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In the fall of 2000, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced their final "Restoration and Compensation Determination Plan," for the Fox River and Green Bay, as compensation for the enormous economic and social damages to our region from PCB contamination. Five public hearings were held. This concluded 8 years of economic and technical research, and the preparation of numerous reports documenting the damages as part of a "Natural Resources Damage Assessment" (NRDA).  [Note: We have two separate, but parallel projects to follow:  the CLEANUPplan and COMPENSATIONplan.  The NRDA is the compensation plan.  (See the Superfund RIFS for the sediment cleanup plan.)] The Service was joined by several other governments as co-trustees of our natural resources --- the State of Michigan’s Attorney General, on behalf of the Governor of Michigan; the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (under the U.S. Dept. of Commerce); the Oneida Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin, the Menominee Tribe of Wisconsin, and the Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawa Indians (in Michigan). All these governments worked well together to write a river restoration plan.

Photo by Bill Hafs

Unfortunately, the State of Wisconsin, under the leadership of Governors Thompson and McCallum, rabidly opposed the concept of compensation. Their DNR argued that ALL of the money is needed for sediment cleanup, and that compensation is not important.   Governor Doyle appears to be continuing the Thompson/McCallum approach with no changes in DNR staff or attitudes.

Because of this basic philosophical difference, the state lobbied aggressively against the NRDA, and in 1997 (with the support of then-Attorney General Jim Doyle) signed a surprise contract with the 7 paper companies (with no prior public awareness or input) to have the companies pick consultants to write a state/company version of an NRDA in direct competition with the federal-led NRDA. 

Not surprisingly, the resulting state/company plan grossly undervalued the public’s economic losses and undercut the federal-led NRDA. The state was not willing to fight for justice in the public’s interest. 
 

Shortly after the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service announced it’s final compensation and river restoration plan, the state made another surprise announcement that the state had signed a settlement with Fort James Corporation (now Georgia Pacific) for $7 million as final compensation for that company’s share of the damages. The state refused to hold a public hearing. This was widely criticized as too little. After an investigation by the state Legislative Fiscal Bureau, the DNR suspended the agreement indefinitely.

(click here for more Lyle Lahey cartoons on the Fox River and Bay)

In July of 2002, the same deal resurfaced as a so-called $16.1 settlement with Georgia-Pacific (actually worth only $10.86 million), and all the Intergovernmental Partners (federal, state, and tribal) signed on.  (See old Action Alert)  Clean Water Action Council attempted to intervene in this settlement in federal court. (See Citizens Go to Court to Increase Proposed G-P Settlement)  Unfortunately, the judge ruled against formal citizen intervention, but allowed Clean Water Action Council to file an Amicus Brief challenging the settlement.  The judge has not yet rule on whether he will accept the settlement.

The federal Dept. of Justice acknowledged, as part of their legal argument against our intervention case, that the federal government was forced to settle for less, because the state NRDA undercut their assessment, leaving the federal government less able to defend their damage claim in court.  Just as we predicted.  The state is working against the public's interest.

Even worse, following George W. Bush's assumption of the U.S. Presidency, and his appointment of Gale Norton as Interior Secretary (overseeing the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service) and John Ashcroft as Attorney General (overseeing the U.S. Dept. of Justice), we've seen a significant shift in federal policy.  (See Corporate Takeover)

In the summer of 2001, the Intergovernmental Partners proposed and approved another surprise deal:  a $40 million "downpayment" from Appleton Paper Company and NCR Corporation over a 4 year period. In exchange, the governments would agree not to sue for more and the NRDA process would be suspended during that time frame. All these settlements represent major departures from promised policies by the federal government.   Settlements were not supposed to be finalized until after the final Restoration Plan was issued by the co-trustees, and the Record of Decision was finalized by EPA for the parallel sediment cleanup plan, but this principle was abandoned by the Bush Administration.

Now that the final Record of Decision has been announced (summer of 2003), additional settlements can occur, but the agencies appear to have put river restoration and habitat on the back burner.  The assertive federal push for compensation and restoration seems to have evaporated under the Bush Administration.

Detailed Articles

• Infuriating Results: Report on the Trustee Council meeting 
• CWAC Citizen Comments on the Restoration Plan
• CWAC Citizen Comments on the G-P Settlement
• Citizens Go to Court to Increase Proposed G-P Settlement
• Details of Federal Court Case Intervening in G-P Settlement 
• Georgia-Pacific Settlement Shortchanges the Public
• Bush's EPA Settles PCB Case with Monsanto in Alabama, also Shortchanging the Public
• PCB Damage Assessment History
• The Corporate Federal Takeover
• Comparison of Proposed Georgia-Pacific Settlements (last year vs. this year)
• $333 Million is a Conservative Estimate of PCB Damages
• Responses to NRDA Criticism
• Comparison of Competing NRDA Compensation Plans  (State vs. Federal)
• Comparison of Montana and Wisconsin NRDA Compensation Efforts
• Comparing Two Disasters:  Let's put this in perspective ... (Exxon Valdez vs. Fox River) 
• Bush Administration Blocks Access to River and Bay Website
• The Corporations Can Afford It
• The $40 million settlement with Appleton Paper and NCR Corporation
• News release --- G-P Settlement Shortchanges the Public

For the amazing politics behind this issue, please read our past newsletter articles
 
• Fox River Articles

[Nov, 2000] CWAC Newsletter re Compensation Plan for PCB Damages
[Aug, 1999] Gov. Thompson's Duplicate NRDA Wastes Money & Endangers River PCB Cleanup
[Aug, 1998] Thompson Defends Fox River Polluters Against Responsible Cleanup

• Paper Mill Articles

• National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (within U.S. Dept. of Commerce)
 
Damage Assessment and Remediation Program --- NOAA

• Wisconsin Dept. of Natural Resources 
 
NRDA webpage (It appears that all the historical documents have been removed from DNR's website regarding the state/company competing NRDA.)  - NEW
NRDA Selected Restoration Projects - NEW
How to Submit a Restoration Project Proposal - NEW

• U.S. Dept. of Justice

News release about Georgia-Pacific Settlement

• U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (within U.S. Dept. of Interior) ---

The Final Joint Restoration Plan and Environmental Assessment - NEW

The Restoration Program --- main agency NRDA website
The Fox River and Green Bay NRDA 
Training Session for NRDA Staff and Trustees - Good Background

The following are the Service's reports (which cost at least $10 million to research and write), with the "RCDP" being the final plan which went to public hearings in November 2000.  They are large pdf files which require Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is available for free downloading.  Unfortunately, it will take a while for slower modems to download these reports, and they do use quite a bit of memory.   For more information, call the Service's new local project manager for the Fox River and Green Bay NRDA, Collette Charbonneau, at 920-866-1726.
 

• The Restoration and Compensation Determination Plan (RCDP) - 1.28 MB pdf file

• The RCDP Plan, plus Appendices - 4.87 MB pdf file 

Appendices include:
 
• Total value equivalency study
• Co-Trustee Coordination Activities
• List of Potential Restoration Projects
• Ranking of Potential Restoration Projects
• Wetland Habitat Restoration Opportunities in the Green Bay Area
• Description of GIS and Mapping Analyses
• Simulated TSS and Phosphorus Loads to Green Bay
• Estimation of Loading Reductions from Conservation Tillage and Vegetated Buffer Strips
• Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Riparian Buffer Strips and Stream Bank Stabilization BMPs to Control Non-point Source Pollution to Green Bay
• General Land Cost Estimate
• Detailed Restoration Cost Analysis

• The Bird Injury Report - 1.95 MB pdf file
• The Fish Injury Report - 2.18 MB pdf file
• The PCB Pathway Determination - 1.22 MB pdf file
• The Fish Consumption Advisories Report - 0.76 MB pdf fiile
• The Recreational Fishing Damage Report - 9.05 MB pdf file
• The Surface Water Injury Report - 0.63 MB pdf file