[Image above from City of Madison website]
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As described in detail in the last post, from the 1930s to the 1950s the City of Madison pushed a plethora of wastes—residential garbage, old newspapers, construction debris, and much more—along the downtown Lake Monona shoreline to purposely “make land” for a park, highway, and Frank Lloyd Wright’s civic center. Coal ash from Madison Gas & Electric (MGE) was used as “daily cover” on the landfill. The dump, finished in the early 1950s, eventually extended up to 300 feet out into the lake in places.
Environmental investigations done in the 1990s showed that the old landfill was oozing carcinogens into the lake and groundwater. Investigative borings through the landfill found brick, glass, wood, cloth, shoes, concrete, newspapers, cinders, coal tar, fly ash, pieces of metal and other “miscellaneous materials” there. Several investigators observed and smelled petroleum contamination when sampling soils and groundwater. Experts warned that the 1,725 pilings that would be driven through the old landfill to hold the building up would serve as conduits for the contamination to move further into groundwater.
Nevertheless, after contentious political debates, legal petitions, and organized community opposition, the $67.1 million Frank Lloyd Wright Monona Terrace was begun in 1995 and finished in 1997, funded by the city, county, state, Evjue Foundation, and supported by a network of entities, public and private, recruited by the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce.
More details in “What Else Could Hurt Lake Monona,” Part II, coming soon…
The city plans to “reshape” the Monona lakeshore, but has no clue what’s there? Really?
Now, 25 years after Monona Terrace was built, the city is again proposing to “re-shape” the shoreline.
Is the city concerned about this “reshaping” project–which may also include expanding Monona Terrace and filling out further into the lake– disrupting the toxic contaminants in the landfill? Does it know what contaminants have leached from the landfill into Lake Monona over all these decades–and are leaching from it now? Or being sucked into nearby municipal Well 17? What contaminants are building up in fish, and in anglers—mostly Black—who fish from “the wall” at Monona Terrace?
Does the city care?
To date, all evidence I can find–or rather, not find–suggests that answers to these questions are NO, NO, NO and NO. In fact, the city not only hasn’t measured any of these things, but claims to have no records about what went into the landfill and what contaminants have been measured in soils and groundwater there to date. Really? If true, this is obviously not a priority. In other words, the city doesn’t care.
Several weeks ago, when I began working on the “What Else Can Hurt Lake Monona” series, I submitted an open records request to City of Madison engineering for any records related to the Law Park landfill (types of wastes that were dumped there, any environmental testing data, etc). In response, city hydrogeologist Brynn Bemis told me that the city couldn’t find any records, beyond a few indirectly related documents. (Brynn Bemis is the one–and I think only– city employee charged with staying on top of old landfills and other contaminated sites in the city, especially when there are plans for redevelopment at these sites. Part of her job is also to protect the city’s legal liabilities regarding these sites).
Not satisfied that these were the only documents the city has related to the landfill—which I found a bit hard to believe- I asked if perhaps there were more documents somewhere else. Eventually, after looking around and contacting other city employees, Bemis got back to me and said that there is in fact an entire room of records at Monona Terrace! I was pleasantly surprised. But after city architect James Whitney reviewed the records, he called me and said he found no records with information about the landfill or any environmental testing data.
Perplexed, I wrote to Brynn Bemis again: “I want to confirm that we’re back to where we started–the city does not have any of these records. So should I assume they were purged? Or, as I said yesterday, maybe they are somewhere else?”
Bemis responded, “I don’t know if the records you want ever existed.” To clarify, I asked: “Are you suggesting that maybe the city never had any records of what went into the landfill, and was never involved in any environmental testing there and/or at the city building built over it (Monona Terrace)–other than the couple docs you sent me before? That would be extremely odd, wouldn’t you agree?”
“They may have landfilled soil or material excavated, but I doubt we’d have those paper landfill tickets anymore,” she responded. “And back in the 1990s, you didn’t have to provide any testing data to landfill soil…but it’s possible no soil testing for contamination was ever conducted…The strip of Law Park shows up on unofficial maps as a historical fill site, but I’ve never seen any data or information about it, other than what we tested in 2010 replacing the launch…Let me know what you find out–I’ve always been curious about this historic fill site, since we have so little information.” (highlights added)
“It’s possible no soil testing for contamination was ever conducted”? Really?
Based on these responses, should I believe that the City of Madison—creator of the shoreline landfill, owner of the land and Monona Terrace—really has no records on what’s in the landfill and what contaminants are there?
Frustrated, and still looking for any and all data, yesterday I reviewed the 2010 document Bemis shared on the Law Park boat launch project, which includes these exchanges between Bemis and consultant Dennis Iverson.
On April 20, 2010, Iversen described the soils excavated for the boat lauch. “Note the cobbly and granular nature of the soil material,” He wrote “Also note the dark color…that was the material with odor. As you can see, this is not garbage material…” (It was probably MGE cinders, a type of coal ash, placed on the shoreline landfill as daily cover.)
Iversen also wrote “Please note there was “a diesel/fuel oil type hit of 520 mg/kg …above both reporting (10 mg/kg) and action level (100 mg/kg), so this data should be reported to the DNR.” (Many consultants over the years have observed, smelled, and/or tested diesel oil at the landfill, and some speculated that it was dumped purposely at the landfill). In a later email, he also noted that he “did notice there was some tetrachloroethene in the sample extract. So that is curious where that may have come from.”
After reviewing the data, he advised, “Bottom line is there are contaminants in the soil above action level, so landfilling is appropriate.” Bemis’ subsequent email says 21 tons of these contaminated soils from the boat launch rebuild were hauled to the Madison Prairie landfill.
Testing for the 2020 WisDOT Nolen-E. Wilson-Willy St reconstruction project
A more recent document Bemis shared, the 2020 Phase 2/2.5 Site Investigation Report done by the consulting firm TRC for WisDOT for the Nolen-E. Wilson-Willy intersection redesign (still under construction now), includes more data and detailed maps.
TRC tested an area that was part of the old Law Park landfill, just south of the John Nolen-E. Wilson-Willy St. intersection.
The map on the right is on pg. 14 (pdf) of the TRC report. This is the eastern end of the old Law Park landfill.
(A large stormwater drain from MGE also travels right through this area and discharges into the lake. This is the same stormdrain where PFAS was discharged into the lake after the MGE fire. The soils, groundwater, and sediments on the lakeshore here are likely chock full of PFAS).
But TRC investigations in 2020 did find significant PAH (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon) and metal contamination in soils and groundwater at this end of Law Park—at levels well over several standards and the DNR’s “Cumulative Hazard Index” or “Relative Potency Factor” approach, which assesses risks from the combination of contaminants present in soils.
The WisDOT report also included some data from the soil and groundwater contaminant data done at Law Park in the 1990s, further to the west of the above location, closer to where Monona Terrace was eventually built. Not surprisingly, given that the whole shoreline was a landfill, high levels of PAHs and metals were also found in that testing.
Map from pg. 15 (pdf) of 2020 TRC report (linked above). (The long narrow pink-striped N-S rectangle going into the lake is a large storm drain that drained the PFAS from AFFF firefighting foams during and after the MGE fire. There is still a shallow PFAS plume under MGE that is draining down this stormwater pathway)
TRC was clear on where this contamination likely came from. In the section on “contaminated soil management,” the 2020 WisDOT report said the contamination found “is likely associated with former landfill activities at this location…By 1950, the lakeshore had been altered, with 250 to 300 feet of additional land extending into Lake Monona along the Law Park area. From 1933 to the early 1950s, the Law Park area was used as a City landfill.”
Madison Gas & Electric coal ash was used as daily cover on the Law Park landfill. This coal ash is very likely one of the main sources of the toxic metals and PAHs found in this testing and testing in the 1990s (see “What Else Can Hurt Lake Monona” Part II, coming soon)
What happened to the contaminated groundwater sucked up during the interchange reconstruction? See this followup post.
Forgetfulness or laziness? Straight-up obfuscation? Or, maybe the city just doesn’t care?
Why would Ms Bemis tell me there was likely no data from the landfill when the very documents she sent me included some? Maybe she forgot about this data? Maybe she didn’t bother to read the documents she shared with me? That’s possible, of course–she’s no doubt very busy and poring through these documents is very tedious.
But even so, why did she so confidently assure me that the city had no records—and go even further to speculate that that perhaps no testing had been done–without even looking at the few documents she shared with me?
Again, she’s probably just very busy. Nevertheless, a more important question is: are these few documents (not directly related to the landfill) really the only documents and testing data the city has on the landfill? Why wouldn’t someone from the city go obtain any documents the DNR has, as the consultant Iverson advised Bemis in 2010, especially given the planned redesign of the whole lakeshore (landfill)? From the 2010 email to Brynn from Iverson, linked above:
“As I think I mentioned to both of you, I am aware of sampling done back in say 1993 or so, before the Monona Terrace was constructed, and that there was some interaction with DNR about the general environmental condition of that whole area…so that may be a good place to start with DNR. I recall doing some testing on east side of the building when I was with Woodward Clyde at that time and I understood there was DNR interaction regarding the results…DOA was handling most of the DNR contact at that time…”
Even if she didn’t remember this email (it was a long time ago) and didn’t look at the more recent TRC document with lots of data– it begs the question: Why is the city hiring consultants to reshape this shoreline land without bothering to review its own records to find out what’s in the “land” (landfill) these consultants will be reshaping? Or going to DNR to review their records on it?
It’s obviously a very low priority for the city to know what’s in the landfill and what might be leaching from it.
In fact, it’s such a low priority that this city engineer, responsible for all city landfills, recommended to me: “Let me know what you find out–I’ve always been curious about this historic fill site, since we have so little information.”
She’s “curious,” but not curious enough to go find records herself even though this is her job? Instead, she recommends that an unpaid city resident (me) go do the tedious work of trying to locate the documents and then “let her know” what I find?
Are these “we know nothing” answers the the truth? Or forgetfulness? Or lack of concern?
Or, is keeping this information buried–underground, out of sight, out of mind–the approach the city is taking as it actively promotes the lakeshore redesign, not wanting anyone to uncover details about this toxic dump?
I don’t know.
What about DNR?
As it turns out, I have been doing the work the city won’t do. I also filed an open records request with DNR, and reviewed all the files the agency has on Law Park Landfill.
There are many documents at DNR with contaminant data from Law Park, and other critical information. That said, monitoring what is leaching from the Law Park landfill into the lake and groundwater there after the center was built–and now–is also clearly not a priority for DNR.
In fact, the agency hasn’t monitored the site for decades. The most recent documents related to the landfill in DNR files are dated 1999—23 years ago.
Just as troubling, the DNR has never posted any of the relevant environmental documents in their files from the Law Park landfill on their remediation and redevelopment tracking site (BRRTS). BRRTS lists a few documents for the landfill, but none of the documents are actually there (see here and here). Weeks ago, I asked the DNR to send the few documents listed on these links (which oddly, weren’t in the files I reviewed), but other than one document about an oil slick on the lake in 1989, they have not yet done so.
Also, ironically, I found many documents from the 1990s (and earlier) generated by the city and/or sent to the city. How and why did these documents disappear from city files? Were they purged by someone at the city in past years? And again, how could Ms Bemis be unaware of them?
How can city decisionmakers and the public make good decisions about this giant shoreline reshaping project and its potential impacts on Lake Monona if government agencies don’t gather relevant data–and hide the sparse data they do have?
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In Part II of the “What Else Can Hurt Lake Monona?” series, coming soon, I’ll share some of what I learned from the DNR files…
[1] There are probably many relevant records at the state Department of Administration, a co-sponsor of Monona Terrace in the 1990s, as well as in the City’s Planning Department; but they are probably “disappearing” now as well, if they weren’t “purged” a long time ago.
