Back in March, the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin's held Part 1 of its series on contamination by PFAS (per and polyfluoroalkyl substances) in Wisconsin. That webinar engaged speakers to explain where these ubiquitous contaminants come from, what it can do inside the human body, and the personal protections we can all take to limit our exposures.
Now in Part 2, What To Do About PFAS, we will address the bigger picture of what we can do about PFAS. Topics will include:
- Lived experiences with PFAS contamination of soil and water
- Limitations and costs of current remediation options
- Innovative remediation methods under investigation
- Political controversies and legislative proposals
Join us on May 9th from 6:30-8:00 pm for these topics and more!
Speakers
Cindy Boyle
Charter member, S.O.H2O (Save Our Water)
Cindy and her family have lived in the Town of Peshtigo for almost 30 years. After she learned that her family and community had unknowingly been drinking PFAS for decades through their private drinking wells, Cindy and a group of local concerned citizens organized and created S.O.H20 (Save Our Water) and initiated aggressive efforts to educate their community about the risk of PFAS and advocate for accountability. Grassroots advocacy has included testimony at State Senate Committees, the Natural Resources Board and advising on existing PFAS legislation along with the original Clear Act draft legislation. Although Town of Peshtigo residents remain at risk, Cindy continues to advocate for State Ground Water Standards and enthusiastically welcomes collaboration with State and Federal Agencies and elected officials from both sides of the aisle to tackle this looming challenge facing all of Wisconsin.
Michael Mucha
Chief Engineer and Director, Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District
Michael is the Chief Engineer and Director for the Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District. He has dedicated his career in local government to building public trust through sustainability. “Anything can be accomplished if you have the public working with you.”
Michael has his BS in Civil Engineering from the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee and his master’s in public administration from the University of Washington-Seattle. He is a registered professional engineer and Envision sustainability professional.
Dr. Yang Yang
Co-Founder, ResET Water
Dr. Yang Yang received his Ph.D. from Tsinghua University in 2014 and his postdoc training at the California Institute of Technology from 2014 to 2018. He joined the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Clarkson University as an Assistant Professor in 2019. Dr. Yang specializes in the synthesis and characterization of advanced electrocatalysts and piezoelectric materials and the exploration of their environmental applications, such as disinfection, emerging contaminant (PFAS and PPCPs) control, and harmful algal bloom mitigation. Dr. Yang has published 30+ peer-reviewed articles in flagship journals and owns three patents in subject areas of emerging contaminant analysis, wastewater treatment, and flue gas purification. He is the co-founder of ResET Water, a startup company dedicated to commercializing electrochemical water treatment technology.
Paul Heinen
Policy Director, Wisconsin’s Green Fire
Paul is Green Fire’s Policy Director. He joined Green Fire in October of 2018 after 34 years as the DNR legislative liaison and 4 years as The Nature Conservancy’s legislative liaison. It is his job to work closely with Green Fire's Working Groups’ chairs and the Green Fire Board to represent Green Fire to Legislators, their staff, the Governor’s staff, State Agencies and other conservation and environmental groups statewide. He shares Green Fire members expertise and knowledge of the issues with policy makers.
Watch the recording of Part 1, PFAS: the Everyday, Everywhere Toxin.
