Category: Environmental Justice

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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…

City of Madison Community engagement East Madison Community Center Environmental health Environmental Justice Fish PFCs or PFAS Racial disparities Starkweather EJ Project stormwater runoff Toxic Chemicals Truax Water Pollution Water quality

Capital City Hues on MEJO & EMCC Starkweather PFAS testing (Part 2)

May 21, 2020 Maria C. Powell, PhD

East Madison Community Center (EMCC) Starkweather project team members Mack Rimson, Kenyan Harper, and Elijah Smith (left to right) at a Starkweather Creek tributary, November 2019 (Photo: Maria Powell) **********…

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Capital City Hues on MEJO & EMCC Starkweather PFAS testing (Part I)

May 6, 2020 Maria C. Powell, PhD

MEJO and EMCC team meets to discuss Starkweather results in late February (Photo by Jim Powell) *********** Jonathan Gramling of Capital City Hues met with MEJO leaders and East Madison…

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PFAS, COVID and potential environmental racism

May 4, 2020 Maria C. Powell, PhD

By Brad Geyer, Safe Skies, Clean Water The draft environmental impact study acknowledged that there will be “significant disproportionate impacts to low-income and minority populations as well as children.” Although…

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Starkweather Creek PFAS sediment testing in the news

April 24, 2020 Jim Powell

Photo (Maria Powell): Bridges Golf Course ditch flowing into Starkweather Creek, where the highest levels of PFOS were found Nice coverage by a Madison newspaper of our Starkweather Creek sediment…

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Earth Day 1970 in Madison, Wisconsin

April 22, 2020 Maria C. Powell, PhD

Fifty years ago, on April 22, 1970, the first Earth Day events were held across the United States, spearheaded by Senator Gaylord Nelson (D-Madison) and Dennis Hayes, a Harvard Kennedy…

City of Madison Community engagement Dane County Earth Day Environmental health Environmental Justice Fish PFCs or PFAS Racial disparities Racism Risk Assessment Starkweather Creek Starkweather EJ Project stormwater runoff Toxic Chemicals Water Pollution Water quality Wisconsin DNR

MEJO and East Madison Community Center teens find significantly elevated PFAS levels in Starkweather Creek sediments

April 21, 2020 Jim Powell

Earth Day 2020: Fifty years after first Earth Day, toxic environmental pollution still pervasive (Madison, Wis.)–New PFAS results, released before the COVID 19 lockdown, show significantly elevated levels of PFOS…

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Low-income housing built on “environmental nightmare,” infectious agents

March 21, 2020 Maria C. Powell, PhD

Was the site cleaned up before development? No. ****************** In the last three years, low income apartments, an assisted living facility, and several Habitat for Humanity homes have been constructed…

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Superfund will not protect our waterways — or us — from the military’s toxic pollution

March 11, 2020 Maria C. Powell, PhD

Maria Powell, Cap Times op-ed Photo above: Starkweather Creek going through Truax Field The final environmental impact statement (EIS) on basing F-35 fighter jets at Madison’s Truax Field states that…

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MEJO Executive Director on PFAS and F-35s at Madison Truax Field

March 4, 2020 Maria C. Powell, PhD

Video by Bob Mincberg.

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The Final F-35 EIS is a total sham

February 23, 2020 Maria C. Powell, PhD

The public comment process for the draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for basing F-35s at Madison’s Truax Air National Guard base was not only token—it was a total sham. According…

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Water Utility dismisses public concerns, puts public relations over public health

January 21, 2020 Maria C. Powell, PhD

On January 9, 2020, the Isthmus published a cover story on PFAS: “The fight for safe drinking water; Will Madison officials pay attention to the science on PFAS?” I commend…

City of Madison Environmental Justice Fish Fish Advisory Public Health Madison Dane County Risk Assessment Starkweather Creek Toxic Chemicals Truax Wisconsin DHS Wisconsin DNR

High levels of PFAS found in Starkweather Creek, Lake Monona fish (gee, what a surprise!)

January 17, 2020 Maria C. Powell, PhD

In October, 2018–after months of asking the city, county, and DNR to test fish in Starkweather Creek–we posted this article asking why nobody would test the fish. We had known…

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PFAS Task Force RIP

December 21, 2019 Jim Powell

As we’ve experienced for twenty years in Madison, local government prefers to keep the public out of actions it takes–or does not take–regarding locally-occurring toxic pollution problems. The proposed Madison-Dane…