CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) – The costs of environmental extremism are on full display in Wausau.
The latest case is soil remediation at Riverside Park. A part of the park was contaminated by an old industrial user. The latest recommendation plan is to dig up the soil, truck it away to a hazardous waste site the accepts dioxin contaminants, and replace it with clean fill. Price tag: unknown. Who pays? Most likely the taxpayers of Wausau.
To point out the obvious, it’s a park. No one lives there.
And environmental remediation needs to take into account what the land is used for. If the site was a school, where children are present hours a day, or a housing development, where people live, the fix should be much different. Can people safely visit a park, where the contaminated soil is a foot below the ground, without suffering health consequences? Of course. And if health concerns are so great for this part of Riverside Park, close off that area to visitors.
No contamination is better than some contamination. But what is lacking here is a rational cost-benefit analysis. If you visit the park, your risk is tiny. If you live across the street or in that neighborhood, your risk from contaminated soil that’s below the ground is very small.
And Wausau taxpayers have now been instructed on the fix, but the cost is a blank check.
This is no different than the PFAS, or forever chemicals, in the drinking water. New EPA guidelines say the acceptable level is now zero. And “zero” is off-the-charts expensive. In Wausau’s case, new filtration will take two years to install at a cost of $16.5-million. Even assuming state and federal grants that would cover $10-million, the 11,000 Wausau Water Works ratepayers will be left covering about $400 each.
And keep in mind that PFAS may be present in all the other things you drink, from sodas to bottled water, ice tea to lemonade. PFAS are also present in raincoats, shower curtains, mattress liners, womens cosmetics, microwave popcorn, plastic plates and utensils, and non-stick cookware. The PFAS in your drinking water could be reduced to zero, and you could still be exposed from a dozen other sources.
What is needed is sensible policy that manages risk. When you hear an environmentalist say “at any cost” you can be sure someone else is covering the bill. Zero tolerance environmentalism will bankrupt us.
Chris Conley
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