3-15-06 Oshkosh Comment - MEA

VIA ELECTRONIC MAIL March 15, 2006 Joseph Graham Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources 101 S. Webster St. P.O. Box 7921 Madison, WI 53707 Re: Comments on WPDES Permit No. WI-0025038-07-0 Dear Mr. Graham: Midwest Environmental Advocates, Inc. is a nonprofit environmental law center that provides technical assistance and legal representation to communities and working for clean air, clean water, and clean government. We appreciate the opportunity to comment on the proposed variance for a mercury Water Quality Based Effluent Limitation in WPDES permit no. WI-0025038-07-0. We are submitting these comments on behalf of Wisconsin Environmental Law Advocates. As an initial matter, we note that Lake Butte des Morts and Lake Winnebago are listed on Wisconsin’s 2004 303(d) list as impaired by mercury. Further, the Fox River which connects the two lakes, and which carries the City’s of Oshkosh’s discharge of mercury to Lake Winnebago, is impaired by aquatic toxicity. Mercury can cause reproductive failure, behavioral abnormalities and death in animals. See http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/org/caer/cea/mercury/impact.htm#Human (last visited March 15, 2006). Mercury exposure can also lead to memory loss, speech disabilities and impaired development of fetuses. Id. Against this backdrop, it is absurd that the DNR is proposing to allow one of the state’s largest POTW’s to discharge up to 33 nanograms per liter (ng/L) of ...