People’s Environmental History of Madison

Before European-Americans came to the Four Lakes (Taychopera or DeJope) region and the U.S. government violently removed the Ho-Chunk Indians who had lived here for thousands of years, people could drink the water from the lakes and springs, and eat the fish, with no concerns whatsoever about poisons.

Within 75 years of white people’s settlement, the lakes were filled with sewage and a plethora of poisons.  Now, in 2021, there are hundreds more.

Most Four Lakes fish–which many people of color and low income people rely on for food– are toxic.

“The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” William Faulkner

Madisonians are drinking, breathing and eating their poisoned past…

How did this happen in one of the most privileged, educated, and purportedly environmentally-conscious cities in the country, considered a bastion of public engagement and democracy?

Which people have been–and are now–the most poisoned? Do they know? What are their stories? Do they have a voice? How do race, ethnicity, gender and class influence who is most exposed to toxic chemicals here?  Whose stories and voices do we hear–and whose do we not hear?

What powerful actors are responsible for this toxic mess? Were they held accountable? What roles did local and state government agencies, the University of Wisconsin, and the media play?

 What did people do in the past to question and resist? What are they doing now? How have city leaders responded to their questions and demands? 

We’ll explore these questions and more…

Some snippets of the People’s Environmental History…

City of Madison history

• Madison’s long history of racist planning and development (More in “Oscar Mayer polluted Starkweather, Yahara & Monona for 100 years, below)
• Low income housing built on “environmental nightmare”
• Earth Day in Madison, 1970
• Madison’s genocidal beginnings: Ho-Chunk “People of the Forest” forcibly removed

Madison’s drinking water: “Madison Fouled its Own Nest” series

• Part I: Madison Fouled its Own Nest
• Part II: “A Loss of Public Trust” in the Madison Water Utility
• Part III: “The Wicked Witch is Dead“
• Part IV: “Madison Underground, Contamination Central”

• History of Burke Sewage Treatment Plant (Part 1)
• History of Burke Sewage Treatment Plant: Utility to build over toxic sludge at former sewage plant on Madison’s Northside (Part 2)

Dane County

• Dane County Burn pit contamination began in the 1950s

Madison-Kipp Corporation

• Kipp raingarden saga (still ongoing)
• History of Madison-Kipp air pollution: Ignorance is Bliss (Part 3)
• History of Madison-Kipp air pollution: Ignorance is Bliss (Series Supplement)
• More Unanswered Kipp Questions: Was KLS Lubriquip at the Goodman site in the past?
• “Forgotten” Kipp Toxic Hotspot Bubbles to the Surface Next to Goodman Community Center

If you have any stories, photos (or poems and songs) about environmental pollution in Madison–past or present–please share them! Send to info@mejo.us.

Some long-time Madison polluters…

From the 1920s till the present, the U.S. Military and Oscar Mayer & Co., have polluted the Yahara River, Starkweather Creek, Lake Monona and downstream lakes.

For over 100 years, Madison-Kipp Corporation leaked and spilled PCBs and chlorinated solvents into our groundwater and drinking water.

On the right, from the November 2, 2017 edition of the weekly Isthmus newspaper…

Madison Gas and Electric fires in summer 2019 spewed black smoke over the Isthmus. Firefighting foam with PFAS in it was used in copious amounts. Where did it end up? In the lakes? What was in this smoke? Where did it go?

SITE UNDER CONSTRUCTION. TO BE CONTINUED…