Fox River Home
Search
Index to Site
Recent Additions

Frequent Questions
Media Coverage
History
Statistics
Maps

PCB Chemistry
Human Health
Wildlife Health
Economic Damage
Corporate Profiles

Compensation
Sediment Cleanup
Cleanup Technologies

State Government
Federal Government
Local Government
Native Nations

International & Great Lakes
Technical Assistance
Other PCB Sites
Links

Photo Gallery
Political Cartoons

Message Board
Guestbook

Green Bay, WI --- The public has been cheated of any public hearing opportunity on the key factor which led to scaling back the Fox River PCB cleanup, charged local citizens today.

For several years, the Town of Holland Landfill in southern Brown County has been considered the primary disposal site which would make the Fox River PCB cleanup possible and affordable.   The site is close to the river and large enough to handle the entire disposal volume needed.  It is also underlain with more than 100 feet of natural dense clay, providing an extra measure of safety for groundwater protection.  In terms of readiness, the landfill has already undergone a 10-year permitting process, legal challenges and public hearings.  Landfill contracts have already been signed allowing Fox River sediment disposal and providing a $10 per ton bonus to the local communities for accepting the sediment.

Now, the EPA and DNR propose to scale back the Fox River PCB cleanup, by reducing dredging and by capping several toxic hotspots in the river, primarily because they lack nearby landfill space and don't have time to go through the permit process needed to site a new landfill.   The agencies have held several closed, secret meetings with Brown County leaders in recent years, to try to reach agreement on the landfill issue, but Brown County officials apparently rejected the proposal.

"Brown County officials have removed the Town of Holland Landfill as a disposal option for the Fox River cleanup, with no public discussion or opportunity for comment," stated Rebecca Katers, Executive Director of the Clean Water Action Council of N.E. Wisconsin, Inc., a local citizen organization.   "This will have major consequences for local taxpayers, our economy, public health and wildlife."

"It also appears that the Brown County Harbor Commission has cut a deal with the corporations," added Katers.  The Commission flatly refuses to request that Renard Isle remediation be made part of the Fox River cleanup (with the polluters covering a major portion of the costs).  At the same time, the Commission will get the deeper shipping channel they want, because the amended Fox River plan calls for use of channel dredgings as capping material in the river.   Current channel dredging rates are too slow, so a deeper cut will be necessary.  (For years, the Commission has been unable to get federal funds for a deeper channel.) 

"This is a win-win situation for the polluting corporations and a lose-lose for local taxpayers," stated Katers.

The corporations will get a vastly less-expensive Fox River PCB cleanup, saving $190 million by using the public's river as their private toxic landfill.  They will also get the deeper shipping channel they want for transporting their raw materials and finished goods, saving them millions of dollars in future shipping fees.  They will also escape millions of dollars in remediation liabilities for the PCB contamination that plagues Renard Isle.   The Brown County Harbor Commission is happy because they will now have a free, no-maintenance disposal site for their contaminated dredge spoils from the shipping channel (though this is short-term and the eroding caps are likely to refill the shipping channel in a decade or less.)

Brown County taxpayers will be stuck paying millions of dollars for capping, remediation and repairs at Renard Isle, for hundreds of years.   Local taxpayers also face the brunt of remediation costs when the Fox River cleanup caps fail and the river and bay are recontaminated with PCBs.   Public health, wildlife, and the fishing and recreation industries will be threatened again.  When that happens, the caps and PCBs will have to be removed, at great expense, or the caps will require constant monitoring, maintenance and repair forever into the future.  Future economic or social uses of the capped areas of the river will be strictly limited. 

As part of their voluntary settlement, the corporations are likely to demand a "cash-out" settlement of their liabilities when this new cleanup plan is approved, protecting them from future liabilities when the caps fail. 

The Town of Holland site will still become a Brown County landfill, so nearby residents have only delayed action there by a few years.

"We call on Brown County Supervisors and the County Executive to hold immediate public hearings regarding the Town of Holland sediment landfill, so a full public debate can be held.  Such important decisions should not be made behind closed doors," concluded Katers.  "The new PCB capping proposal is not based on science, as the agencies claim, but on Brown County's political decision to withhold available landfill space."

Note:  TOMORROW, January 11, is the deadline for postmarking citizen comment letters to the EPA regarding the proposed amendment to the Record of Decision for the Fox River PCB cleanup.  Letters can be sent to Susan Pastor, Community Involvement Coordinator, U.S. EPA, P-19J, 77 W. Jackson Blvd., Chicago, IL 60604.  Letters can also be faxed to the EPA at (312) 353-1155.

back to top