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Tyco fire products reached

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a settlement this month with the

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state of Wisconsin to clean

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up PFAS contamination in

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Marinette County.

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Tyco manufactured firefighting

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foam that spread the forever

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chemicals in soil and water.

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The settlement requires Tyco

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to put $10 million into

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Wisconsin's PFAS trust fund

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for future cleanup.

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Provide clean water in the Marinette

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area, including deep drinking

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water wells in a prescribed area

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for 20 years,

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monitor and report water quality

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within the 35 square miles

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that includes parts of the

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city of Marinette and the town of

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Peshtigo, and requires

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Tyco to remediate and restore

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the environment in soil,

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groundwater, and surface water.

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Another lawsuit against the company

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and others is ongoing.

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For reaction to the PFAS

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settlement, we turn to Jeff Lamont,

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a resident in Marinette and a

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retired hydrologist.

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And Jeff, thanks very much for being

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here.

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You're welcome. Thank you for having

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me.

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So, how long in coming was

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this settlement?

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Um, we...

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The AG call

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was up in Marinette for a DNR

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listening session, you know, which

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they were doing about every six

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months at the time to update the

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public on what was happening

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and what Tyco was doing.

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And in 2019

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December, we were

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able to beg some time from him

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and pleaded our case

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to file this suit

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against them for essentially

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at the time not reporting this.

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They found PFAS on their

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fire training facility three

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and a half to four years before

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they reported it to DNR,

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which violated the spills

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law. And they let the

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community drink this contaminated

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water for four years, before

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reporting it.

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So yeah, we're

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seven years.

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And we were first informed

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of the contamination in

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November of 2017.

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So it's almost been 10 years.

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But in your mind, this settlement

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barely touches the problem?

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Yes, well, so the settlements

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were not

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happy at all about because what

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it did essentially it

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said there was the

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initial investigation area

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and then there was an expanded

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investigation area and

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for 10 years the DNR had

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fought with Tyco about the

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responsibility be beyond

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this essential first

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area that was investigated.

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The contamination was the same.

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I mean, we're talking in places

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where its neighbors right across

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the street. Well, we were going to

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take care of you on this side of the

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street, but the other side of the

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Street, that's not our

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contamination.

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And this lawsuit limited

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their liability to just the

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initial investigation area,

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not the expanded investigation area

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or the 3,000

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acres of contaminated

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biosolids that was spread in

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Marinette County.

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But isn't the

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settlement and the 125 million

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dollars in state funding and

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potential of an ongoing lawsuit

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a starting point, better

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than nothing?

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It is better than nothing.

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But if you want to put that into

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perspective, Tyco has

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set aside $180 million

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just for

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this site.

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So I mean, we're just one

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of many, dozens,

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if not hundreds, in the state

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that are impacted.

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So it really does not

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go very far.

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And the deep wells

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Tycho has been putting in

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approximately $100,000

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a piece. So if you look at another

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$10 million, that

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might address another 100

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wells in the community beyond

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the initial investigation area that

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are still contaminated with their

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PFAS.

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So you have experience in

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large-scale cleanups with

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the EPA.

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What in your experience should

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be happening?

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Well, you know, I tried

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to let the citizens and our

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community know that these are very,

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very long drawn out processes.

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I mean, a lot of the Superfund sites

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that I worked on had

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been in the

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gears for 10, 15,

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20, sometimes 30 years before

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the remediation actually went into

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place or started.

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And often these remedial

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efforts can take multiple years.

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The Waukegan Harbor cleanup I

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did, we were there for seven or

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eight years from once

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we started the

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project, so.

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Can PFAS,

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these forever chemicals, can

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they be removed,

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remediated, make

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people safe?

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They can be, there's

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a number of technologies and

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as PFAS has become such

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a huge problem,

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country-wide, a lot of companies

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have started to invest a

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lot money in different techniques to

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clean up.

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Tyco chose, in my opinion, a very

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ineffective solution.

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They did a pump and treat system

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to remove shallow groundwater and

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treat it with. Granulant-activated

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carbon and

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resins.

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And it can remove that,

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but there are more practical

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ways. They're more expensive.

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The reactive barrier walls are

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one that is being used a lot these

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days on Air Force bases and

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in different communities across the

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country.

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But Tyco chose, in my opinion, a

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very ineffective method to address

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this.

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How can the sources of contamination

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be held accountable in

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your experience?

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Well, in this particular case, this

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fire training center, I mean, they

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were testing for 60

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years, these

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AFFF foams

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by igniting

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accelerants and then

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having different groups that were

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being trained, whether it was

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Department of Defense or whether it

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different fire departments

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from different communities,

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airports.

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They would spray this phone directly

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on open ground to

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put these accelerants out, the

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trainers, and then once they were

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done, they would just hose it down

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to the original ditches.

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So I

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would have liked them seeing them

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do a reactive barrier on

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their site.

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This groundwater treatment system is

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approximately a half

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mile downgradient for their site,

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so. Typically a big source

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like this you you want to do source

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control you want to control the

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contamination where it happened

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instead of a half mile or

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a quarter mile down the road from

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where it happened.

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The high school Marin High School is

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between the fire training center

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and where the growler extraction

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system is going.

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So all the all the water

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underneath the high school

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is contaminated.

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And of course, we're learning now

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that air deposition

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and and deposition to

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rainwater is a significant

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contributor to this.

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And so, you know, when they would

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burn, this soot would go

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right over the high school.

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And I remember talking to one of the

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teachers there that retired there

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saying, every day I would walk out

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after they'd burn, I'd have to wipe

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my car down because there would be

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this dust from the fires on

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my vehicles.

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Do you hold out hope that

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this will be adequately

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remediated in Wisconsin?

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Um, not

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a lot with, without

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significant, you know,

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outpour and outcrying from the

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public, um, it's

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just, it such a costly endeavor

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that, um unless

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there's a responsible party like

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we have Tycho

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Johnson controls, um

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this is going to fall on the

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taxpayer and you know there's only

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so much resources in the state

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budgets for this kind of thing.

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And like we talked about earlier,

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$135 million is kind

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of a drop in the bucket, really.

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But it is a starting point.

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So I should be more optimistic,

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I guess, for that.

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All right. Well, we will leave it on

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that note.

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Jeff Lamont. Thanks so much.

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Thank you so much.

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Thank you.

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Yeah, what a disaster

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puts it too mildly.

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It is.

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We just we just wrote the secretary

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for the DNR, the interim one

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here, because

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AG Cole suggested

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that we reach out for that money so

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that 10 million dollars were

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trying to trying to get it to be

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spent in the Marinette area and not

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just thrown into the state coffers

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and used elsewhere where

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we would have to compete with other

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sites for that.

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I mean the 10 million is there

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because of us.

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And we think it should be used

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there. So we're lobbying big

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time at the state to have those

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additional funds spent here

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for those people outside

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the area that the settlement does

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not include.

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So we've got our fingers crossed.

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Yeah

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Absolutely.

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I mean, there's a cluster of

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three teenage high school boys

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within a two block

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area in the town,

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all with testicular cancer,

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which is one of the six that was

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defined by the large study

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that was done, you know,

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in Parkersburg, West Virginia.

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So, so, so Absolutely

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I have a niece that recently

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00:10:21,620 --> 00:10:23,599
had her third and fourth child

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00:10:23,600 --> 00:10:25,699
in the past couple years.

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00:10:25,700 --> 00:10:27,579
She had a preeclampsia

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00:10:27,580 --> 00:10:28,939
associated with both of those

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pregnancies and she lives in the

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plume.

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So, yeah, yeah.

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We have friends and neighbors that

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have been impacted health-wise.

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That was another thing we thought

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00:10:38,820 --> 00:10:40,699
the settlement didn't do.

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00:10:40,700 --> 00:10:43,099
We were hoping that

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they would kick off or require some

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kind of medical monitoring

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or some.

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00:10:49,200 --> 00:10:50,879
Something associated with the

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00:10:50,880 --> 00:10:52,519
settlement and there was nothing,

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00:10:52,520 --> 00:10:53,520
so.

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Alright, well thank you on

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behalf of Wisconsinites,

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00:10:59,700 --> 00:11:00,760
thank you for your work.

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00:11:02,000 --> 00:11:03,039
Thank you so much.

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00:11:03,040 --> 00:11:04,139
Marissa, if you could send me the

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00:11:04,140 --> 00:11:05,839
link when this goes, that would be

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00:11:05,840 --> 00:11:06,840
wonderful.

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00:11:10,040 --> 00:11:11,999
Thank you.

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Appreciate it. Bye now.