FREE NOVEMBER 23 EVENTS WILL BRING PROMINENT SPEAKERS TO WAUSAU
FREE NOVEMBER 23 EVENTS WILL BRING PROMINENT SPEAKERS TO WAUSAU
Events at Jefferson Street Inn will cover requesting public records from the government and contamination on Wausau’s southwest side
Have you ever wondered what your rights are in Wisconsin when it comes to getting public records from the government or how to actually request the records?
Or would you like to get important information about serious contamination on Wausau’s southwest side – like dioxin contamination – some of which the government has never provided?
If so, Citizens for a Clean Wausau (CCW) – a local environmental watchdog group comprised of volunteers – is asking you to mark your calendars for the afternoon of Saturday, November 23.
The group will be holding two free events for the public on November 23, starting at 1:30 PM at the Jefferson Street Inn in downtown Wausau. Both events are free and open to all. Food and beverages will be served. An event RSVP or registration is appreciated, but not required.
You can RSVP and reserve your free seats at the RSVPify link below:
https://records-and-contamination.rsvpify.com/
Each event on November 23 will feature prominent professionals from around the state or country.
“WORKSHOP” ON REQUESTING PUBLIC RECORDS FROM THE GOVERNMENT – 1:30 PM | PRESENTERS: BILL LUEDERS AND TONY WILKIN GIBART
The first event, starting at 1:30 pm, is a unique workshop that will provide residents and grassroots groups with insights into obtaining records from the government, such as citizens’ rights in Wisconsin when it comes to public records and tips on requesting them.
Sample templates and forms for open records requests will even be provided to attendees that can be customized and used for attendees’ use in their own future records requests to the government.
A portion of the workshop will specifically focus on public records requests for environmental and contamination matters, like records requests submitted to the Department of Natural Resources (DNR). Examples of how such requests made a positive community impact will be presented.
Bill Lueders and Tony Wilkin Gibart will be traveling to Wausau to present at this event.
Lueders serves as the elected president of the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council, a statewide group that works to protect public access to government meetings and records.
Gibart is the executive director of Midwest Environmental Advocates, a nonprofit environmental law firm that works to defend public rights, protect natural resources, and ensure transparency and accountability in government.
The event will be highly interactive, and attendees are encouraged to bring public records questions about the issues and efforts that they are currently working on.
DIOXIN AND PENTA CONTAMINATION ON WAUSAU’S WEST SIDE: INFORMATION RESIDENTS SHOULD KNOW, BUT THAT GOVERNMENT PROBABLY NEVER TOLD YOU – 3:30 PM | PRESENTERS: CCW AND STEPHEN LESTER
The second event, starting at 3:30 PM, will provide attendees with information from public records about dioxin and pentachlorophenol contamination in the Thomas Street neighborhood on Wausau’s southwest side. Records that CCW will present were acquired through years of citizen research.
If the government possesses certain important information about this significant contamination, why has it not made a greater effort to make the public aware?
Without some residents or property owners even knowing it, numerous homes and businesses on Wausau’s southwest side still sit on top of a massive plume of groundwater contaminated with pentachlorophenol. The penta contamination stemmed from the former Crestline/SNE site, which is currently the Wauleco site.
Public records show that the pentachlorophenol used in the past at the former Crestline and former SNE site – now the Wauleco site – contained dioxin. Results from historical dioxin testing associated with the Wauleco site appear to be some of the highest dioxin levels ever recorded in Wisconsin.
If that is the case, why has the public in Wausau not heard more about that dioxin contamination, and its history, from the government itself?
A Harvard-educated toxicologist with extensive dioxin experience, Stephen Lester, who worked with residents at Love Canal, will be presenting on dioxins and will field questions from attendees about dioxins. Lester also served on an independent panel in East Palestine, Ohio, after the train derailment. His piece critical of the EPA’s handling of dioxins in East Palestine was published in The Guardian. Lester is the CHEJ Science Director and was one of the individuals featured in the recent PBS documentary “Poisoned Ground: The Tragedy at Love Canal” that premiered on Earth Day.
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