A law firm representing Oneida county, the City of Rhinelander and the Rhinelander-Oneida County Airport has written the DNR asking them to rescind or clarify a letter declaring the airport as a responsible party for PFAS pollution in Rhinelander water wells.
Two wells near the airport have been shut down after testing found "forever chemicals" above federal levels at the wells.
December 9, the DNR sent a letter to the parties notifying them that use of a type of fire fighting foam was, from the agency's view, the likely source of the PFAS contamination, or being a responsible party.
Attorney Richard Lewandowski wrote the Airport has never utilized that foam in response to an aircraft emergency, or to fight an actual fire. The Airport does conduct FAA-required annual tests with foam, but does so in a very limited and controlled fashion. He said current practice is to slowly release a small amount of the foam into a five gallon pail for testing of dilution strength.
Lewandowski also says the testing is conducted in an area that is well removed from, and down gradient of the two municipal wells on South Fox Ranch Rd. He says there is no reason to believe that any of these materials would have migrated upstream to the South Fox Ranch Rd. well locations.
Lewandowski wants to the DNR to clarify or rescind the decision. We have the letter below.
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HUSCH BLACKWELL
Richard J . Lewandowski Senior Counsel 33 E. Main Street, Suite 300 Madison, W1 53701 February 6, 2020
Carrie Stoltz Project Manager Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Remediation & Redevelopment Program 107 Sutliff Ave Rhinelander, WI 54501
Re: Rhinelander Municipal Well #7, Rhinelander-Oneida County Airport, BRRTS #02-44-584094
Dear Ms. Stoltz: I am writing on behalf of Oneida County, the City of Rhinelander and the Rhinelander-Oneida County Airport concerning the Municipal Well #7 matter referenced above. Inparticular, we are asking that the DNR clarify or rescind the Responsible Party (RP) letter sent to the three units of government on December 9, 2019.
As explained in my letter of January 22, 2020 to you, the Rhinelander Airport is required by Federal Aviation Administration (F AA) regulations to maintain Aqueous Film Forming Foam (AFFF) for ?re?ghting purposes. This requirement applies because the Airport is certi?cated by the FAA to accommodate commercial ?ights. The Airport has never utilized AFFF in response to an aircraft emergency, or to ?ght an actual ?re. The Airport does conduct FAA-required annual tests of its AFFF but does so in a very limited and controlled fashion. Current practice is to slowly release a small amount of AFFF into a ?ve gallon pail for testing of dilution strength.
The Airport has already provided photographs of the totes that are used to store AFFF utilized after testing and prior to proper off- site disposal. Furthermore, this testing is conducted in an area that is well removed from, and down gradient of the two municipal wells on South Fox Ranch Rd. Given the very limited quantities of AFFF utilized in testing and the containment procedures utilized, and in light of the location of this testing, there is no reason to believe that any of these materials would have migrated upstream to the South Fox Ranch Rd. well locations.
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Data from 3401 South Fox Ranch Rd. are mostly in the double—digit parts per trillion range, with all detects from the upgradient well at 3400 South Fox Ranch Rd. below the limit of quanti?cation.
The 3400 address is located between the southern airport boundary and the 3401 address, farther to the south. In view of this, the City, County and Airport request that the DNR better de?ne and identify the source of the PFAS that may have impacted the South Fox Ranch Rd. wells before requiring further investigation and remediation by the three units of local government.
We make this request for several important reasons. First, the Department’s apparent assumption that use of AFFF at the Airport must be the source of these results is incorrect, for the reasons explained above and in our January 22, 2020 letter to you. Second, all three units of local government have limited resources and personnel. The burden of tracking down the likely source of what has been found in the South Fox Ranch Rd. wells would fall disproportionately on them. Finally, with no obvious source, and given the extremely low levels of PFAS components that have been found, we are hard-pressed to understand what kind remedial work might be appropriate. As a precaution, the City has stopped utilizing the South Fox Ranch Rd. wells.
For these reasons, we believe it would be appropriate for the Department to withdraw its December 9, 2019 RF letter to the City, County and Airport. This is far from the typical spill or historic release incident where the residuals are of well known origin and present at thousands (or even hundreds of thousands) of times the levels identi?ed here. One part per trillion is one millionth of a part per million.
If the Department is not prepared to rescind the RP letter, we ask for the opportunity to meet with you to discuss what realistically might be done. Given the unusual circumstances present here, we believe that would conserve scarce municipal resources and better focus their next steps.
This will be of bene?t to the three local governments, as well as the Department.
Very truly yours,
Cc: Matthew Leitner, Airport Director
Brian Desmond, Oneida County Corporation Counsel
Steve Sorenson, Acting City Attorney, Rhinelander
Laura Morland, Mead & Hunt RJszc HB: 4849-1736-90112 Husch Blackwell LLP
