Category: Environmental Justice

Air National Guard City of Madison Environmental health Environmental Justice Fire fighting Madison Gas & Electric PFCs or PFAS Toxic Chemicals Water Pollution

PFAS from 2019 MGE fire continues to ooze, drain, and slosh into Lake Monona

March 1, 2021 Maria C. Powell, PhD

Firefighters spray PFAS-containing foam on exploded transformer at the Madison Gas & Electric Blount St. station in Madison, summer 2019 (Photo by Wisconsin State Journal) On July 19, 2019 an…

City of Madison Environmental health Environmental Justice Fish PFCs or PFAS Racial Justice Starkweather Creek Toxic Chemicals Water Pollution

Starkweather fish rests after hard work soaking up PFAS

February 17, 2021 Maria C. Powell, PhD

Free time after work! (Photo by Maria Powell, Summer 2018) This fish worked very hard cleaning up the PFAS in the west branch of Starkweather Ditch as it flows through…

City of Madison Environmental health Environmental Justice Fish Fish Advisory PCBs Pesticides PFCs or PFAS Pharmaceuticals Plastics Racial disparities Racism stormwater runoff Toxic Chemicals Water Pollution Wisconsin DNR Yahara Lakes

Monona Bay, Downtown Madison’s Toxic Cesspool

February 15, 2021 Maria C. Powell, PhD

Fish art on Monona Bay created by Eric Anang. Photo by Amber Arnold, Wisconsin State Journal. Graphic additions by a MEJO collaborator. PFAS was found at significant levels in Monona…

City of Madison Community engagement Environmental health Environmental Justice Madison Metro NEPA Oscar Mayer Public Participation Racial disparities Risk Assessment Toxic Chemicals Vapor intrusion Wisconsin DNR

Victory!! No Metro Bus Barn at the Poisoned Oscar Mayer site

February 3, 2021 Maria C. Powell, PhD

Oscar Mayer site in 1947 (photo from Wisconsin State Journal) Victory for Madison’s Northside! Madison’s Metro Transit authority has abandoned plans to buy the northern part of the highly-contaminated former…

Dane County Regional Airport Environmental health Environmental Justice PFCs or PFAS Starkweather Creek Toxic Chemicals Truax Water Pollution

How much PFAS is oozing down Starkweather Creek from Dane County Regional Airport & Truax base??

February 1, 2021 Maria C. Powell, PhD

Starkweather Creek flowing through the Darbo Worthington neighborhood, about a mile south of the airport and military base. See readable map here. Please contact info@mejo.us for reports with data depicted…

Air National Guard Cancer City of Madison Ecology Environmental health Environmental Justice Fish Fish Advisory Military PFCs or PFAS Racial disparities Racial Justice Racism Starkweather Creek Toxic Chemicals Truax Water Pollution

Oops! We poisoned the “Giants Among Us”–the Yahara lakes

January 22, 2021 Maria C. Powell, PhD

MEJO’s Jim Powell and Touyeng Xiong teach kids how to put bait on fish hooks at the Olbrich Park fishing pier on Lake Monona, summer 2018. Sadly, they couldn’t eat…

Air National Guard City of Madison Environmental Justice F-35 Fighter jets Fish Inequality Military Poverty Privilege Racial disparities Racism Starkweather Creek Toxic Chemicals Truax

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s forgotten “giant triplets” alive & well in Madison, Wisconsin

January 18, 2021 Maria C. Powell, PhD

From Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1967 speech, “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence”: “I am convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the…

Cancer City of Madison Community engagement Environmental health Environmental Justice Madison Metro Oscar Mayer Public Participation Racial disparities Risk Assessment Starkweather Creek TCE Toxic Chemicals Vapor intrusion Water Pollution

Madison Northsiders say NO to Metro Bus Barn!

November 22, 2020 Maria C. Powell, PhD

By Madison Northsiders No Bus Barn is the Northside community’s voice for better land use at the previous Oscar Mayer site. We are dedicated to place-making in this new era…

City of Madison Community engagement Environmental health Environmental Justice Fish Madison Gas & Electric Oscar Mayer PFCs or PFAS Racial disparities Risk Assessment Starkweather Creek Starkweather EJ Project stormwater runoff Toxic Chemicals Truax Wastewater Treatment Water quality

Utility to build over toxic sludge at former sewage plant on Madison’s Northside

November 13, 2020 Maria C. Powell, PhD

Above: Burke sewage plant “trickling filters” built around 1916. Photo from Wisconsin Historical Society ******* One of Madison’s long-standing corporate powerhouses, Madison Gas & Electric (MGE), plans to build a…

City of Madison Environmental health Environmental Justice Ho-Chunk Madison Water Utility Oscar Mayer Public Participation Racial disparities Racism Toxic Chemicals Toxins Vapor intrusion Water Pollution Water quality

Madison’s long history of racist planning and development

October 11, 2020 Jim Powell

Madison newspaper The Cap Times published this column on October 8. Column Madison’s long history of racist planning and development By Maria Powell | executive director, Midwest Environmental Justice Organization…

City of Madison Environmental health Environmental Justice F-35 Fighter jets Ho-Chunk Oscar Mayer Privilege Racial disparities Racism Toxic Chemicals Truax

Development disparities: Madison’s classist, racist beginnings are alive and well in 2020

September 10, 2020 Maria C. Powell, PhD

Photo: Oscar Mayer in 1947 (Wisconsin State Journal archives) ********** Flying in the face of its stated commitment to racial equity and social justice, Madison is as racist and classist…

City of Madison Environmental Justice Oscar Mayer Racial disparities Racism Toxic Chemicals Wisconsin DNR

Madison alders approved city’s first environmental justice policy this summer–without knowing it

September 4, 2020 Maria C. Powell, PhD

Dane County and Madison have some of the worst racial disparities in the nation. Elected officials vow time and again to fix things, but when there’s a choice between doing…

Air National Guard Department of Defense Environmental health Environmental Justice F-35 Fighter jets Military Pentagon PFCs or PFAS Racial disparities Racism Risk Assessment Starkweather Creek Toxic Chemicals Truax Trump Water Pollution

Faith Leaders Oppose F-35 Fighter Jets

August 3, 2020 Maria C. Powell, PhD

A full-page ad appeared in the Wisconsin State Journal on July 29, 2020 – speaking against the F-35 fighter jets for reasons of social and environmental justice, and world peace.…

Air Pollution Cancer City of Madison Climate Change Community engagement coronavirus Environmental health Environmental Justice Privilege Racial disparities Racism Toxic Chemicals

Police brutality and environmental injustices are connected

June 11, 2020 Maria C. Powell, PhD

(Image from The Nation) MEJO condemns the brutal killing of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer–and commends Black Lives Matter, other racial justice activists, and all…

City of Madison Community engagement Dane County East Madison Community Center Environmental health Environmental Justice Fish PFCs or PFAS Public Participation Racial disparities Racism Starkweather Creek Starkweather EJ Project stormwater runoff Toxic Chemicals Water quality Wisconsin DNR

Northside teens push for creek clean-up after new sediment tests find high levels of PFAS — again

May 28, 2020 Maria C. Powell, PhD

By Oona Mackesey-Green, Northside News (photo by Garth Olmanson) When the test results came back in February showing high levels of PFAS in the sediment at Starkweather Creek, a foot…