At 10:30 today there was a press conference where Rep. Chris Taylor and community leaders spoke about the final Envionrmental Impact Statement on the F-35s and what is said, or didn’t say!
Here’s the video:
STATE REPRESENTATIVE CHRIS TAYLOR
Well hello everybody, my name is state representative Chris Taylor and I represent the 76th Assembly District which we’re in. I did want to start this morning by just recognizing the tragedy at Molson Coors and extending just our heartfelt sorrow to our Milwaukee community and all of the family and friends impacted. In the wake of these tragedies the answer is not to do nothing it is to do everything. And we need to take up the governor special session bills because this this kind of tragedy is not inevitable. We can do a lot to reduce these incidences. And we must do so. So, our heart and our thoughts are with our Milwaukee community this morning.
- Over 2200 individuals are now going to be in a zone deemed potentially incompatible for residential use. What that really means is you’re not going to on live in these zones. Who wants to live in a place where you can’t open your window or your door. Or your kids can’t play outside. Is that the community, is that the neighborhood people want to live in?
- if people are able to obtain federal help in doing some mitigation, what we know is first of all it’s a big if. A lot of people aren’t going to be eligible and it’s going to take years, if not decades.
- We also know that the initial military jet operations are going to increase 47% for an unspecified amount of time. That is again confirmed in this Final EIS. And we know the serious increase in noise that our communities are going to experience are going to have a significant disproportionate impact to low-income and minority populations, as well as children. Resulting in environmental injustice to these communities. Again this is one of the most severe consequences of any site being considered and it will worsen the severe racial inequities that already plague our city and our county.
Why on earth would we want to do this? Despite repeated requests, I alone have made three, to the Air Force, they again failed to provide basic information to our community.
Here is a chart this was provided to Burlington, Vermont which is the latest site to get these planes. They’re they’re somewhat similar to us, they’re an air national guard base. Their airport is in a more residential community. But I want to point out that this is a measure of the noise, the noise difference between an f-16 which we currently have and an f-35. This is sound exposure level, it’s one of the most accurate predictions of noise because it measures not just the intense noise but the duration of the noise. 17 decibel difference. What this means is, what this chart shows is that these f-35 planes are 17 decibels louder. What that translates into the human ear is four times louder. Do not believe the lie, by the proponents, that these jets are not louder. I have heard them with my own ears. I had been to Luke Air Force Base, they are the loudest things I’ve ever heard in my life. Don’t believe the lie.
We were not provided this. What is the Air Force hiding? Why wouldn’t they provide this kind of comparison? I asked for it many times, many of you is standing behind me, and let me tell you this is a big coalition behind me. These are members of our community that have come together. We asked for this information, they refuse to provide it. What is the Air Force hiding? That is my question, what are they hiding?
The other really harmful impact that has been, I think not fully explored, is the impact in regards to PFAS contamination, these are these forever chemicals. We know there’s contamination on the Truax Base, it spread to our lakes, it’s spread to our waterways, a city well has been shut down, the State Department of Natural Resources has urged the public to not eat fish out of Lake Mendota or Starkweather Creek. These are forever chemicals. They are very difficult to get rid of. Well the finally EIS lists only three sites that have potentially released these horrible pollutants into the environment, our lakes, and our creek. But the Air National Guard has yet to complete a full site investigation. And they don’t know the extent of this contamination. So the full impact of digging up acres of contaminated soil which is what the Air National Guard is proposing, is also unknown. It also could have severe consequences for our community in terms of pollution that’s getting into our lakes and our waterways. For the sake of access to clean water alone this proposal should be stopped. It’s absolutely ridiculous. The cost and harm is just too great to our community. We will not risk our clean water.
So who is pushing this proposal? It’s certainly not the communities being impacted, as I have said, those who have contacted me vehemently oppose. Who’s pushing this is a network of Madison corporate power structure. That seems more concerned about getting maybe military contracts and increasing corporate profits than protecting the health and vibrancy of our communities. That who really is behind this proposal.
I am really urging everybody to call your elected officials, raise your voices, tell them you do not support this, that this is a bad idea for our community.
I would say this as well, that every elected official has a voice in advocating for our community. If you do not have a voice, do not run for public office. You have a voice, use your voice.
So next we are very privileged to have with us Tahmina Islam who is a resident that lives in the heart of Eken Park, which is the community I’m very worried about, it’s gonna be really impacted. She’s also a business owner and can talk to you about those impact. Thank you.
TEHMINA ISLAM
Thank you to the press for being here and to the people who are standing behind me. My name is Tehmina Islam. I am a licensed Midwife providing home birth care. I’ve been a midwife for nine years and I’ve attended over 300 deliveries. Many of my clients have come to my home based practice where they seek prenatal care.
I am a homeowner in the Eken Park neighborhood and I’ve lived there for five years. My home is in the 65 decibels zone, which renders a home incompatible with residential use. Though some of these homes may be eligible for sound mitigation, my home has a avigation easement on it, which is a contract that was signed from homeowners in the 1990s with the Dane County Regional Airport, that allows the airport to have a lifelong access to the space above my home. 60 feet above the ground for the life of the home. That restricts me from accessing sound mitigation money. I’m not worried about the sound mitigation money.
I work as a home birth Midwife in this county and I’m really worried about the health impact of the f-35s on our communities. I have served hundreds of people in my home office, many who are people of color, three-quarters of my practice are on Medicaid. The American Academy of Pediatrics and the Physicians for Social Responsibility Wisconsin chapter has already come out with statements that have said that noise impacts on pregnant people can cause preterm labor and growth restriction in babies. Exposure to this noise can cause hearing loss and children and reduce memory retention in children in our communities.
Studies have shown that PFAS toxic chemicals from firefighting foam can be found in breast milk and in our bodies. And these chemicals can cause cancer, thyroid disease and weakened childhood immunity. One of our very own wells in Madison, well number 15, has already been shut down due to high levels of PFAS in our water. Groundwater samples taken from the planned construction sites at Truax have already exceeded the EPA health advisory limit of 70 parts per trillion. The Environmental Working Group, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization, has issued that one part per trillion is a safe level. If we allow construction at Truax we will further contaminate our drinking water. Tthis issue isn’t about noise and the inconvenience of it. It’s about protecting the most vulnerable people in our community, babies, children, pregnant people, veterans with PTSD, low-income families and people of color.
The EIS statement that came up from the Air Force has already stated that there’s a disproportionate impact in this community on low-income people and people of color if the f-35 were to bed down here. This issue isn’t about supporting our troops, my parents are immigrants to this country and I don’t ever take my rights for granted. And I will never forsake this country. But what good does it do to protect our freedoms if we cannot drink the water in our communities. What good does it do when our children cannot hear or learn. This issue isn’t about the neighbors on the north east side who are on the flight path. Do you drink water? Then it’s your issue too. We’re all on stolen Ho-chunk land and it’s time we started acting like stewards of the land and protecting our drinking water and our children and each other. Thank you
ALDER SYED ABBAS
Thank you everyone for being here and thanks for raising your voices. My name is Syed Abbas. Truax is in my district, the district I represent is overwhelmingly in opposition of f-35. The emails I got, the phone calls I got and the people I met in Ekenn Park, in Emerson East, in Carpenter Ridgeway, which is hit really hard by f-35 as Chris Taylor mentioned, it’s under 70-75 DB. These people more than 95% people who reach out to me, they were in opposition of f-35 bed down on the north side. It absolutely have devastating impact on those community, those American who worked really hard. They pay their taxes, they work first time shift, second time, third time. These are hardworking people, they love this country. They do everything for this country and when they ask a peaceful life, they ask to sleep in their own bed with peace, they ask to protect their kids, their health, their well-being, their learning ability. What we are giving them back is a devastating loud noise of fighter jet planes. We cannot justifies what we are taking away from their life, we cannot justify by saying this there’s the economic development. Is it really worth it? What it what we are saying about economic development on the life of these people, more than over two thousand people will be impacted.
Within that district there is a manufacturer mobile home, these people proudly live in their own small houses and that is on a Packard Avenue. Within this this is also not address, how this community more than 300 units are not included in impact report. And there is a no mitigation policy. Who will pay eventually for that? The loss of tax revenue, the loss of jobs, who will pay for this? And loss of housing, who will responsible for that?
As my colleagues here mention about PFAS and other health impact. This report clearly, that’s their report, not report written by me and anybody else, clearly say about disproportionate impact on low-income and minority community living within that district.
I will also like to share another another point, when I was at Truax we had a meeting with other alders, we had a meeting with the Air Force National Guard. We ask that question about afterburner. And we asked about how do you use, why you use, and there are several reasons. The length of the runway, also the climate. We are not, within a building design, because that’s my profession, energy efficiency. We are in a six climate zone seventh is extremely cold, we are very cold at six. And they said in a cold climate zone you need to use afterburner when it’s get really cold or also when it get really humid. This report EIS all the five location they study they put five person afterburner that is it. This is wrong. How you can Southern State you can compare their climate zone with north climate zone and you put five percent, this can be changed. What point I’m trying to raise here is this is a conservative estimate. This is a best-case scenario. That’s what they are putting in this report, in the best-case scenario when you put five percent. If this five percent increased to twenty percent then what? This number 65 – 75 DB they go far up. Far far up. This community of 2,000 people they might end up four thousand. S I will urge Air Force, Army National Air Guard and all local politician, county, state and federal level to reconsider their position and oppose f-35 for sake of this community. I appreciate that, thanks.
JESSE PYCHA-HOLST
My name is Jesse Pycha-Realty, I’m with Solidarity Realty. I want to thank the press for coming, I want to thank everybody on the Safe Skies Coalition and of course Representative Taylor, who is working hard on this issue in a vacuum of leadership. The Final EIS is a damning indictment of the f-35’s place here in Madison. Buried in over a thousand pages on page Wisconsin 79, the Air Force admits that any economic benefits would “not be significant.”
The EIS methodology to describe loss to property value is questionable and at times self-contradicting, but what we can discern is that our initial estimates of the property values affected have been very conservative. We have initially found that over $255 million dollars of residential property will be deemed “incompatible for residential use.” The Air Force has found that the total value of all types of real estate affected in that 65 DB zone will surpass $1.7 billion dollars. In an attempt to minimize these drastic effects the EIS uses this to talk only about lost tax revenue, but does nothing, nothing at all to address compensation to homeowners and business owners.
Proponents claim of benefits come from a UW-Extension study funded by Scott Walker’s WEDC, that indicates Truax receives $93 million in federal tax dollars but places no guarantees that this money will stay in Dane County and admittedly says nothing of negative economic impacts or opportunity costs of other missions or land uses. Contrary to what proponents and some policymakers say, the EIS states explicitly that without the f-35 the Wisconsin Air National Guard at Truax will retain its current aircraft and mission. So even that 93 million dollars stays in Wisconsin with out the f-35s. Just as Boise will retain the use of their a10 aircrafts even though they have turned down the f-35’s.
New data provided in the EIS indicates that f-35 takeoffs will exceed decibel levels that can cause permanent hearing loss and this data is without the use of those louder afterburners. And no data, including the use of afterburners is included in the EIS. In short this deal being offered to Madison is in exchange for a negligible economic impact to the positive. We should cause children, minorities, and our environment to suffer. We should blight entire swathes of our city to ensure Lockheed Martin makes a profit. And we should torpedo the growth in neighborhoods like Eken Emerson and projects like Oscar Mayer for 64 permanent jobs, more than half of which won’t even be in Wisconsin. The good people of Boise and their mayor were smart enough to turn down that horrendous offer. I only hope that Madison and our leaders in Dane County have enough wisdom to do the same.
LANCE GREEN
Hello and thank you all for being here. My name is Lance Green and I worked at the DNR for 20 years and I’ve lived for almost 40 years just a couple blocks away from Starkweather Creek. I’ve really enjoyed this urban gem right here in the middle of our city and joined the board of the Friends of Starkweather Creek years ago. I do monitoring in the creek, so I actually immerse myself into that water that’s full of PFAS each month during the summer.
Friends of Starkweather Creek takes hundreds of people and lots of kids on to that Creek every year and we do cleanups. The kids love to reach in and grab the garbage and people walk along there all the time they bring their dogs, their dogs swim in it and and all that kinds of wonderful things. Now we find that a couple three years ago that we’ve got these PFAS in there at a very high level, some of the highest levels in the state.
We’re finding out that these forever chemicals were sprayed in a couple of places for the last 50 years. Right next to the creek. Right onto the ground. So they’re just continuously down in the ground, at high levels very very high levels, seeping into the creek every single day. So we have a continuous source of these into our creeks, into our lakes.
You’ve probably heard about the DNR testing of the fish in Lake Monona. We know that those fish are very highly contaminated and once we see what the fish levels are maybe in the downstream lakes, they’re probably going to be warnings about eating the fish there too. This is a major major consequence in our community. There are people who fish on Lake Monona and eat those fish and feed them to their families almost every day probably. You know that this is this is something that should not be happening at all.
The environmental impact statement that the Air Force put out just does not address this at all. Not just the continuing problem, but how much is there? How are we going to find that out? Can we do a complete evaluation of the site? How are we going to get those chemicals cleaned up? How are we going to slow down those chemicals from going in the water? And what’s worse there’s going to be a whole bunch of construction. Well the airport was built on an old giant wetland, it’s all a nice flat used to be a wetland, and Starkweather Creek was routed around it.
Well if you dig a few feet into that wetland to do some construction you’re gonna have tons of water flowing in. A and you’re gonna have to keep pumping that water, that dewatering process, where does that water going to go? It’s gonna be full of PFAS and other horrible chemicals and we need to be assured that that’s going to be cleaned up before it’s released. We’re not getting very good assurances and we certainly don’t trust what the military has done for all these years because this problems has been going on as I said for 50 years. So we, from Friends of Starkweather Creek are concerned, what are we going to do as of this year with taking all the kids and pets and everybody out on the creek? We’re concerned that this problem is just going to continue, not be addressed. We’re concerned that gonna cost millions of dollars possibly to slow down or stop this contamination. Who’s going to do all that? So I think our community should be very concerned about this and we should push all of our elected officials, on every level, the city, the county, the state, the federal government to address these problems as soon as possible and do it right. Thank you.
REBECCA KEMBLE
My name is Rebecca Kemble, I represent the 18th district on the Madison Common Council which is just west of the airport. My house is two miles west of the airport and this morning at home and actually many days last week as well, I heard the f-16 taking off in afterburner and I could actually see them and I’m 2 miles west of the airport. The noise, regardless of my preference of whether I like to hear the noise or not, it affected me physiologically. It affected me neurologically. And I am a way way outside of those noise modeled maps decibel zones and I’m just thinking what about those kids at Lakeview school? What about those autistic kids at the Richardson school that’s right there? And these are f-16s flying an afterburner, you can hear the difference when they fly normal and when they fly an afterburner. So I say that to make a couple points about the EIS. That both the draft and the final EIS and to underscore what Representative Taylor said.
We’re not getting all the information that we have requested, that we need, and the Air Force, it’s not just we, but the Air Force is not getting all of the information that they need to make the decision. So we need to be clear that it’s the Air Force making the decision. It’s not the Air National Guard making the decision. We’re not getting all the information because the actual impact the neurological, physical, physiological impacts of the noise are far greater than what is described in the in the EIS. The noise modeling maps are, even as sort of conservatively crafted as they are, to display the least amount of impact, that’s still a huge amount of impact. For those who say they like the sound of the Jets because it’s the sound of freedom, it doesn’t matter if you like it or not. It hurts humans. And that’s what the EIS tells us in documents included by reference. That level of noise hurt humans, especially small humans, small babies and animals and you know all living things actually.
Another big chunk of missing information in this EIS is that many of us requested, had to do with the nature of the composite materials with which these f-35 jets are made. These are not aluminum planes, these are military-grade composite materials that when they crash and burn are extremely toxic. And even though the Air Force has said they are has a program for stopping the use of PFAS firefighting foam, they have to use it on these f-35’s because of the nature of the materials that the planes are composed of. So as Tehmina said, if you drink water, this affects you. If you live within you know the takeoff and landing zone a couple of miles of this, this affects you because a potential crash could mean disaster for for the surrounding neighbors. And a fire that, when when these things crash and light on fire it’s not easy to put that fire out. Our fire fighters expose themselves to a serious danger if they respond. The military has to respond to these and they have to respond with these toxic firefighting foams. And that could affect anyone in the around the takeoff and landing zone.
So you know I ran for office and 2015 because I was seeing the way things were going in the state and national politics level, we had to figure out new ways to protect and defend our water, our land and our people in light of policies at the federal and state level that were removing these protections. It’s up to us who live here, who live on the ground, who live with our neighbors who. like Lance take care, literally take care, of the water. To stand up for that. To stand up for our neighbors. And say no you can’t create a dead zone in our city. When we’re spending so much effort and resources at the county and city level to fight racial disparities, to deal with affordable housing crisis, to clean up our water. It is not acceptable for the Air Force to make a decision to create this dead zone and make all of those things worse.
So please if you’re watching this contact your US Senators Ron Johnson and Tammy Baldwin regardless of what they say, they do have influence on this decision. Senator Baldwin is on a multiplicity of military committees and subcommittees. She is in communication with the Air Force all the time. Ask her to not sacrifice her constituents for short-term political gains.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Kemble was interupted at this point by a question from a reporter. The rest of the video is Q&A. You’ll have to watch for yourself!
