Friday, November 22, 2013

A tar sands mine in Madison ??

.
Madison has its own version of the tar sands--an asphalt and concrete recycling operation near the corner of the Beltline and Verona Rd.  Next door is a staging area for the stormsewer work going on along the beltline.


The many construction entrances have no tracking pads.  Only one of four stormsewer inlets are protected. The few areas of sediment fence are in poor repair.

In addition, these two sites are a glaring example of environmental injustice.  Just downwind (for NW or E winds) is low income housing. Concrete recycling creates toxic dust--containing crystalline silica.

Recycling of roads is good--but not when it's located next to housing, where it puts citizens at risk.  The dust in the photo above is blowing directly towards housing 0.1 miles distant.

The negligent contractors appear to be...
  • To the west, Speedway Sand and Gravel.  This company's CEO was convicted of helping create the superfund dump called "Refuse Hideaway" (I'm not making this up), located along SR 14 between Middleton and Cross Plains.  Speedway was also responsible for the big sediment spill while they were working on Edgewood Avenue three years ago, and responsible for allowing large cans of tar to wash into Lake Wingra.  Their work along Mineral Point Rd, just west of the beltline, was also extremely dirty.
  • To the east where recycling is occurring, Zenith Tech Inc. of Waukesha.

No comments:

Post a Comment