[Above: June 2021 plume map of PCE emanating from Madison-Kipp Corp, north-south cross section/isocontour. Where is Madison-Kipp? Above the solid blue line at the top. Why is it not depicted on these maps?]
For anyone who believes that Madison Kipp’s giant plume of toxic chlorinated solvents (and plethora of other poisons) under the increasingly hip and expensive Atwood-Schenk area** was magically fixed by the “Groundwater Extraction System” (GETs) Kipp was required to install as part of the RCRA class action lawsuit–see the most recent plume maps, from June 2021 Kipp consultant reports above and below.
Also, troublingly, the GETs system discharges significant amounts of PCE, TCE and unknown amounts of metals and PCBs, into…yes, you guessed it–Starkweather Creek, 2500 feet from the Atwood facility. But nobody seems to care.
Further, PCE levels in one of Kipp’s key deep monitoring wells have dramatically increased in recent years (see graph to the right). Also Well 17, at the furthest southeast corner of the Kipp property (in the direction of Well 8) had 696 ug/L PCE and 45 ug/L TCE in the most recent testing (the groundwater enforcement standards for PCE and TCE are 5 ug/L; the WI DHS recently proposed that TCE’s ES be lowered to 0.5 ug/L).
Perhaps these are among the reasons the Madison Water Utility recently revived its earlier plan to place a sentinel well between the factory and Well 8 in Olbrich Park, which many in the community thought had been abandoned? Also, given that Well 15 has been shut down since 2019 due to PFAS contamination, the utility has to rely on Well 8 more than it has been in recent years (as a seasonal well) to supply water to the east side. This will draw the Kipp plume towards the well faster. Perhaps this is already pulling Kipp’s plume deeper and to the southeast?
Curiously, the report’s maps (below) and graphs like the above only depict PCE (perchloroethylene)–they don’t include TCE (trichloroethylene, even more toxic than PCE), vinyl chloride, and other related chlorinated chemicals present in this plume.
Why isn’t DNR asking Kipp’s consultants to include these other poisons, especially TCE, in the plume maps? Is anybody paying attention? Does anybody care?
There are numerous other reasons to question the maps by Kipp and its consultants. These maps are mostly based on modelling, and are subject to creative manipulations and omissions depending on what the polluter wants to show–or more often, does not want to show.
How far north and south has Kipp’s plume traveled? How far east and west? Even these questionable maps show that the consultants don’t know, because they have never measured that far. In past years, Kipp’s consultants and government officials have claimed that the plume has never made it into Lake Monona–a ridiculous and unsupported claim, as we described in this post. (At the end of 2013, when I asked DNR several questions, including about more groundwater testing to the south of the factory, Walker’s DNR (headed by Cathy Stepp) refused to answer and informed me that I would need to pay $700 to ask any more questions.)
And what about the highly hazardous and persistent PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls), which soaked into soils and groundwater under the factory at such high levels at the factory site that EPA had to be brought in? Has everybody forgotten about them?
Superfund-levels of PCBs–up to 20,000 ppm under the factory building– remain at the factory site (though former Kipp CEO Tony Koblinsky assured us that this is just “ordinary dirt“). One day the company, the city, and the neighborhood will have to deal with this giant toxic problem in their midst.
**Last but not least, Goodman Community Center, just north of Kipp and the hip neighborhood, serves low income kids of color from neighborhoods such as Darbo Worthington, Rethke Terrace, Truax. These kids are at ground-zero for exposures to Kipp’s pollution. We tried for years to get the powers-that-be to address this egregious environmental justice situation–to no avail. They aren’t exposed, city staff and Public Health Dane County assure us. Yup. Of course. Public health and environmental agencies here have never required Kipp to measure vapor intrusion in the center, or any other exposures to these kids, such as the poisons being emitted from Kipp’s air stacks just feet away from where they are playing.
Assessing TCE vapor intrusion is particularly critical. Along with other parties responsible for sites with TCE contamination, Kipp got this letter from DNR in April 2021. It says:
“Recent studies indicate that vaporized trichloroethylene (TCE) in indoor air is more toxic than previously understood…TCE poses short-term risks to human health that justify accelerated assessment, investigation and mitigation of the vapor intrusion pathway…Assessment of the vapor intrusion pathway is part of the investigation process and should be assessed as early as possible and routinely re-assessed throughout the life of a project…Immediate and interim actions may be necessary early in the site investigation process to protect human health from contaminated vapors…The DNR believes the health risks of TCE vapors are serious enough that it should be one of the first things evaluated as part of a site investigation, especially at sites where contamination may impact sensitive populations. RPs should be diligent about screening for TCE in vapors as early in the site investigation process as possible, to determine if immediate actions are warranted to reduce harmful exposure. Unfortunately, many RPs and consultants wait until late in the site investigation process, or even at case closure, before taking steps to assess the presence of vapors and any needed mitigation efforts. We are encouraging you to do this as one of the first steps in your site investigation.”
Unfortunately, this DNR letter has no regulatory clout–and will likely be ignored by most responsible parties, especially powerful ones like Madison-Kipp Corp. To date, blowing off existing DNR laws, Kipp has never assessed any kind of vapor intrusion in the Goodman Center–PCE, TCE, or anything else– and DNR has not demanded that they do so, nor has Public Health Madison Dane County.
We have learned over the years that this is Madison’s tried and true approach to environmental justice. Don’t measure the exposures and they don’t exist! Voila. The problem goes away. Everybody forgets about it.
But the invisible toxic chemicals have not gone away, nor have the unmeasured human exposures.
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Kipp PCE plume 2021 north-south isocontour:
Kipp PCE plume 2021 east-west isocontour:
