DO SOMETHING: attend Fox River meeting

DO SOMETHING!

Please stand up one more time for the future of the Fox River and our communites and attend the upcoming EPA hearing about the Fox River cleanup.

The EPA is holding a public meeting about its proposed changes to the Fox River Cleanup plan. Please plan to attend this meeting and let them know there is no excuse to back down from the original, well-researched clean-up plan. We need to:

· Uphold the original “Record Of Decision”!
· Oppose capping of the river sediments.
· Clean-up; don’t cover up the PCBs in the Fox River. We need a permanent solution, so that our children will not have to deal with this polluted mess.
· Make sure the liable polluters take full responsibility and pay for the clean-up.


Meeting details:
Tuesday, December 5th, 2006
7 – 9 p.m. at the Brown County Library, 515 Pine Street, Green Bay.


Background:

The Fox River is polluted with more than 700,000 pounds of PCBs – cancer-causing chemicals highly toxic to both people and wildlife. PCBs were dumped by the paper mills and have accumulated at the bottom of the river. The toxins are taken up by smaller organisms and accumulate as they are eaten by fish and move up the food chain; exposing animals like the bald eagle and humans if they consume the fish. PCBs have also been linked to immune deficiencies, IQ loss, and learning difficulties.

Fox Valley environmentalists fought for a clean up plan that protects human health and the environment. After years of research, public hearings and extensive evaluations, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, determined the best remedy was to remove the PCBs by dredging. Science shows the way to return the Fox River to a system that fully protects human health and the environment is to REMOVE the toxic PCBs from the river. A Record of Decision (ROD) and plan to carry out the clean up was agreed to and signed.

BACKPEDALING-Clean Up is Re-Opened for Debate: Despite the evidence and agreement; DNR is reopening the ROD solely for financial reasons. Clean up costs exceeded estimates by 50% allowing the responsible parties to reopen the agreement. Now polluters want to backpedal and are proposing a cheaper dangerous alternative. In stead of removing the PCBs they intend to cover them up by capping. Capping means leaving toxins at the bottom of a dynamic river system for future generations to deal with; covering-up rather than cleaning up the mess they made. To learn more visit http://dnr.wi.gov/org/water/wm/foxriver/index.html