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Lower Fox River and Green Bay Site
Site Information
- Green Bay, WI (Brown County)
- EPA ID# WI0001954841
- NPL Site Narrative
- NPL Factsheet
- Superfund Site Progress Profile
- Alias(es): Fox River NRDA/PCB Releases, Fox River
- Photos
- Fox River Current Newsletter Archive
Contact Information
Community Involvement Coordinator
Susan Pastor (pastor.susan@epa.gov)
312-353-1325 or 800-621-8431, ext. 31325
Remedial Project Manager
James Hahnenberg (hahnenberg.james@epa.gov)
312-353-4213 or 800-621-8431, ext. 34213
Repositories
(where to view written records)
Appleton Public Library
225 N. Oneida Street
Appleton, WI
Brown County Library
515 Pine Street
Green Bay, WI
Door County Library
104 S. Fourth Ave.
Sturgeon Bay, WI
Oneida Community Library
201 Elm Street
Oneida, WI
Oshkosh Public Library
106 Washington Ave.
Oshkosh, WI
An Administrative Record, which contains detailed information upon which the selection of the cleanup plan was based, is available at:
DNR Lower Fox River Basin Team
801 E. Walnut Street
Green Bay, WI
Wisconsin Dept. of Natural Resources
Bureau of Watershed Management
101 S. Webster Street, 3rd Floor
Madison, WI
EPA Record Center
77 W. Jackson Blvd., 7th Floor
Chicago, IL
Links
EPA Superfund Home Page
Region 5 Superfund
Superfund Frequent Questions
Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry
Oneida Environmental
Quality Department 
EPA Contaminated Sediment
Management Strategy
Workplan describing the Agency’s long-term approaches to assess,
reduce and prevent further risks posed by contaminated sediments in many
watersheds. The strategy does not discuss the cleanup of specific sites.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Great Lakes Contaminated Sediments Program
Video: Contaminated Sediments in our Waterways: Impacts and Solutions (28 min.)
Background
The Lower Fox River, located in northeastern Wisconsin, begins at the Menasha and Neenah channels leading from Lake Winnebago and flows northeast for 39 miles where it discharges into Green Bay and Lake Michigan. Approximately 270,000 people live in the communities along the river. The river has 12 dams and includes the highest concentration of pulp and paper mills in the world. During the 1950s and 1960s, these mills routinely used PCBs in their operations which ultimately contaminated the river.(more...)
You will need the free Adobe Reader to view some of the files on this page. See EPA's PDF page to learn more.
What are PCBs?
As a result of the recycling of PCB-containing carbonless copy paper, area mill operations discharged PCBs in waste streams, contaminating sediment in the Lower Fox River. The Lower Fox River is the largest source of PCBs to Lake Michigan in the basin. From 1957 to 1971, about 250,000 pounds of PCBs were released, contaminating 11 million tons of sediment. It is estimated that some 160,000 pounds of PCBs have already left the Fox River and entered Green Bay and Lake Michigan. On average, 300 to 500 additional pounds are flushed from the Lower Fox sediment each year. Floods would flush additional thousands of pounds into Green Bay. Once PCBs are released into the bay and Lake Michigan, they are extremely difficult, if not impossible, to recover.
Site Updates | Latest Update | News Releases | Fact Sheets || Technical Documents || Five-Year Reviews || Legal Documents || Public Meetings
Site Updates
Fox River Current Newsletter (PDF) (8pp, 742K) Spring 2013 (all issues of the Fox River Current- Archive)
May 2013
On May 1, Judge U.S. District Judge William Griesbach issued his post-trial ruling holding all seven of the companies EPA considers responsible for the PCB contamination to continue and complete all of the required cleanup work at the site. Under that decision, the government can now require any of them to do all of the remaining work or any portions of that work.
A little more than 660,000 cubic yards of PCB-contaminated sediment were dredged from the Lower Fox River in 2012, as required by Judge Griesbach. In May 2012, he ordered NCR Corp., one of the companies responsible for the contamination, to continue dredging and remove a minimum of 660,000 cubic yards of sediment by November 9, 2012.
The fifth year of dredging in the Lower Fox River from DePere to Green Bay resumed in early April. Work this year will take place between the DePere Dam and the Mason Street Bridge. Dredging will occur 24 hours per day, five days a week, similar to last year with more than 18,000 cubic yards of sediment removed each week.
This year, we hope to have at least three hydraulic dredges cleaning up PCB-contaminated sediment. The goal is to remove 575,000 cubic yards by mid-November. It is expected that sand capping and covering, which started in 2011, will also continue.
Mud pulled from the river will be taken to licensed landfills for proper disposal. All dredged sediment will still be pumped into the State Street dewatering facility through a pipeline. Then, the water will be squeezed out by special equipment called a plate and frame press. The remaining dried sediment will be loaded onto trucks to be properly disposed of. Some sediment with higher levels of PCBs can be trucked to Ridgeview Recycling and Disposal Facility in Whitelaw, near Manitowoc. Owned by Waste Management of Wisconsin, this landfill received a permit last year from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to accept this type of material. Most of the sediment will have PCB levels less than 50 parts per million, so it can continue to be taken to Veolia Hickory Meadows Landfill in Chilton.
News Releases
- EPA: Design changes at Little Lake Butte des Morts PCB cleanup approved June 12, 2008
- EPA proposes design changes at Little Lake Butte des Morts PCB cleanup; public meeting Dec. 13, Nov. 21, 2007
- EPA Order: Begin Cleanup on Remaining Stretch of Fox River, Nov. 14, 2007
- Fox River cleanup plan amended to include additional capping, June 28, 2007
- view all News Releases
Fact Sheets
- EPA Proposes Revisions to Cleanup Plan for Little Lake Butte des Morts (PDF) (8 pp, 527K) November 2007
- EPA Proposes Changes to Current Cleanup Plan (PDF) (8 pp, 493K) November 2006
- view all Fact Sheets
Technical Documents
2012
- Remedial Design Volume 2 of 2 (PDF) (196 pp, 12MB) October 2012
- Appendices are rather large and can be viewed at the repository.
- Risk-Based Disposal Approval (PDF) (30 pp, 900K) September 18, 2012
2011
- Lower Fox River Operable Unit 1 Post-Remediation Executive Summary (PDF) (12 pp, 106K) March 2011
2010
- Interagency Agreement Between EPA and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (13pp, 1.7MB)- April 2010
- Explanation of Significant Differences (PDF) (16 pp, 1.1MB) February 2010
- Criteria Analysis Memorandum (PDF) (19 pp, 3.1MB) February 2010
2009
- Lower Fox River Remedial Design Volume 1 - 60% Design Report
- Design Report Volume 1 (PDF) (192 pp, 20MB) June 2008
- Volume 1 Appendices - (PDF) (840 pp, 46.4MB)
- Design Report Volume 2 (PDF) (138 pp, 9.7MB) June 2008
- Volume 2 Appendices - (PDF) (946 pp, 53.4MB)
Five Year Review Reports
- Five Year Review Report, July 2009 (PDF) (54 pp, 1.9MB) July 2009
Legal Documents
2013
- Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law on Plantiffs' Fifth Claim for Relief (PDF) (78pp, 432K) May 1, 2013
- Order Entering Declaratory Judgement and Terms of Injunction Under Fed. R. CIV. P. 65(d) (PDF) (7pp, 32K) May 1, 2013
2012
- Decision and Order on Defendants' Liability (PDF) (8pp, 37K) Nov. 23, 2012
- Decision and Order on the Propriety of the Remedy (PDF) (13pp, 172K) Nov. 21, 2012
- Decision and Order (PDF) (9 pp, 48K) Oct. 4, 2012
- Decision and Order (PDF) (9 pp, 48K) Oct. 4, 2012
- Order Denying Motion for Stay Pending Appeal (PDF) (1 pg, 37K) May 4, 2012
- Decision Granting Preliminary Injunction (PDF) (19 pp, 140K) April 27, 2012
- Reply Brief (PDF) (28 pp, 134K) April 10, 2012
- Expedited Motion for a Preliminary Injunction (PDF) (5 pp, 55K) March 19, 2012
- Brief in Support of United States Expedited Motion (PDF) (25 pp, 75K) March 19, 2012
View legal documents from previous years.