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I’ve been chided by certain news reporters who believe we’re being ungrateful and too “perfectionist” when we criticize the recent Record of Decision for the Fox River and Green Bay PCB cleanup.

But look at it from our perspective:

• We’ve suffered through a 30-year delay --- The paper industry has flexed its political muscle and deliberately delayed the Fox River cleanup since 1972, when the DNR first publicly warned about the Fox River and Green Bay PCB cleanup.  Because of this delay, many of the PCBs have escaped the river and spread to contaminate an entire region, poisoning additional people --- tens of thousands of them around Lake Michigan.

• We’ve suffered through 18 years of frustrating citizen work --- Clean Water Action Council was formed in 1985 specifically because of the PCB contamination and we’ve been pushing for government and industry cleanup action ever since.  We’ve been subjected to significant abuse and suffered many personal losses while trying to convince the government to enforce the law.   Did we make all these sacrifices only to have a plan that stops short of public health protection?

• This is NOT a GAME.  Public health is at risk. --- Roughly 40,000 people are currently eating unsafe quantities of Fox River and Green Bay fish, according to government surveys.   Many of these people are low income, disadvantaged people who need the fish as a source of food, and they will continue to eat the fish despite warnings.   While it is currently fashionable to argue that everyone needs to “compromise” and “meet in the middle,” this not an ethical approach on the PCB issue.   When public health is at stake, public health protection must come first.    We at Clean Water Action Council have science and law on our side when we argue for a cleanup target in the river and bay of .25 ppm, which provides at least minimal public health protection (note: we are not asking for 100% cleanup or “perfection.”)    Because of corporate job blackmail, the politicians have compromised this number to a level  4 times weaker, with the result that even with the so-called “cleanup,” another 55 years, at a minimum, will pass on the Fox River before the fish consumption advisories can be lifted, and more than 100 years on the bay, according to government estimates.   Our .25 ppm cleanup target would lift the fish advisories decades earlier --- but public health protection is not considered a political priority for the Fox River Valley.   Did anyone notice that the politicians dodged this issue at the news conference and did not admit how LONG it will be before the warnings can be lifted?   They’re obviously aware and ashamed of the delay.

• Capping is a Disaster --- Why should we be pleased that the corporations won their 2 year job blackmail campaign to cap the PCBs in the river?   This government policy change is a slap in the face to any thinking person who cares about the  future.   Those capped PCB deposits will be time bombs just waiting to recontaminate the river and bay in 50, 100 or 200 years.  It’s just a matter of time before the PCBs escape.   It is an obvious ploy by the paper industry to reduce their costs and escape their full liability.   Our children and grandchildren will pay instead.

• Compensation Side is Weak Also --- Not only are we getting a weak "cleanup," we're also being ripped-off on the compensation side.   Three years ago, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service determined that our region suffered $333 million in damages due to the PCBs.   This was a conservative estimate that left out several important types of damages (see details).   In spite of this, our governments are settling with the polluters for only a small fraction of this compensation amount (see Georgia-Pacific settlement).   We face another 100+ years of public health risks and our governments are letting the polluters escape their compensation responsibilities.  This is NOT justice, by any stretch of the imagination.

They’re missing the point.   There’s a clear difference between right and wrong on this issue.  We’re being asked to applaud a decision that violates basic principles of justice, honesty and public health protection.    Why should we be SATISFIED with a decision merely because it is “at least something?”   Why do people feel comfortable with such low expectations?  Has our government become so weak that we've given up asking them to do their jobs properly?

If 40,000 local people were threatened by terrorists who had dumped contaminants in the Fox River and Green Bay, we’d see immediate government action to thoroughly clean up the threat.  Our politicians would be tripping over each other in their eagerness to condemn the perpetrators.   But in our case, the paper industry has been pampered with years of delay and frequent praise for “stepping forward to address the problem,” despite the fact that their actions are horribly late and will not protect public health.  (... and they may still balk and oppose the plan, causing further delay.)

Sorry, but this is NOT a good Record of Decision.   No one should be happy about it.  The government and the paper industries have the technology and financial ability to do a MUCH better and faster cleanup.

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