As PFAS pollution in Madison is detected in more and more places, and as the government regulating the pollution (WDNR) and the government entities responsible for much of that pollution (military, county, city) do little about it, other polluters should not be forgotten. One is the closed Oscar Mayer factory on the north side. As a plastics and pesticide manufacturer, in addition to its food production and slaughtering, Oscar Mayer also has been a major contributor to soil and groundwater pollution in and around the factory, Starkweather Creek and Lake Monona.
In 2020, the City of Madison created a redevelopment plan and sought to create a new bus barn at the old Oscar Mayer site, downplaying environmental concerns, mostly because the current owners (Reich Rabin Worldwide) refuse to allow testing (!), and previous test results are limited.
But what will happen in 2021?
- The Hartmayer Natural Area is being sold by the Hartmayer Estate to Kraft Heinz, which owned Oscar Mayer! What will the corporation that closed and sold its Madison factory now do with this offsite land? Develop it or preserve it? Maybe make it into Weinerworld?
- Who will develop at Oscar Mayer? Housing, industrial, retail, office, streets, parking, parks are all possible for this large site. With all the other development projects going on in Madison, who will bet on this property, with untold millions of remediation costs as part of the deal?
- The City of Madison wants to buy some Oscar Mayer buildings along Aberg Avenue and renovate them to become a Metro Transit bus barn for its planned rapid transit vehicles. But that land is heavily polluted, has Ho-Chunk burial mounds on it, and the planned purchase is opposed by neighbors and environmentalists alike. The City wants to spend millions on property that most likely will take millions to clean up, if it can be. How is this a good idea?
Here are various links to MEJO’s work on Oscar Mayer’s pollution and related issues. It’s quite a fun read…
- Federal officials want more data on contamination, cleanup for Oscar Mayer site bus barn
- Opponents of bus barn at Oscar Mayer redevelopment site call for environmental review
- Environmental contamination concerns taint Oscar Mayer redevelopment plan
- Advocates push to save an urban wetland as part of the Oscar Mayer redevelopment
- Madison Northsiders say NO to Metro Bus Barn!
- Utility to build over toxic sludge at former sewage plant on Madison’s Northside
- Development disparities: Madison’s classist, racist beginnings are alive and well in 2020
- Madison alders approved city’s first environmental justice policy this summer–without knowing it
- PFAS found in groundwater under former sewage treatment plant
- Ignorance is Bliss (Part 2)
