MARINETTE, Wis. (WFRV) – Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers made stops across the state of Wisconsin, meeting with community officials and groups focused on PFAS prevention.
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The first stop was in Marinette, where Governor Evers went to Runnoe Park, seeing where a creek is known to be contaminated with PFAS, and the city is looking to prevent it from going into the Bay of Green Bay.
“Let’s get rid of this stuff instead of taking it on the water or the land and just putting it in big, big tanks and looking at it. Let’s stop doing it,” Gov. Evers said. “That’s my frustration; it’s clear that it’s not good for human beings.”
Governor Evers signed two bills on Monday that will give $125 million to communities aimed at preventing PFAS from getting into Wisconsin’s waterways.
“They’ve done a great job. I salute them for their continued frustrations and making sure that we’re doing what we can at the state level,” Gov. Evers said. “We did it in a bipartisan way.”
Local group, Save Our Water, gave Governor Evers a breakdown of what they are doing in Marinette to help limit and look at ways to remove PFAS from the waters and the environment.
If left unresolved, the dangers of PFAS can pose a threat.
“Something that is called a forever chemical is virtually a forever problem,” Save Our Water’s Doug Oitzinger said. “So the sooner we stop putting it into our environment, and the sooner we start trying to clean it up, the sooner we will make progress on this.”
The group knows that there is a long road ahead of seeing any change in the PFAS levels in Wisconsin’s water.
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“We still have a groundwater standard that is not in existence, and my well, personally, is contaminated with PFAS,” fellow board member Trygve Rhude said. “There’s no set limit for what I can be drinking. The governor realizes that and assured us that it’s the next step.”
Next steps are being taken to see what will come next from Governor Evers in removing PFAS from the waters.
