Business

La Crosse County lends moral support to PFAS fight

Published

3 years ago

March 16, 2021

La Crosse County is supporting other local governments, trying to get help to remedy PFAS pollution in local groundwater.

Both La Crosse Mayor Tim Kabat and county board chair Monica Kruse have asked the DNR to test more wells near the La Crosse Airport, where PFAS were used in firefighting foam.

Kruse represents an area where the chemicals have been found at high levels. County administrator Steve O’Malley says the county is not actively involved in the case right now, aside from any actions by the health department.

“It’s not clear that the county has a cause of action,” said O’Malley. “We haven’t made that final determination, but we think by weighing in on our role as the public health department that it may lend credence to…the city and the town being able to get the DNR to intervene.”

The city of La Crosse has been providing bottled water to families whose wells have a high amount of PFAS,

Brad Williams

A native of Prairie du Chien, Brad graduated from UW - La Crosse and has worked in radio news for more than 30 years, mostly in the La Crosse area. He regularly covers local courts and city and county government. Brad produces the features "Yesterday in La Crosse" and "What's Buried on Brad's Desk." He also writes the website "Triviazoids," which finds odd connections between events that happen on a certain date, and he writes and performs with the local comedy group Heart of La Crosse. Brad been featured on several national TV programs because of his memory skills.