Fox River Update - September, 1997
Media Manipulation & Risky Proposals

by Rebecca Leighton Katers, Clean Water Action Council

See also:  Fox River Declared Superfund Site
It has been difficult to sort through all the different agency and industry claims of progress in designing a clean-up plan for the PCB-contaminated sediments in the Fox River and Green Bay.  Here are some observations.
 

PR Firms Hired

The industries have hired a powerful public relations firm from St. Louis, Missouri to put a "positive media spin" on the story --- to give the impression that the polluters are being helpful and thoughtful.  However, we're hearing reports that they're trying to convince the media that everyone's attention should be focussed on farmland run-off instead --- even though this has nothing to do with the chemical contamination problem which makes our fish and ducks inedible, and our wildlife sick.
 

Public Outreach Stifled

Last spring, I was invited by the Wisconsin Dept. of Justice to serve on a committee planning public outreach opportunities this fall on this issue.  The programs would have focussed on sediment detoxification and disposal issues, human and wildlife health risks, government programs, and industry concerns --- and all programs would have ended with public comment and discussion opportunities.
 
I had traveled to Madison for meetings, participated in conference calls, and researched speakers, only to discover at a recent Fox River Coalition meeting that the DNR had unceremoniously canceled the committee's activities and without informing us or apologizing, had given the task to the Fox River Coalition, the biased group dominated by industrial polluters who for 5 years have refused to hold public hearings.  It will be interesting to see what they do now, if anything.
 

Risky Projects?

The Fox River Coalition is taking credit for planning 2 small sediment hot-spot clean-up projects in 1998, but one of the sites will be paid for entirely from taxpayer funds, not by the paper industries responsible for creating the toxic PCB hotspots.
 
The other is a critically important hotspot downstream from the Fort Howard (Fort James) mill --- the worst spot in the river.  At this site, DNR has only 2 sediment samples, but has already determined they have only $7 million to clean this site up (money from the secret settlement which was announced in January, 1997 between DNR and the polluters.)
 
This is a dangerous, backward approach.  The site should be studied first, a good clean-up plan written, and then the polluters should provide as much money as necessary.  The clean-up should not be limited and done poorly because DNR has gotten only $7 million so far.