1986 Docs from Dave Obey’s Office Revealed a Dioxin Emergency in Thomas St. Neighborhood
- dave obey, Dioxin, SNE / Wauleco / Sentry Insurance
- crestline, dave obey, david obey, dioxins, pentachlorophenol, sentry insurance, sne, Wauleco - A Sentry Insurance Subsidiary
- May 15, 2021
Archived congressional records acquired from the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point library indicate that, in 1986, there was a dioxin catastrophe of such proportions on Wausau’s southwest side related to the SNE site that the EPA wanted to send in “an emergency response team.”
The handwritten notes from Obey’s staffer go on to suggest that the EPA “was ready to come in and rip the town up w/in 72 hours.”
The notes from UW Archives of David Obey papers (Box 650, Folder 3) also reveal that even Congress was afraid over Wausau’s dioxin problem and that the 2,3,7,8 dioxin equivalency was the highest in the entire region.
Soil tests on the former SNE/Crestline property ultimately showed that there was an astounding 174 parts per billion dioxin TEQ in the top foot of the soil on the property — a level that was nearly three times higher than estimates from the Dow Midland site at roughly the same time.
The following documents embedded below have been copied from that congressional archive folder. You can also view the PDF of the copies of the documents here.
Obey-UWSP-Archives
