Thank you.
Count of Campbell residents on French Island this week filed a $42 million lawsuit against
the neighboring city of La Crosse for contamination from the cancer causing forever chemicals
or PFAS.
Red dots on this DNR map show areas where water samples on the island exceeded hazard levels.
The agency has named the city of La Crosse as the responsible party for the widespread
contamination related to firefighting foam that was used for decades at the city's airport.
PFAS were first discovered in La Crosse municipal wells and then in private wells.
More than 2,000 residents there are receiving bottled water from the DNR as a result.
For an update on the town of Campbell's water woes, we turn to Lee Donahue, a member of
the town's board of supervisors.
And thanks very much for being here.
Yes, thanks for inviting me.
So Lee, how long have residents been using boiled water and what kind of hardship is that?
So residents have been using bottled water that has been paid for by the DNR since spring
of 2021.
We were first notified that there was a possibility that there was contamination in our water
in October of 2020, so we're coming up on three years.
And the hardship is, imagine, trying to move five gallon jug of water.
They're unwieldy, they're heavy.
You have to find a place that you can store them that is climate-controlled.
You can't leave them in your garage or your front porch or back porch or your breezeway
because they will freeze during the wintertime.
So it's a tremendous hardship for people to find places to store them and to be able
to just heft them around and deal with the physicality of using large bottles of water.
How long before the DNR started supplying bottled water was PFAS seeping into the wells?
Well, truthfully, the PFAS could have been seeping into the wells as early as 1970.
That is the period of time that the city of La Crosse Airport was using the AFFF.
And it's likely that it's been there for 40 to 50 years.
We really don't know.
It was only discovered first in 2014 in one of the city wells that's co-located on the
island.
And then it was found in the second well in 2016.
And then we were notified in 2020.
So what is it like for people living there to have this dangerous contamination part
of their everyday lives?
You change everything that you do from when you wake up in the morning and you brush your
teeth with a little bottle of water at your back, at your sink.
You can't grow foods that you eat in the soil.
You can't use your sprinkler to water foods that you would grow in your backyard.
I have a raspberry patch that's probably 50 feet long and 10 feet wide, but I haven't
been able to eat a raspberry for years.
It's hard.
It changes everything that you do.
How will the $402 million directed from the governor and $125 million in the state budget
for PFAS mitigation help address the problem in the town of Campbell?
Well, a lot of that really depends on Senate Bill 312 and how that bill is structured
to be able to help small communities that are on private wells, access that PFAS trust fund.
It's unclear whether that bill will pass in its current form.
I know it's already been amended once and now there's discussion about further amendments
that it might come to the floor next week.
Do people want to stay on French Island or are people hesitant to locate there?
Well, I would say if it wasn't the water problem, it's a glorious place to live.
We're a small island.
We have our own fire department and police department and we're hugged by two rivers.
It's beautiful.
It's lovely.
It's a small town community, but when you can't drink the water out of your tap and
you have to maneuver these very heavy large bottles so that you have a safe alternative
source, it's a struggle for many people and many people have chosen to move elsewhere.
And certainly your community is not alone.
There are PFAS contamination sites certainly across the state.
Just briefly with less than half a minute left, what would be your advice to others
in the state suffering the same kind of thing?
Well, I think the most important thing is to make certain that the water you are drinking
is in fact safe.
It needs to be tested and you need to know.
I think that's number one, to protect your health and the health of your loved ones is
that you need to know that you have a safe source of water.
All right.
Supervisor Lee Donahue, thanks very much and good luck with this.
I said boiled water and in my first question, that was just a slip of the tongue and I decided
that's okay.
You did and you said bottled.
So I decided not to waste our time by going back and correcting myself.
But sorry about that.
No, that's okay.
A couple of things I did want to let you know is that there are two lawsuits in the town
of Campbell.
There are two class action suits.
One class action suit, which is suing the city of La Crosse, despite Campbell residents,
it is not by the town.
So that's a distinction that needs to be made.
Okay.
We said town of Campbell residents.
That's the one I was referring to.
Yeah.
Yep.
And then the other class action lawsuit is brought by the town of Campbell against the
manufacturers.
Right.
So currently there are two class action lawsuits that have been filed in Wisconsin
federal court.
And there's other lawsuits out there as well, right?
I mean, there are, there are numerous lawsuits.
I mean, if you look at the town of Stella and, you know, other folks across the area,
there are, there are many lawsuits.
There is the, where is the town of Campbell against the manufacturers?
What's the status of that right now?
I mean, what stage is it?
It's a very recently filed case I'm going to say within like the last month.
Okay.
I don't know how familiar you are with the cases.
Most of the cases go directly to what is called the multi district litigation down in
South Carolina.
Oh, really?
And that's where cases have actually been sitting.
Any PFAS in the nation, any PFAS case in the nation has been going to the MDL down in South
Carolina.
Yeah.
And many of them have been sitting down there for close to a decade.
Oh, nice.
That is why the Campbell town lawsuit against the manufacturers was filed in federal court
to see if in fact that can be adjudicated there as opposed to being stuck down in the
MDL where it may sit beyond my lifetime.
Wow.
That is really interesting.
I did not know that.
So this is Western district court.
Automatocine.
Yes.
I believe so.
Yeah.
I think it would be.
Yeah.
I'm not as familiar with the court system.
Okay.
But that's super interesting.
Thank you.
And thanks for, yeah, I was super focused on the thing that happened this week.
So the town of Campbell residents lawsuit.
Correct.
And it's not all the residents.
It's like a hundred out of like 4,300.
Right.
The other tag I would just I would share with you is that the house bill today was recently
passed includes $2 million for the town of Campbell for water utility.
However, that house bill also restricts more than 39% of the budget to the EPA and
to other federal agencies who are charged with protecting health and safety.
So I don't know if that bill is going to clear the Senate.
I don't know that that bill would be approved by the president.
It was very narrowly passed about 213 to about 200.
And that just happened within the last few hours.
Okay.
That's happening.
So too bad, too bad, a lot more couldn't happen a lot faster.
For you.
If we got the EPA, this, you know, PFAS will be rampant and there will be no one who's out
there watching out for us.
I know it's it's a very sad situation.
We will watch that and look to the US district court for updates on these other lawsuits.
Thanks so much.
I appreciate it.
You have a great game too.
We really appreciate it.
Thank you.
Take care.