October 20, 2011 - Madison Kipp Neighbors File Suit in Federal Court - News Release
Seven families living on Marquette Street in Madison, Wisconsin filed a lawsuit in federal court early today against Madison-Kipp Corporation, alleging that the nearby manufacturer is the source of dangerous chemical contamination recently discovered at their homes, and that Madison-Kipp has failed for more than fifteen years to adequately investigate and cleanup the contamination.
A press conference will be held on October 20th at 4:00 pm at the home of one of the plaintiffs.
WATCH THE PRESS CONFERENCE ON YOUTUBE HERE
WATCH CHANNEL 3 NEWS COVERAGE HERE
The seven families bringing the lawsuit are: Kathleen McHugh and Eric Fuller at 146 S. Marquette Street; Kenneth Hennrick, Jr. at 142 S. Marquette Street; Deanna Schneider at 150 S. Marquette Street; Doris Yang Berge and Prentice Berge at 154 S. Marquette Street; Peter Uttech at 162 S. Marquette Street; Sharon Helmus and Carla Mills at 166 S. Marquette Street; and Chad Gooblis and Brandi Rogers at 202 S. Marquette Street.
These families allege that a human carcinogen known as tetrachloroethylene (PCE), as well as other toxins, have been released from Madison-Kipp's manufacturing facility located at 201 Waubesa Street, Madison. The families further allege that these chemical releases have contaminated the groundwater beneath their homes, and that the contamination in the groundwater has migrated in vapor form up through the soil, and has entered, or threatens to enter, their homes. For example, PCE has been discovered in and around these homes, in soil and in vapor, both immediately underneath and inside some of the homes.
The lawsuit seeks a thorough investigation into the contamination on the properties of these seven families and throughout the residential neighborhood surrounding the plant.Also, the families demand a thorough clean-up of the contamination on their properties, as well as a clean-up of any other contamination found through further investigation. Finally, the lawsuit seeks compensation for property damage due to the contamination, as well as punitive damages, claiming that Madison-Kipp has known for years of the risk to these seven families and their neighbors, but did not act responsibly to protect them.
The Plaintiffs are represented by Shawn M. Collins, Edward J. Manzke of The Collins Law Firm, Naperville, IL; Norman B. Berger, Michael D. Hayes and of Varga Berger Ledsky Hayes & Casey, Chicago, IL and Richard J. Lewandowski of Whyte Hirschboeck Dudek S.C., Madison, Wisconsin.
Copies of the Complaint are available upon request, or can be viewed at: http://www.collinslaw.com/files/MadisonComplaint.pdf
Media Contacts:
- Shawn Collins, cell: (630) 272-8148
- Norman Berger, cell: (312) 316-8988
- Johannah Drerup, paralegal: (630) 844-2099
September 14, 2011 - Testing of Marquette Street Wells - During the summer of 2011, Kipp installed three new groundwater monitoring wells along Marquette Street. The laboratory test report is dated September 14th. Wells 7 and 8 had no detectable contaminants. Well 9 had measurable amount of the following contaminants: cis-1,2-Dichloroethene (12 ug/L > Preventative Action Level of 7 ug/L), Methyl tert-Butyl Ether (7 ug/L < Preventative Action Level of 12 ug/L), Tetrachloroethene (29 ug/L > Enforcement Level of 5 ug/L), and Trichloroethene (5 ug/L = Enforcement Level of 5 ug/L).
You can read the complete reports here:
Lab
Report for Wells 7 and 8
Lab Report for Well 9
Wells 7 and 8 are located on Marquette Street. Well 9 is
located in Wirth Court Park. Here is a map of the well
locations:
July 19, 2011 - RCRA Law Suit Notification - Attorneys representing Marquette Street neighbors notify Madison - Kipp Corporation that if it does not resolve the problems resulting from its perchloroethylene (PCE) contamination with 90 days, a law suit will be filed with federal court under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act to obtain relief and penalties. You can read their notification here.
June 15, 2011 - WDNR Informational Meeting - Staff from the Wisconsin of Department Natural Resources host a meeting at Plymouth Congregational United Church of Christ on Atwood Avenue to provide neighbors with the latest developments in Madison-Kipp chemical cleanup. In 1994, the WDNR had first informed Kipp that the company was obligated to determine the degree and extent of the contamination and adequately address the contamination. PCE vapors had been found to be entering homes along Marquette Street. Additional wells were to be installed across Marquette Street to determine if contamination was found.This is the first public meeting organized the WDNR to inform residents since the contamination was first discovered in the early 1990's. You can read the WDNR Fact Sheet distributed at the meeting here.
January 18, 2011 - 2011 Contamination Report - Kipp submits its annual groundwater contamination report to the WDNR. The large files have been split into parts of the report. The figures show sampling well locations and historical PCE concentrations in the groundwater. The tables show concentrations of all contaminants in the groundwater from 1994 to 2010. The monitoring well locations are shown in the figure below, which is Figure 1 from the report.
Groundwater Figures
Groundwater Tables 2-6
Groundwater Tables 7-11
Groundwater Tables 12-16
December 21, 1999 - WDNR Letter to Madison Residents - Open letter to Madison Residents. It is not clear who received this letter. It describes the WDNR investigation of PCE contamination by Kipp. It concludes that "the extend of the contamination has been defined." You can read the letter here.