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Lower Fox River Cleanup

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...)

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Site Updates | News Releases | Fact Sheets || Technical Documents || Legal Documents || Public Meetings

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Site Updates

Fox River Current Newsletter - March 2008 (PDF) (8pp., 831K)

• February 2008
  

  U.S. Environmental protection Agency and Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources are proposing to revise the cleanup plan for areas of Little Lake Butte des Morts. The proposed changes involve combining capping with dredging.  New information shows that dredging would be less effective, more difficult to accomplish and more expensive than anticipated when the original cleanup plan was approved in 2002. The public was invited to comment on this proposal. When the final plan referred to as the amended record of decision is approved by summer 2008, it will be available to the public.

  EPA and Wisconsin DNR made changes in June 2007 to another cleanup plan in the Lower Fox River from Appleton to Green Bay to include more capping and less dredging.  That amended record of decision replaces the original cleanup plan approved by the agencies in 2003.  Dredging will still be used to clean up PCB-contaminated sediment in about half of the areas in the river from Appleton to Green Bay.  However, capping alone and capping combined with dredging or sand covers will allow the cleanup to be completed where dredging by itself would not be possible or practical and other approaches would not protect the environment. This new plan, which was approved in June 2007, will clean up the river much quicker than the original plan.

  Meanwhile, work continues in other areas of the river.  Cleanup of highly contaminated sediment in the area of the Lower Fox River just below the DePere Dam began this spring.  The area, or "hotspot," to be cleaned up near the dam has PCBs as high as 3,000 parts per million.  Although this area contains the highest levels of PCBs in the river, it represents only about two percent of all of the contaminated sediment that needs to be cleaned up, but nearly 10 percent of the total PCB "mass."

  This cleanup, which will involve the removal of about 150,000 cubic yards of PCB-contaminated sediment, is being done under a federal agreement EPA and Wisconsin DNR reached with two paper companies in April 2006.  The companies, NCR Corp. and Sonoco--U.S. Mills, will spend about $30 million on this project.
  Upriver in Little Lake Butte des Morts, the fourth season of cleanup work started in early April.  It calls for dredging approximately 100,000 cubic yards of contaminated sediment and sand placement in certain areas where dredging has already been completed.  Two dredges will be operating in several different locations during the summer.  After PCB-contaminated sediment is dredged from the lake, it is put into large plastic tubes nearby. Once the water is squeezed out, it is cleaned on site and returned to the river. Contaminated sediment is taken to a nearby landfill for proper disposal.
  
  Cleanup in Little Lake Butte des Morts began in fall 2004 and was the first of five portions of the Lower Fox River site to be addressed. Work stops in the winter and resumes in the spring. The entire cleanup in Little Lake Butte des Morts could last through 2009.

News Releases (view more)

• EPA proposes design changes at Little Lake Butte des Morts PCB cleanup; public meeting Dec. 13, November 21, 2007
• EPA Order: Begin Cleanup on Remaining Stretch of Fox River, November 14, 2007
• Fox River cleanup plan amended to include additional capping, June 28, 2007

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Fact Sheets (view more)

• EPA Proposes Revisions to Cleanup Plan for Little Lake Butte des Morts (PDF) (8pp., 757K) November 2007
• EPA Proposes Changes to Current Cleanup Plan (PDF) (8pp, 542K) November 2006

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Technical Documents (view more)

• Design Supplement, Lower Fox River Operable Unit 1, November 2007
  • Text of the Design Supllement, Lower Fox River Operable Unit 1 (PDF) (69pp., 478K)
  • Appendices
    • A - OU1 Cap Design (PDF) (20pp., 123K)
    • B - GMS White Paper (PDF) (24pp., 318K)
    • C - OU1 SWAC Whitepaper (PDF) (16pp., 93K)
    • D - Numerical Model Assessment (PDF) (67pp., 26MB)
    • E - Ice Scour Report (PDF) (16pp., 117K)
    • F - LFR Feasibility Study (3pp., 48K)
  • Figures
    • Fig 1.1 OU1 Final Plan Capping Site Location (PDF) (1pg., 207K)
    • Fig 1.2 OU1 Final Plan Capping SubAreas (PDF) (1pg., 1.8MB)
    • Fig 2.1 OU1 Final Plan Capping Infrastructure and Obstructions (PDF) (1pg., 1.2MB)
    • Fig 2.2 OU1 Final Plan Capping PreProject Surficial (PDF) (1pg., 5MB)
    • Fig 2.3 OU1 Final Plan Capping Post 2006 Surficial (PDF) (1pg., 2.1MB, 11X17")
    • Fig 2.4 OU1 Final Plan Capping PrePCBMax (PDF) (1pg.,2.1MB, 11X17")
    • Fig 2.5 OU1 Final Plan Capping Post 2006 Max (PDF) (1pg., 2.1MB, 11X17")
    • Fig 2.6 OU1 Final Plan Capping Post Project PCB Max (PDF) (1pg., 5.6MB, 11X17")
    • Fig 4.1 OU1 Final Plan Optimal Remedy (PDF) (1pg., 2.1MB, 11X17")
    • Fig 4.2 OU1 Final Plan Capping Dredging Progress (PDF) (1PG., 4.3mb, 11x17")
    • Fig 4.3 OU1 Final Plan Optimal Remedy Post 2008 (PDF) (1pg., 4.3MB, 11X17")
    • Fig 4.4 OU1 Final Plan Capping PreProject Surficial Cap (PDF) (1pg., 2.1MB, 11X17")
    • Fig 4.5 OU1 Final Plan Capping PreProject PCB Max Cap (PDF) (1pg., 3.8, 11X17")
    • Fig 4.6 OU1 Final Plan Capping Post Water Depth (PDF) (1pg., 3.8MB, 11X17")
    • Fig 4.7 OU1 Final Plan SWAC(PDF) (1pg.,5mb, 11X17")
• Concept Paper, Lower Fox River, Operable Unit 1, Optimized Remedy, November 19, 2007 (PDF) (24pp., 134K)

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Legal Documents

• Administrative Order for Remedial Action, Lower Fox River and Green Bay Superfund Site, November 2007 (PDF) (64pp, 20MB)
• Record of Decision, ROD Amendment OU2-5, Responsiveness Summary, Administrative Record Index, June 2007 (PDF) (269pp., 4.0MB)
• Decision and Order Approving OU1 Consent Decree, April 2004 (PDF) (6pp., 52K)
• Consent Decree for OU1, October 2003 (PDF) (310pp., 9MB)
• Record of Decision for OU3, OU4, OU5, June 30, 2003 (PDF) (534 pp., 15MB)
• Record of Decision for OU1 and Ou2, December 20, 2002 (PDF)(1049pp., 27MB)
• Termination letter to Georgia-Pacific, July 27, 2006 (PDF) (1 pg., 514K)
• Consent Decree, April 2006
• Final Revised Community Involvement Plan, April 2005 (PDF, 86pp, 1MB)
• Wisconsin Tissue Administrative Order On Consent for Wisconsin Tissue to conduct a Remedial Design, July 2003 (PDF, 155K)
• EPA and Wisconsin DNR released a proposed cleanup plan for the Lower Fox River and Green Bay, October 2001
• Consent Decree, August 2001 (PDF, 59pp, 159K)
• Memorandum of Agreement

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Public Meetings

• Transcript of the December 13, 2007 public meeting on the Lower Fox River/ Green Bay Little Lake Butte des Morts site Proposed Plan (PDF) (49pp, 324K)
• Transcript of the December 5, 2006 public meeting on the Lower Fox River/Green Bay Site 5 Proposed Plan (textfile)

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