward the site and prevents water from leaving it. But it's only a matter of time before the pumps fail. It may be a decade, 50 years or 100 years, but at some point the pumping will stop and a pulse of contamination will radiate out into underground drinking water supplies. No engineering system is foolproof for centuries. Even if the pumping resumes, some toxics will have escaped in the meantime.
Consider the Seventh Generation
--- Chemicals in the Lagoons will be toxic for centuries, some forever.
How long will Fort Howard pay for continuous groundwater pumping? For hundreds
of years? Our great great grandchildren will need clean water to drink,
but will Fort Howard still exist? When will Fort Howard be required to
find a permanent solution? Will they be allowed to pay the lower cost of
pumping now, then go out of business and leave long-term pumping or clean-up
to taxpayers? Wouldn't it be better to require them to clean-up now ---
while they are still a profitable corporation with billions of dollars
in financial assets? Why should the company ask our great grandchildren
to cover their liabilities?
Toxics Dumped in Air and Bay
--- Water pumped from the Lagoons is sent to the Green Bay Metropolitan
Sewage District for treatment. Yet the sewage plant isn't designed to treat
toxics --- it doesn't have a 'tertiary toxics removal' stage, except for
removing Ammonia. At best, some of the toxics would be removed with the
sewage sludge, but that sludge is incinerated, creating toxic air pollution.
The remainder of the Lagoon toxics would be diluted in the much larger
sewage flow and dumped in Green Bay, to add to the Bay's serious contamination
problems.
Toxic Tea Bag --- Fort
Howard claims that water samples taken from within the site show that toxic
chemicals are not present in high concentrations in the water. Yet, those
samples were taken while powerful pumps were drawing fresh groundwater
into the lagoons. This would dilute the chemicals. Without the pumping,
the lagoons would behave like tea bags in the groundwater. The longer the
teabag soaks in the water, the more concentrated the toxic tea becomes.
This toxic tea would then percolate into groundwater and drinking water
supplies beyond the lagoons.
Toxic Ash, Blowing Dust and Odor --- Neighbors of the Lagoons have had many problems with foul odors, blowing dust, and fumes --- badly damaging their peace of mind and raising concerns about their health. If the Fort Howard Incinerator is built, additional toxic ash could blow off-site and threaten public health.
Social Justice --- National studies show that the majority of toxic dump sites are located in low-income, minority, or Native American neighborhoods --- unfairly exposing these populations to higher-than-average health risks. The Sludge Lagoons are no exception --- located on lands under the jurisdiction of the Oneida Indian Tribe of Wisconsin. Brown County also placed another major landfill in the Oneida Reservation. Social justice demands that this situation be corrected.
Self-Monitoring --- The DNR and EPA based decisions on data supplied by Fort Howard's own monitoring program. In other words, the agencies trust Fort Howard. We believe this trust is unwarranted, given Fort Howard's several environmental violations over the past decade, and their long history of disregard for public health and environmental protection. Independent monitoring should be required.
Water is Valuable --- As our population grows, groundwater will be more precious. Already, area communities struggle to find secure, clean supplies. The deep aquifers are non-renewable supplies created by the last ice age. They will be depleted. Only shallow aquifers are recharged by rain and snow. Scientists predict our withdrawal rates from the Great Lakes are not sustainable, yet southwestern states are expected to push for additional pumping to serve them. The possibility of global climate change also threatens our water supplies. It is vital that we address the Lagoons' longterm threat to area drinking water. It makes no sense to waste energy and precious water by pumping groundwater and throwing it away. A permanent solution is needed.
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