Dear Sir or Madam,

I’m writing in regard to:  The United States and the State of Wisconsin v. Fort James Operating Company (Georgia Pacific Corporation), Civil Action No. 02-C-0602 (E.D. Wis.), and DOJ Reference Nmber 0-11-2-1045/1.)

I oppose this settlement and request that it be re-negotiated for $73 million, which is Georgia-Pacific’s 22% share of the $333 million in damages reported by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and co-trustees in their final “Restoration and Compensation Determination Plan” (RCDP) released in November, 2000.   This plan cost roughly $10 million and 7 years to prepare, and utilized more than 80 world-class experts.  The plan’s conclusions should not be abandoned.  The $333 million was a conservative minimal estimate which does not include major economic losses, such as damages to Lake Michigan, closed or damaged commercial fishing businesses, discouraged anglers, lost food value, dredge disposal and marina maintenance costs, drinking water costs, swimming impacts, wildlife damages, property damage, non-adjacent counties, or human medical costs and lost work.  This number must not be further compromised.

In addition, I request that the public comment period for this individual settlement be extended to 30 days after the public release of the proposed final NRDA Restoration Plan, which is the overall plan for all the responsible corporations, and EPA’s final Record of Decision (ROD) on the Fox River and Green Bay sediment cleanup plan.  It is impossible for citizens to fully evaluate and comment on this individual consent decree without knowing the comprehensive situation it should fit into.  The two larger decisions are due within just a few weeks or a month, so my request for a comment extension would not require a significant delay.  In addition, a public hearing should be held to allow discussion of the consent decree’s impacts. 

I’m also concerned about several other flaws in this consent decree, such as:

Wrong types of projects  Far too much of this settlement is for human park and recreation enhancements.  According to extensive public surveys by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, the public placed highest priority on spending compensation dollars to stop toxicity.  Second highest priority was to protect and enhance fisheries and wildlife habitat.  Third highest were projects to stop land run-off pollution.   Only a very distant fourth were human recreational enhancements.

Northern communities are neglected   All of the recreational dollars are targeted for Brown County communities only, where Georgia-Pacific operates.  None are planned for Door, Oconto, or Marinette Counties, or for Upper Michigan communities on the northern Bay, which also have serious PCB fish-eating warnings and wildlife injuries due to Fox River pollution.  If recreation is the goal, then the northern people should have equal access to these recreation dollars.  In addition, all the land purchases for wildlife habitat are on the Bay’s westshore, with nothing for the eastshore, Michigan or Door County, though most of the Bay’s PCBs are concentrated up the Door County shoreline.

Inflated settlement dollars  Several discrepancies appear between last year’s dollar values and this year’s in the settlement details.   For example, last year’s land acquisition value for the Peshtigo Marsh property was much lower than this year’s high land value.  Only 363 more acres of land were added to this year’s settlement, but the dollar values rose by $5 million.  This equals $13,774 per acre added, which does not seem reasonable for wetlands with no development potential.  This must be investigated and corrected, if faulty.   The public is owed a full $73 million, not to be achieved through inflating the value of the settlement projects.

I’m very disappointed by the size and form this settlement has taken, and urge you to re-negotiate to restore the public’s faith in the American justice system.

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