Fox Valley Sierra Group Fox River PCB - Muir View Article

For most of the history of our country people were not especially careful with natural resources. Mother Nature seemed awfully large, and it seemed inconceivable to think that the actions of people could affect nature. Dumping wastes into the air or rivers was hardly noticeable.

Individuals, communities, and industry took the right to dump their wastes into rivers and lakes. Although this arrangement generally worked through out the ages, it was a poor practice with industry. Industry creates large quantities of wastes, sometimes with exotic properties.

The Fox River in northeastern Wisconsin, flowing from Lake Winnebago into Lake Michigan at Green Bay was no exception. The Fox Valley communities were also home to many paper factories. These factories are located along the banks of the river, using the river water in their process, and discharging their wastes into the river.

Although it may once have seemed appropriate to discharge industrial wastes into the river this was not the case by the mid 1900's. Long before the Clean Water Act of 1972 all the local people were aware of the river's problems. It was highly polluted. Everybody knew not to eat the fish. The river was disgusting.

Fortunately, the Clean Water Act caused major changes. The river now seems much cleaner. The river banks are homes to parks and nature centers. Real estate along the river is prized. Boaters, water skiers and fishermen enjoy the river. The river looks and seems much better.

But, don't be fooled. There is a menace in the water.

According to the Wisconsin DNR website, in 1954 paper mills began manufacturing carbonless copy paper coated with a polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) emulsion, and PCBs were released to the river through manufacturing processes. Approximately 30 million pounds of this emulsion were used in the Lower Fox Valley between 1954 and 1971. Nearly 700,000 pounds of PCB were released into the river. Use of PCBs was unregulated and it is claimed that the potential health effects were unknown. Nevertheless, 700,000 pounds of an exotic chemical, dumped without any sort of study!

It turns out that PCBs are dangerous. Dangerous to wildlife and dangerous to people. PCBs are man-made chemicals that bind to sediments where they are consumed by small organisms, bioaccumulating up the food chain. And because PCBs are soluble in fat, they stay stored in an organism's fatty tissue and can build to harmful levels.

A quarter century ago plans began for the cleanup of the PCB contamination. It would be expensive, but it must be done. Contamination continued to flow into Lake Michigan where cleanup would be even more difficult. The paper companies, as the polluters, would have to pay for the costs and they favored inexpensive cleanup solutions like capping (covering over) the river bottom. They also favored reducing the requirements of cleanup by allowing higher concentrations of PCB to exist. Environmental organizations and many citizens argued for thorough cleanup solutions. They favored dredging and vacuuming the river bottom, and allowing only very low concentrations of PCB to exist.

Although landfilling of PCB contamination is thought to be safe Sierra Club argued for vitrification because it burns the materials at very high temperatures into safe glass. This may cost slightly more, but eliminates the problems of landfills.

Following years of study and public comment several significant decisions were made. A Proposed Remedial Action Plan was published by the DNR (Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources) and EPA (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) in 2001. Then two Records of Decision (RODs) were issued in 2002 and 2003 explaining the cleanup methods that had been chosen by the DNR and EPA.

The RODs established an "action level" of 1 part per million (ppm) for the cleanup effort. Any sediment found in the river with a concentration of PCBs of 1 ppm or greater is targeted for removal.

The agencies created agreements with some of the paper companies named as "responsible parties" in the Fox River cleanup committing the companies to funding the cleanup.

Unfortunately, the RODS also provided for acceptance of a contingent remedy of "capping in some areas of the river if capping can be done at a lower cost and shown to result in as good or better risk reduction in both the short and long terms."

Cleanup has begun, and is more expensive than anticipated by the responsible parties. They now argue that the contingent remedy of capping should be done to most of the areas requiring cleanup. Sierra Club argues that covering up the river bottom with a layer of sand and gravel is not appropriate.

We are again writing letters to the DNR. We need to pack the Public Meeting on December 5 at 7:00pm in the Brown County Library located at 515 Pine Street in Green Bay.

We are saying, "CLEAN UP not COVER UP".

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