Lower Fox River Cleanup Plan Calls for Dredging and Capping

摘要

In late July the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a record of decision (ROD) outlining the final remediation plan for the last 13 mi (21 km) of the Fox River and all of Green Bay. The action caps years of debate regarding how best to clean up the millions of cubic yards of contaminated sediment in the river and the bay. The lower Fox River travels 39 mi (63 km) in northeastern Wisconsin from Lake Winnebago, near Appleton, to Green Bay. The river and its surrounding valley are home to one of the largest concentrations of paper mills in the world, and the long-established pulp and paper industries―together with numerous other manufacturing interests―have had a significant effect on the river. Although the quality of its water has improved markedly in recent decades, the river still has thousands of pounds of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBS)―industrial by-products discharged by paper mills between the 1950s and the 1970s―in its sediment. The accumulation of PCBS in fish tissue is seen by regulating agencies as a significant threat to human health, and since the 1970s the State of Wisconsin has warned anglers to limit their consumption of fish from the river.