Forum Addresses Effects of Fox River Clean-Up

Dredging the Fox River will affect the economy, human health, quality of life, and fish and wildlife in the region, but it's impossible to predict those effects precisely. The range of possibilities was discussed in a public forum held in Green Bay last month.

Representatives of industry, business, the environmental community, and academia participated, and about 60 others attended. The forum was sponsored by UW Sea Grant; the Waters of Wisconsin Initiative of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters; and the Science and Technical Advisory Committee of the Lower Green Bay and Fox River Remedial Action Plan. Victoria Harris, UW Sea Grant's water quality specialist, served as chair.

The panelists agreed that cleanup was necessary to meet environmental and human health goals for the river and bay. They also agreed that uncertainties remain concerning the environmental, human health, and economic effects of dredging.

PCBs are only one of many stressors to the ecosystem of the river and Green Bay, said Hallett J. Harris, professor emeritus of natural and applied sciences and ecology, UW-Green Bay. Dredging will not result in a pristine ecosystem, but it is a step toward restoring many beneficial uses, Harris said.

The seven paper mills identified as the potentially responsible parties (PRPs) for the estimated $309 million clean-up cost can afford to cover the bill, according to Rebecca Katers of the Clean Water Action Council, a local citizens organization. The money will not come from the local mills themselves, but from the worldwide corporate assets of their parent companies, Katers said. Abundant evidence linking PCBs to adverse health in humans warrants the expenditure, she said.

A paper company representative disagreed. "To make a statement about who can afford what - outsiders can't speak to that. It should be up to the companies to decide that," said Dennis N. Hultgren, director of environmental and public affairs at Appleton Papers Inc. The companies believe the cleanup proposal is "both technically and financially flawed," Hultgren said. If it fails, the PRPs will be responsible, he said. "We want to do it once, and we want to do it right," he said.

The Green Bay Area Chamber of Commerce is concerned about effects of the cleanup cost on the global competitiveness of the mills, said Patrick Schillinger, the chamber's vice-president of government affairs.

The value to the public of restoring environmental resources can be estimated by asking people what they would pay for it, according to John R. Stoll, professor of public and environmental affairs at UW-Green Bay. Reporting on a survey he conducted, Stoll said that, on average, people in the region would be willing to pay $150 per household per year in higher costs for goods and services to achieve a minimal level of improvement in the river and bay. They would pay $222 per year for full restoration of resources and their beneficial uses, he said.

The proposed plan is clearly a compromise between the interests of environmentalists and the PRPs, said Michael E. Kraft, professor of public and environmental affairs at UW-Green Bay. The issue is symbolic of other restoration efforts and has parallels to the Hudson River, where the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is going ahead with a PCB clean-up plan, he said.

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and the EPA are accepting public comments on their proposed clean-up plan through Jan. 21, 2002. For details, see http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/org/ water/wm/lowerfox/proposedplan.html

A videotape of the Fox River Forum is available from Victoria Harris, UW Sea Grant Institute, (920) 465-2795, or email harrisv@uwgb.edu.

- John Karl

Last updated 16 April 2002 by Karl
All contents copyright 2001 University of Wisconsin Sea Grant Institute

http://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/Communications/news/LD_stories/2001/FoxRiverForum.html