F-35 jets at Madison’s Truax Field will hurt marginalized communities
In January, the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) issued a warning to all Madison residents. Not about blue green algae or the dangers of hunting season, but about the dangerous levels of polyfluoroalkyl substances that have been leaching into Wisconsin waterways. PFAs are chemicals that have recently been used to put out fires caused by plane engine malfunctions. In a recent fish-tissue sample, the DNR discovered that PFAs were found in every fish they tested, and in some waterways such as Madison’s Starkweather Creek, the levels ranged from less than 1 to 3700 parts per trillion, a level that greatly surpasses the safety threshold of 70 ppt over a human lifetime according to a statement issued by Circle Of Blue, a water safety organization.
Although it may seem as if PFA filled firefighting foam may be a necessary part of airport safety, in reality, the foam is rarely used for actual fires, and instead is used in Air Force training exercises.
Although the direct effects of PFAs are still being researched, many side effects are already known.
Grace Jensen, a graduating senior at LaFollette High School and youth climate activist said, “PFAs can stay in the body for up to 27 years, and the chemicals are concentrated in breastmilk, causing birth defects and other issues.”
Tom Boswell, a climate activist with Safe Skies Clean Water elaborated and said that “PFAs cause liver and thyroid problems, and are especially dangerous during pandemics such as the COVID-19 pandemic, as they weaken immune system functions and antibodies”.
As if previous PFA use wasn’t enough, now, the United States Air Force has issued a decision which will ensure that PFA density in Madison will only get much worse. They have decided to place the 115th squadron of f-35 jets at Madison’s Truax Field by 2023, causing many Madison residents to protest. The decision has sparked controversy due to the fact that Truax Field is located near many low-income communities, and in the Air Force’s Environmental Impact Statement, the Air Force admits that the f-35s will negatively affect marginalized communities the most.
In the recently published Environmental Impact Statement, some of the Air Force’s reasoning seems interesting to say the least. Jensen says: “When the Air Force published its Environmental Impact Statement it stated in the document that the f-35s would disproportionately affect low income and minority communities. So they knew what they were doing but they chose to ignore it. And this is just another example of environmental racism.”
Aside from polluted air and water, another significant issue for Madison residents is noise pollution. If Truax Field gets it’s f-35s, many apartment and housing units will be forced to suffer through constant sound from the jets taking off and landing. According to the Wisconsin State Journal, the new f-35s will fly 27% more than the older f-16s, and they will project 65 decibels of sound onto nearby communities. The Air Force promises that they will soundproof everyone in the 65 decibel range, but anyone just out of that zone will not receive government aid, making it even more difficult to soundproof against the f-35s, which may still sound as loud as a vacuum cleaner.
According to the Madison Low Income Housing program, the 53703 zip code where Truax Field is located has an average income of only $36,631, placing it considerably lower than Madison’s average income of $53,933 per year. In fact, the Truax Park apartment building has 195 income-restricted households, houses that make considerably less than Madison’s median income per year, which seems to spark no worries from the Air Force.
More disturbing still, on Truax Field grounds lies The Richardson School, a school that teaches students with neurological and developmental disabilities. As if it is not hard enough to learn with a disability, now the Air Force’s EI statement says that The Richardson School (among others) will have 6 noise disturbances per day, and for two minutes per day, the noise could raise beyond 50 decibels. This is yet another example of how the Air Force is taking advantage of a marginalized community, and even more evidence against the Air Force’s choice.
In response to these injustices, coalitions from around Wisconsin have expressed their grievances and have begun to take action. Tom Boswell and Safe Skies Clean Water work with former Air Force veterans such as Rosanne Greco, a pilot who flew for 35 years, to get the Air Force to reconsider if the jets are necessary at all. Boswell says that his organization is dependent on volunteers, and although they do not have funding, they will continue to persevere. At safeskiescleanwater.org, they accept donations which will benefit the cause. Grace Jensen works with a similar organization, Youth Climate Action Team Wisconsin (YCATW), that spreads awareness about climate injustice, and uses youth advocacy to fight against climate change.
Both Boswell and Jensen agree that it is imperative to spread the word about injustices such as the f-35s and to advocate against climate injustice. Many marginalized communities will face lifestyle changes as a result of decisions like this and now more than ever, people with a voice must speak for those who cannot.
