As you may be aware, the Legislature is out of session until January so there is little legislative activity to report. However, here are updates on a couple important issues that have been of interest to many people.

As many of you are aware Perrier water bottling is attempting to dig two high capacity water wells in Wisconsin. The wells would be dug in Adams County about six miles east of Wisconsin Dells and operated by Great Spring Waters of America, a Perrier subsidiary. Each of the two wells would pump 75 to 150 gallons a minute, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. At a rate of 100 gallons per minute, one well could pump out more than 1 million gallons a week.

The DNR gave its approval for the wells on Thursday September 21st with the understanding that before digging begins, Great Spring must conduct state-supervised studies and modeling on the impact to ground water. The DNR will use those results to determine the exact location for the wells and to set a pumping rate that will do the least environmental harm.

There are several groups that have threatened a lawsuit to stop the wells. I agree with Ed Garvey, one of the attorneys representing the opponents, when he said he found it "quite remarkable" that just two days after state Attorney General Jim Doyle threatened to take action against Perrier if the project went forward, DNR Secretary George Meyer "rushed headlong" into approving the wells.

When the Assembly convenes in January we must take a long hard look at current state law and pass stronger legislation to stop the Perrier plant and future such endeavors to ensure that the groundwater of Wisconsin is protected for future generations.

The actions of the DNR clearly articulate the necessity to restore the independence of the Secretary of the DNR and the restoration of the Public Intervenor's office.

In September, vandals opened a valve of an oil/tar truck owned by Struck and Irwin on Williamson Street causing the contents to drain into the sewer system and into Lake Monona. Several Residents on Jenifer Street awoke to the smell of oil and a polluted lakeshore. It took some time to figure out what the source of the contamination was.

Once the severity of the situation was realized the DNR was called in to help clean up and contain the spill. Several people contacted my office with concerns over the initial clean-up efforts. Indeed, the DNR had thought that the pollutants had been dispersed when in fact they had not.

Below is a copy of the latest update that I received from the DNR concerning the spill on Friday September 29th. If you have any questions or concerns regarding this issue please do not hesitate to contact me.

Shoreline cleanup consisted of picking up oil hanging on the rocks - especially next to the Livingston Street outlet, picking up oil soaked/stained aquatic vegetation that has gathered along the shore and cleaning boats, docks and piers with a light solvent that removed the asphalt emulsion. Some of the shoreline property owners said they would be removing their docks and piers in the next week or so and requested that we (Struck & Irwin) wait and clean the asphalt stains at that time. Since the asphalt emulsion has hardened and won't be washed off easily, I said that was acceptable. Efforts to further clean blackened rocks has pretty much come to a halt. The loose oil and tar at or near the water level has been picked up with absorbents. I told Struck & Irwin not to use any solvent cleaner on rocks that are at or near the water level. Hence, in some areas, we still have a 12-18 inch band of black on the rocks. This black band has hardened and will be removed thru abrasion over time.... If we get a sheen along the one really black stretch, we will put absorbent booms out and keep them in place there for as long as needed (several more weeks). Almost all the stained or oiled weeds have been removed from the shoreline or dug out of the rocks. Struck & Irwin will continue to keep pieces of oil absorbent pads in some of the small crevices that are holding or slowly releasing oil.

No oil or sheen was observed all week at the Blount Street discharge point...No sheen had been seen this far from the outfall since last week. Hence there was nothing for them to pick up.

The storm sewer catch basins along the bike path from Livingston Street to Blount Street are checked every day. There are absorbent booms in five of these catch basins. As oily scum or tar builds up on the booms, they are changed (usually every 2nd or 3rd day). Since Tuesday, four of the five catch basins have not accumulated any significant oil/tar. However, the catch basin on the east side of Livingston, closest to where the asphalt emulsion was spilled, continues to yield some oil scum and tar on a daily basis. The storm sewer line above this point is in poor condition - has several broken chunks of concrete in it. We suspect this broken concrete is holding back some tar and oil. Hence this stretch of the storm sewer may continue to release oil or tar periodically for some time to come. We will continue to check these catch basins regularly and change booms as needed for at least another week.

Since we released Superior last week Wednesday (9/20), Stuck & Irwin has been responsive and cooperative. The Elks Club, affected lakeshore property owners and area fishermen have all been supportive and patient.

As always, you can reach me at (phone) 266-8570, (e-mail) mark.pocan@legis.state.wi.us <mailto:mark.pocan@legis.state.wi.us> or you may write to P.O. Box 8953 Madison, WI 53708.

-Representative Mark Pocan

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