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Thank you.

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Thank you.

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Thank you.

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Thank you.

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Thank you.

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Okay.

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So apparently there's some

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kind of matter having

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to do with a

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record deck or something

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like that.

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And I'm sure that

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our engineers are running around

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like how they do when

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the transmission

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line goes down or something.

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But they are

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crack engineers, so they'll have it

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back up very shortly.

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Sorry, I have no

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idea.

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What is the length of this segment

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tonight?

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It's like pretty short

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for us. It's about five.

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Just didn't want to drown on too

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long with certain issues.

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Oh, I'll cut you off.

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Yeah.

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Kidding.

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I have my lengthy answers and I have

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my shorter answers.

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Yeah, this is like oddly

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somewhere in between, right?

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How long have I been chair since?

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A year ago, yeah,

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April of last year.

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And were you on the town

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board before that?

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I've been the town board chair

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this last year,

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and I have been the fire

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chief out here for about 20,

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I've on the fire department 23

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years. I was the assistant chief for

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20 years, and I've the fire Chief

47
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for three years.

48
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Wow.

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Yeah, so my background is

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as an environmental health

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specialist.

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Perfect. I was, yeah, I was

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a commissioned officer with the U.S.

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Public Health Service, so I was

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active duty and served in

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the Public Health service.

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And so.

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Um, my background, I've been dealing

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with PFAS and stuff like that for

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probably the last 10 years.

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And so when our community started

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having issues, um,

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you know, I kind of stepped up and

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started asking a lot of very pointed

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questions.

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Um, and that's kind of what led me

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to become town work chair was,

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you know, people

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wanted someone that, you could help

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them with the answers, you

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know, or at least try to get the

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answers.

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That is really interesting.

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I never knew that, and that is so

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important, and how lucky,

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how lucky for

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the community to have

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you with that experience

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and background.

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And I worked for the government for,

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like I said, I worked for the

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Government for, goofy thing

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just came on again.

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I worked the government 34 years in

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service.

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I was five years in the Army and

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then I was 28 years with the Public

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Health Service. So I retired in 2022

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with 34

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years of military service.

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Nice pension.

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Yeah, doing alright.

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It pays the bills and keeps me busy,

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but I retired

95
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and seemed like I got more busy,

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busier.

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Well, yeah, it sounds like it.

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I think our engineers worked

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that through.

100
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Yep. Got it. Let's see.

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Perfect.

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Now that 125 million

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state dollars are coming to the

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rescue for communities across

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Wisconsin poisoned by the forever

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chemicals PFAS, the

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question is when will the money come

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and how much will go where?

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Those questions are front of mind in

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the town of Stella, a population of

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about 650,

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with some of the highest

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concentrations of PFAS in

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the country.

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Town Chair William Casey Crump is

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here, and thanks very much for being

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here.

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Thank you for having me.

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So what was your reaction when you

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learned the funds would finally be

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released?

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It was a relief,

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to be honest.

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It's been two years or

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three years, roughly, I think, since

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those funds were originally talked

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about.

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And to have the Senate and the

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governor finally come to an

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agreement and get that stuff signed

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off on and get it out is

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the first of many steps

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yet to come, I think.

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Yeah, because what do you know about

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how much Stella will receive?

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That's the great unknown.

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I've talked to DNR yesterday, as

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a matter of fact, and we're going

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to, they're still trying to figure

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out exactly who's going to control

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the money, how it's going to be

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distributed.

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They're not even sure themselves

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exactly, you know, whether it's

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going to be municipalities like

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Stella that end up getting some of

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the money or our residents,

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I should say, not necessarily the

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municipality.

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Or it's going to be public water

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works that get the money.

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We've got Wausau and we've got

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Tomahawk and Rhinelander even

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that have well issues

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for their towns, whereas out here

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in Starks, we're individual wells.

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And so each homeowner is responsible

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for that. And so it's very

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important, hopefully, that

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there will be some of that money

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that will go directly to those

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residents.

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Because would that be priority one

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for the funds in Stella, Private

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Wells?

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I would love to see it become

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priority one, either that or

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treatment systems.

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The way it is right now is the

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DNR did have some funds that they

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made available for people to have

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their wells redrilled.

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The problem is when those redrills

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were done, they still had PFAS in

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their water, which made their water

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undrinkable.

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Some of them came up, still had

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PFOAS, but it was below the level.

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So the secondary treatment on

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that is to put in a water treatment

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system in your

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I feel like we don't want

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a kitchen faucet treatment.

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We want a whole house treatment

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system because if you're only

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getting your drinking water from

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your kitchen sink, it's very

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hard to brush teeth, it

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makes it much more difficult.

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That's why a whole-house system

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would be important.

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Those are expensive, so again,

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money for that would be a blessing.

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Why not jump right to the whole

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house system instead of going

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through drilling

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new wells or deeper wells?

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Well, I think that if they can

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get clean water and they can get a

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well that works, that's a much

201
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longer term solution.

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And also,

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it's not going to

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be any more of a great cost

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on the residents.

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The whole home treatments require

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filters.

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Those filters run $300 to $500.

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They recommend you change those

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quarterly.

211
00:09:00,670 --> 00:09:01,969
There's two filters.

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So that's $1,000 each time they

213
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have to change the filter.

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So that' roughly $4,000 a year.

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That's very, very rough on

216
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our families out here.

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We're not a rich community.

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We're no vacation homes.

219
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We're farmers.

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We're ranchers.

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We're small, you know, we're

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blue collar people.

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So we've reported on this, but what

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is the known source of the PFAS

225
00:09:22,990 --> 00:09:23,990
in your community?

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Well, it's definitely,

227
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there is a lot of information

228
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that points to the paper mills.

229
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The sludge from the papermills, and

230
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I'm not sure if you know how that

231
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works and I won't go into great

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detail on that.

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But when they wash the paper, all of

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that water gets collected, all the

235
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stuff that comes off the paper gets

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collected. And it was looked at back

237
00:09:43,070 --> 00:09:45,089
in the 60s and 70s as a very,

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very high nutrient-rich

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fertilizer.

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00:09:48,210 --> 00:09:49,829
So they spread it on the fields out

241
00:09:49,830 --> 00:09:51,249
here for years and years and year.

242
00:09:51,250 --> 00:09:53,029
The property that I own, they spread

243
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clear back into mid-70s,

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I think, up until probably

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the time we bought the land.

246
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And so, paper mill has been

247
00:10:01,610 --> 00:10:02,809
a big part of that.

248
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And the paper mill here made

249
00:10:03,890 --> 00:10:06,089
microwave popcorn bags.

250
00:10:06,090 --> 00:10:08,369
Those bags were lined with PFOS

251
00:10:08,370 --> 00:10:09,809
to keep them from leaking, to keep

252
00:10:09,810 --> 00:10:11,269
the butter and the oil inside it

253
00:10:11,270 --> 00:10:12,209
from leaking out.

254
00:10:12,210 --> 00:10:13,689
And that's where the majority of the

255
00:10:13,690 --> 00:10:14,989
PFOS came from when they were

256
00:10:14,990 --> 00:10:16,389
treating those microwave popcorn

257
00:10:16,390 --> 00:10:18,259
bag. That's what we've been told.

258
00:10:18,260 --> 00:10:20,439
That's the history shows.

259
00:10:20,440 --> 00:10:22,039
And that, of course, is what the DNR

260
00:10:22,040 --> 00:10:24,159
pointed to in their announcement of

261
00:10:24,160 --> 00:10:26,849
a linked source.

262
00:10:26,850 --> 00:10:28,749
And so what do you know about the

263
00:10:28,750 --> 00:10:30,809
linked source having

264
00:10:30,810 --> 00:10:33,789
some responsibility toward

265
00:10:33,790 --> 00:10:35,889
remediation and

266
00:10:35,890 --> 00:10:37,949
helping the community?

267
00:10:37,950 --> 00:10:38,539
Sure.

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00:10:38,540 --> 00:10:40,379
And, you know, we're not the town

269
00:10:40,380 --> 00:10:42,099
itself is not involved in a lawsuit

270
00:10:42,100 --> 00:10:43,219
or anything like that.

271
00:10:43,220 --> 00:10:45,219
Some of our individual residents are

272
00:10:45,220 --> 00:10:46,919
involved in that lawsuit.

273
00:10:46,920 --> 00:10:48,779
But the the paper mill,

274
00:10:48,780 --> 00:10:50,619
Alstrom, who is like the third

275
00:10:50,620 --> 00:10:51,859
owner, I think, since I've lived

276
00:10:51,860 --> 00:10:53,719
here in the last 20 years,

277
00:10:53,720 --> 00:10:55,159
they have stepped forward and they

278
00:10:55,160 --> 00:10:56,819
are providing some drinking water to

279
00:10:56,820 --> 00:10:58,739
families that are have concerns.

280
00:10:58,740 --> 00:11:00,599
The problem with that is it's not

281
00:11:00,600 --> 00:11:01,679
a solution.

282
00:11:01,680 --> 00:11:03,619
It's just, I mean, they're only

283
00:11:03,620 --> 00:11:05,099
gonna provide the water and they're

284
00:11:05,100 --> 00:11:07,739
gonna reevaluate in January of 2027.

285
00:11:07,740 --> 00:11:09,079
So people may just turn around and

286
00:11:09,080 --> 00:11:11,239
lose that water if they just stop.

287
00:11:11,240 --> 00:11:13,279
And so my take on

288
00:11:13,280 --> 00:11:15,099
that is they should be using that

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water to test people's wells who

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wanna be tested and then help

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them out if there are high

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PFAS, help them with getting the

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treatment system or help them up

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with paperwork to get the DNR

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to provide some funds for

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well drilling or something like

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that. The money they spend on the

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drinking water is going to anybody

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that wants drinking water.

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They don't even have to have their

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well tested.

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And so obviously there's some

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room for individuals

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to get water that may not

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necessarily need it.

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So again, they're trying,

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I think it's a first step, a very

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basic first step.

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I have requested to sit down with

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them. I put that request in over

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a month and a half ago and I

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got a call back two,

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three weeks ago saying they were

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still trying to determine how

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and if and when they wanted to meet

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with us.

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So we're getting the spin there.

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It feels like to me because it's

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been more than a month since I

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made that request to them and we've

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heard nothing.

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Well we will keep watching the

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situation there and we appreciate

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your time.

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You betcha, thank you.

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For more on this and other issues

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facing Wisconsin, visit our website

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at pbswisconsin.org

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and then click on the news tab.

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That's our program for tonight.

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I'm Frederica Freyberg.

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Have a good weekend.

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Thank you.

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Thank you.