Tag Archives: human rights

Contact DNR Today to Protect US from PFAS related Forever Chemicals

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has begun to draft rules to establish state PFAS standards for drinking water. Data, scientific evidence and community testimony around PFAS raises the alarm for strong and immediate action on proposed rules for drinking water and surface water standards. Our groundwater, Starkweather Creek, the Yahara chain of lakes and our fish in and around Madison are already contaminated with PFAS thousands of times the anticipated water standard.

WE ARE ASKING THAT YOU WRITE DNR STAFF AND SUPPORT THE ADOPTION OF NEW PFAS DRINKING WATER STANDARDS.

By this Wednesday, December 8th, please register your support for Board Order DG-24-19 to revise chapter NR 809 and adopt new drinking water maximum contaminant levels for PFAS substances. (More details about the rule and process … detailed Board Order DB-24-19

Write to:

Adam Deweese, Water Supply Specialist

Bureau of Drinking and Ground Water

C/O DG/5

PO Box 7921

Madison, WI 53707-7921

Email – DNRNR809Comments@wisconsin.gov

Background In order to establish standards for PFAS, the DNR will need to revise the NR 809 regulations, the Safe Drinking Water Standard. The DNR already held a public meeting on December 1st. Many state citizens commented during this virtual meeting. They said:

Six of twelve wells in Eau Claire were closed due to high levels of PFAS, chemicals used in many products including food wrappers, stain-resistant sprays and aqueous film forming foam (AFFF). PFAS contamination in Madison is largely due to decades of fire-fighting training at Truax Field using foam containing PFAS.

An OB/GYN physician presented evidence that PFAS and PFOA, lipophilic substances, are not only found but concentrated in breast milk. She called it “alarming.” Other documented adverse health effects of PFAS in drinking water include decreased response of antibodies to vaccines, low birth weight, testicular cancer and thyroid cancer.

A resident of Marinette called for amending NR 809, “to prevent the slow poisoning of the people of Wisconsin from municipal water systems.”

The next step in the rulemaking timeline is the DNR Board meeting on January 25-26, 2022, where they will consider adoption of the rule.

For more information, visit: https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/calendar/hearing/50806

Thank you, thank you!

For safe water and skies,

Lance, Anne, Tom, Vicki and all the folks at Safe Skies Clean Water Wisconsin

Remember Afghan Drone Victims 11/29 at 3:30pm Outside Volk Field Gates

Dear Friends,

Monday November 29, marks three months since the murder of ten members of the Ahmadi family, of which seven were children, by a US government drone in Afghanistan. Five activists in Wisconsin stood at the gates of Volk Field, a Wisconsin Air National Guard base where personnel are trained to operate the Shadow drone. We mourn all those who have been killed by US killer drones.

Today, December 1, marks 10 years since we first stood at the gates of Volk Field. We have been there on a regular basis for ten years, several times risking arrest. Normally, about 100 cars from the base drive past us as we stand there.

We must remember that although President Biden has told us that the war in Afghanistan is over, we continue to fly drones over Afghanistan, dropping bombs and killing innocent people, even though the military admits that 90% of those killed are not the intended target. Children continue to die by our bloody hands in Afghanistan.

Watch for information on how you can get involved in ending these crimes by our government in January and February. Please don’t look away.

Peace, Joy

Please share the information, print and hand out or share electronically.

drone murder handout Nov 2021

Dear Friends,

We acknowledge and mourn the Ahmadi family who were brutally killed by US drones in Afghanistan on August 29, 2021.

This family lost ten of their loved ones, including seven children, in what was called a “botched” attack by the US government. This is a tragedy that happens all too often. Over 90% of the people killed by US drones are not the ones who were targeted. Hundreds of thousands of innocent lives have been lost in these attacks, including so many children.

The international group, Ban Killer Drones, are calling for vigils and remembrences on November 29, marking the 3-month anniversary since the attack and murder of members of the Ahmadi family with the theme “Don’t Look Away”.

In Wisconsin, we will gather at Volk Field on Monday Nov. 29 at 3:30 for an hour vigil at the gates of the military base. We will have signs that read “Don’t Look Away”, pictures of the Ahmadi children, and flyers to distribute (See attachment at top of page).

MAP Volk Field from Google

If you cannot make it to Volk Field, please consider doing something in your community on November 29 or the two days preceding in the weekend before. You could print out the flyer and distribute it (Attached below).. If you let me know I can send you files with pictures of the children that you can print out and hold. If nothing else, talking to friends and families about US drone warfare is important.

If you do something in your community, please take pictures and send to me along with a short narrative about what you did at joyfirst5@gmail.com

We are all so caught up in so many things, but it is so important to remember that the people of Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, Somalia, and other places, where the US continues to murder innocent people with drones, have no voice and no power.