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Workers and politicians are needlessly worried about whether the paper companies can afford to pay for proper river and bay cleanup and public compensation. A simple look at corporate financial assets makes it clear the corporations can afford it.  (Click on company names for more financial information.)  See Factors to Keep in Mind at the bottom.

• Appleton Papers, Inc. --- $6.8 billion in total assets in 2000 for Worms & Cie (owner of Appleton Papers) plus additional assets in IFI (Istituto Finanziario Industriale S.p.A.) which has controlling interests in Worms & Cie.  (Appleton Papers and NCR Corporation are responsible for roughly 40% of the cleanup and compensation costs.)

• NCR Corporation --- $4.7 billion in total assets in 2001  (Shares 40% of cleanup costs with Appleton.)

• Georgia-Pacific Corporation --- $6.3 billion in total assets in 2001  (Responsible for 22.5% of cleanup costs.)

• P.H. Glatfelter Company --- $286 million in total assets in 2000  (Responsible for 27.1% of cleanup costs.)

• SCA --- $2.4 billion in total assets in 2000  (Responsible for 9.1% of cleanup costs.)

• Sonoco --- $2.1 billion in total assets in 2001  (Responsible for only 1% of cleanup costs.)

• Riverside Paper Company --- $115 million in sales per year at its Appleton mill.  Private company.  Assets unknown.  (Responsible for only 1% of cleanup costs.)

Factors to keep in mind:

• The sediment cleanup plan as proposed by DNR and EPA is only $307 million.  The compensation plan as proposed by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is only $176 to $333 million.  Added together, the costs range from $483 to $640 million.  If anything, the corporations are getting off too cheaply considering the horrendous damage they caused over a wide region.

• The seven corporations are sharing the cleanup and compensation costs.

• The seven corporations can amortize the costs over many years, just like a home mortgage.  The year-to-year costs will be relatively minor.

• Many of the corporations have been setting aside special "financial reserves" for many years to cover these costs.  Or in some cases, they consider the costs too minor to warrant setting up reserves.

• The corporations' own annual reports indicate that they can likely afford to pay without significant short- or long-term effect on their corporations.  Even P.H. Glatfelter Company's report says this.

• The corporations have dragged their feet for the 30 years since the Wisconsin DNR first started studying the PCB problem in the Fox River in 1971.  In that time, the corporations have continued to invest and earn interest on funds which should otherwise have been spent on PCB cleanup and compensation.

• If the corporations don't pay the full cost of the cleanup and compensation, the remainder of the costs will be borne by taxpayers and PCB poisoning victims who were never consulted about PCB dumping in the first place.  Is this fair?

• The corporations have not been asked to pay a penny of the enormous medical and remedial education expenses which are likely due to their deliberate recklessness.

• The funds will not come from the assets of just the local mills.  The funds will come from the worldwide financial assets of the corporations.

• If the local mills are running profitably, there's no reason for the corporations to shut them down. The corporations can't escape their liabilities by closing local mills, so they might as well keep operating them and making money.  The mills are a source of income, not a liability.  Or think of it this way:  you wouldn't quit your job just because you have to pay for an expensive car repair.