From: "Rebecca Leighton Katers" <cwac@mail.execpc.com>
Friday, May 26, 2000

EPA announced yesterday afternoon that a consent order has 
been signed with Fort James Corp. in Green Bay to finish the 
Fox River dredging project which had been left so disastrously 
incomplete last fall.   (Hazardous waste levels of toxic PCB 
chemicals were left exposed on the surface, when they should have 
been removed.)

The consent order is a partial victory, but several concerns remain:

1.  The work won't start until late August or September, which means 
the hotspot will have been exposed to the river for 10 months without 
emergency measures by the company or any level of government.   This 
delay is far too long.   People continue to eat fish caught 
downstream.

2.  Because they're starting so late, they could be stopped by the 
river freezing over before they can finish.  This has already 
happened twice on previous dredging efforts on the Fox River.

3.  The EPA is simply requiring the completion of the project 
originally allowed by DNR.   Only 80,000 cubic yards of the 120,000 
cubic yard hotspot will be removed when they're done.  Last year, 
roughly 30,000 was taken out, now another 50,000 will come out.
This leaves 40,000 unaddressed.

4.   The EPA's cleanup goal is a leftover concentration after 
dredging of no more than 1 ppm PCBs.  (parts per million)   This is 4 
times higher than the .25 ppm goal proposed in last year's draft 
cleanup plan for the river.

5.   There seems to be a major loophole in the cleanup standard. 
EPA says they will require post-dredging cover with at least 6 inches 
of sand if the remaining PCBs are between 1 and 10 ppm.  This means 
they're partly endorsing a cap instead of a total cleanup at the 
site.   This sets a dangerous precedent for the rest of the river.

6.   Though this is the most concentrated PCB hotspot in the entire 
river (up to 700 ppm PCBs), EPA is not requiring any detoxification 
of the sludge before it goes to a landfill on the Oneida Tribe's 
reservation.   This is another disturbing precedent for the rest of 
the river.   EPA staff told me they "can't" require treatment because 
it's legal to dispose of this material in a landfill, due to an EPA 
exemption for the State of Wisconsin from the federal Toxic 
Substances Control Act which was quietly granted by EPA about 6 years 
ago --- allowing toxic waste levels of PCBs to be dumped in ordinary 
Wisconsin landfills.   Only Wisconsin has this exemption.

7.  In exchange for doing this work, Fort James will be released from 
future PCB dredging liability in the grids numbered 56/57.   So 
Fort James will escape liability for 40,000 of the 120,000 cubic 
yards of sludge.   And the hole will surely fill in again with 
PCB contaminated sediments from upstream which should also be
the responsibility of Fort James.   In essence, Fort James is being 
released from liability for those upstream sediments which escape 
into the hole.

8.  The media coverage has portrayed Fort James Corporation as a 
generous benefactor in this consent order, emphasizing that this was 
a "cooperative" agreement with the company.   This is hardly 
warranted given that Fort James created this toxic crisis in the 
first place, and has a moral and legal obligation to address the 
consequences.

9.  Local congressmen (Sen. Kohl, Sen Feingold, Rep. Petri, Rep. 
Green) have inserted themselves to intimidate EPA into a 
"cooperative" agreement, and they slowed down EPA's decision 
process by requesting last minute meetings.   Instead, they should 
have pressured the company into a stronger, more rapid 
settlement, so work could proceed more quickly. 

10.  Because this consent decree was written under emergency EPA 
rules, EPA isn't required to get any public input on the 
decision.

11.  In essence, this will be the final cleanup of this worst Fox 
River hotspot, but it's far from ideal.   Because the agencies 
originally allowed the project under the pretense that it was only a 
"demonstration" they didn't have to go through the full analysis and 
public review required under the final RI/FS (Remedial 
Investigation/Feasibility Study) which is due for the whole river 
this coming November.   So decisions about capping or lack of 
detoxification treatment have been finessed and they 
successfully bypassed full public scrutiny.

U.S. EPA REGION 5 NEWS RELEASE
------------------------------
Media Contact: Susan Pastor(312) 353-1325
Technical Contact: Jim Hahnenberg(312) 353-4213
Legal Contact: Roger Grimes(312) 886-6595

For Immediate Release: May 25, 2000

No. 00-OPA112

EPA SIGNS AGREEMENT WITH FORT JAMES TO CONTINUE WORK ON
LOWER FOX RIVER SMU 56/57 PROJECT

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 5, in
cooperation with the Wisconsin Department of Natural
Resources (WDNR), said today that Fort James Corp. has
agreed to continue work at the area known as Sediment
Management Unit (SMU) 56/57 on the Lower Fox River near
Green Bay, WI.

The agreement, called a consent order, provides for:

* the company to continue dredging in a "phased approach;"

* oversight by an EPA on-scene coordinator, in consultation
with WDNR staff;

* the removal of 21,500 cubic yards of contaminated
sediment, including 1,600 lb of polychlorinated biphenyls
(PCB's) in phase 1 and the removal of 50,000 cubic yards in
phase 2;

* dredging to be completed this year;

* a clean-up goal of 1 part per million (ppm) in the
dredged area;

* a post-dredging cover of at least 6 inches of sand in
areas at the edge of the dredging excavation and, if
needed, in other areas to reduce risks if only 1 to 10 ppm
is reached; and

* sediment disposal at Fort James' landfill and existing
on-shore dewatering facility.

"We are pleased that Fort James has agreed to complete this
additional cleanup at SMU 56/57," said Regional
Administrator Francis X. Lyons.  "The 56/57 project is an
important step that needed to be addressed immediately, but
it does not represent the comprehensive river clean-up plan
that will be defined in a final decision next year."

Rebecca Leighton Katers
Clean Water Action Council of N.E. Wisconsin
East Port Center
1270 Main Street, Suite 120
Green Bay, WI 54302
Phone:  920-437-7304
Fax:  920-437-7326
E-mail:  CleanWater@cwac.net
Homepage:  www.cwac.net

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