Former tribal council member
says pollution should be key election issue
Daily Globe – Ralph Ansami –
11/2/2013
ODANAH, Wis. - A former tribal council member said
Friday he can't understand why the Bad River Indian Reservation's council isn't
making inadequate treatment of its sewage more of a priority.
With a tribal election set
for Tuesday, Tom Deragon Jr., who said he sat on the tribal council for a year,
has put up a sign along U.S. 2, near the Bad River Casino, seeking to
"raise community awareness" about the tribe's polluting of the Bad River
and Lake Superior.
"Nothing's getting
done," he said. "I don't understand why the Environmental Protection
Agency isn't coming down harder on this," Deragon said.
Deragon said many other
tribal members support his views and his father and brother-in-law helped him
put up the sign, which criticizes current tribal chairman Michael Wiggins Jr.
for not making a better effort to get the wastewater system into compliance.
"Our kids weren't able
to swim this summer because of high E. coli readings," he said, noting
Waverly and Madigan beaches on Lake Superior
were shut down. He said it was the first time he could recall that happening.
Earlier this year, the EPA
ordered the Bad River Band of Chippewa to make upgrades to its wastewater
treatment facilities by Jan. 31.
The tribe has received
numerous violation citations from the EPA for several years, including failing
to meet reporting requirements and failure to comply with effluent requirements
for phosporus, E. coli, suspended solids and biochemical oxygen demand.
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