EFFORTS TO CLEAN UP AN ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEM
ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE STATE ARE UNDERWAY AGAIN.
IN APRIL, DREDGING CREWS GOT BACK TO WORK ON THE FOX RIVER.
FOR YEARS, WISCONSIN PAPER COMPANIES AND THE GOVERNMENT
HAVE BEEN LOCKED IN A LEGAL BATTLE
OVER THE CLEANUP OF CANCER-CAUSING PCBs.
"IN WISCONSON" REPORTER, ART HACKETT, DISCOVERED
EVEN THOUGH THE LAWSUITS REMAIN,
THE CLEANUP IS ONTRACK IN DE PERE.
- I'VE WATCHED THE DREDGING OUTSIDE OF MY DOOR DOWN HERE.
- BUD HARRIS LIVES JUST UP THE HILL FROM THE FOX RIVER.
THE DREDGES ARE PART OF THE EFFORT TO RID THE FOX OF PCBs.
HARRIS HAS BEEN WATCHING PCBs
FOR MOST OF HIS PROFESSIONAL CAREER.
- PCBs, WE KNEW THEY WERE THERE.
BUT THE ISSUE WAS, OKAY, SO WHAT ARE THE REAL EFFECTS?
- FOR A 30-YEAR PERIOD, BEGINNING AROUND 1954,
PCBs WERE AN INGREDIENT A FEW OF THE MILLS USED TO COAT PAPER.
MANY OTHER MILLS RECYCLED SCRAPS
OF THAT ORIGINALS PAPER TO MAKE OTHER PRODUCTS.
PCBs WASHED OUT OF THE MILLS, INTO THE WATER
AND SETTLED INTO THE SEDIMENT.
10 YEARS AGO, WHILE ATTORNEYS FOR PAPER COMPANIES BATTLED
OVER WHO'S RESPONSIBLE FOR PAYING THE BILLS,
THE DNR STUDIED WHETHER IT WAS POSSIBLE
TO DREDGE SEDIMENTS FROM THE RIVER
WITHOUT MAKING THE PROBLEM WORSE.
THE ANSWER WAS YES.
THE DREDGING OF PCBs FROM THE FOX RIVER
HAS NOW REACHED INDUSTRIAL SCALE.
AT TIMES THE TWO DREDGES HAVE OPERATED AT THE END OF PIPELINES
STRETCHING FOR TEN MILES.
- WHAT IS THAT BROWN STUFF ON THE TOP?
- THAT'S THE SEDIMENT.
- JUST AS THE PAPER MACHINES OPERATED CONTINUOUSLY,
TURNING FIBERS INTO PAPER,
THE SEDIMENT NEVER STOPS BETWEEN THE TIMES
WHEN THE DREDGE PUMPS IT INTO THE PIPELINE
AND THE TIME WHEN IT DROPS IT INTO A PILE
AWAITING A TRUCK RIDE TO A LANDFILL.
- IT'S KIND OF A UNIQUE SITUATION
BECAUSE NOBODY HAS EVER SET A PROCESS UP LIKE THIS
WITHOUT SOME KIND OF BUFFER BETWEEN THE DREDGES AND THE PROCESS UNIT.
IT'S NEVER BEEN DONE BEFORE AND THAT'S SOMETHING WE ARE VERY PROUD OF.
- THE MATERIAL IS PUMPED INTO HUGE PRESSES
WHICH FORCE OUT THE WATER LEAVING NEARLY DRY WAFERS
OF PCB CONTAMINATED CAKE.
MANGRUM SAYS THE PROJECT WILL ULTIMATELY
REMOVE 3.8 MILLION CUBIC YARDS OF MATERIAL FROM THE RIVERBED.
IN ADDITION, 500 ACRES OF CONTAMINATED RIVER BOTTOM WILL BE CAPPED
WITH AN ISOLATING LAYER OF SAND AND CRUSHED ROCK.
- WE ARE ON A SCHEDULE, SEVEN YEARS FOR DREDGING,
TWO ADDITIONAL YEARS FOR CAPPING.
MY GOAL IS TO COMPLETE AT LEAST A YEAR IN ADVANCE.
WE ARE WAY AHEAD OF SCHEDULE NOW,
AND WE PROJECT TO STAY AHEAD OF SCHEDULE.
- THE DECISION TO CAP AREAS WHICH WERE TOO DIFFICULT
OR EXPENSIVE TO DREDGE WAS CONTROVERSIAL,
BUT ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENTIST BUD HARRIS SAYS
HE ACCEPTS IT AS PART OF A SOLUTION.
- I WAS NEVER A PROPONENT THAT IT SHOULD ONLY BE CAPPED,
BUT ONE OF THE THINGS WE KNEW PRETTY EARLY ON IS THAT
EVEN WITH DREDGING, YOU ARE GOING TO GET RESIDUAL.
YOU CANNOT-- YOU WILL NEVER GET IT ALL.
IT'S NOT LIKE VACUUMING UNDER THE RUG, YOU KNOW.
- SO FAR, HARRIS SAYS THE CLEANUP PROCESS
APPEARS TO BE WORKING.
THE U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
RECENTLY RELEASED A REVIEW OF THE FIRST FIVE YEARS
OF THE FOX PROJECT.
THIS INVOLVED THE LAKE BUTTE DES MORTS NEAR MENASHA.
THE EPA'S MEASUREMENTS SHOWED REMAINING PCBs CONCENTRATIONS
OF .22 PARTS PER MILLION.
THAT IS BELOW EPA STANDARDS.
- IF, IN FACT, THEY GET THE SEDIMENT CONCENTRATIONS
IN THE RIVER TO .2, I BELIEVE IT PROBABLY WILL BE PROTECTIVE
OF MOST OF THE WILDLIFE THAT WE ARE CONCERNED ABOUT.
MY CONCERN IS MORE IN TERMS OF THE LONG-TERM MONITORING.
NOT ONLY MONITORING THE SECURITY OF THOSE CAPS,
I THINK THAT'S TERRIBLY IMPORTANT. THEY NEED TO BE MONITORED.
YOU HAVE TO MONITOR THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE WHOLE PROCESS.
- WE CERTAINLY DON'T ANTICIPATE MAJOR DISTURBANCE IN THE CAPS.
- JAY GROSSKOPF IS WITH BOLDT CONSTRUCTION.
THE WISCONSIN DNR HAS CONTRACTED WITH BOLDT
TO MONITOR THE DREDGING
AND THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE CLEANUP.
- WE REALLY LOOKING AT SUCCESSIVE GENERATIONS
OF FISH AND THESE WATERFOWL AND OTHER THINGS,
IN TERMS OF, ARE THE PCBs BEING ELIMINATED FROM THE PARENTS?
IT TURNED OUT BEING PASSED ONTO THE OFFSPRING.
- THE QUESTION IS, FOR HOW LONG?
- THERE REALLY IS NOT A DEFINED TIMETABLE, YET.
THERE'S A GOAL TO ELIMINATE THE FISH ADVISORIES
AND THE WATERFOWL ADVISORIES.
WE DON'T KNOW IF THAT'S GOING TO TAKE TEN YEARS,
15 YEARS, 30 YEARS, 50 YEARS.
AND IT'S A HARD THING TO PRESENT TO THE PUBLIC.
YOU KNOW, UNKNOWNS ARE ALWAYS HARD TO PRESENT TO THE PUBLIC.
- THE CLEANUP PROCESS STILL HAS AT LEAST SEVEN YEARS TO RUN.
AND THERE WILL BE A WAIT FOR THE FOOD CHAIN TO CLEAR ITSELF.
- THE MODELS SUGGEST THAT THERE'S A HALF LIFE OF FIVE YEARS, SO.
- BUD HARRIS RAN THROUGH A CALCULATION OF HOW LONG
IT WILL TAKE TO CLEAR MICROORGANISMS,
THEN FISH, THEN BIRDS.
- YOU CAN BEGIN TO PROJECT THAT OUT.
SO, WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO GET TO, IN THE WATER COLUMN, TO BE PROTECTIVE?
ABOUT TWO PARTS PER TRILLION.
SO, THAT'S GOING TO BE ANOTHER FOUR DECADES.
- TWO PARTS PER TRILLION OF A COMPOUND
WHICH FIRST ENTERED THE FOX RIVER IN 1954.
- BY 2054, THERE SHOULDN'T BE FISH ADVISORIES BY THAT TIME.
- BUT, THAT'S 100 YEARS?
- YES, IT'S 100 YEARS.
- EVEN THOUGH THE PCB CONTAMINATION HAPPENED YEARS AGO,
THE CURRENT CLEANUP IS EXPECTED TO PREVENT
THE REMAINING PCBs FROM ENTERING LAKE MICHIGAN.
THE DREDGING AND CAPPING PROJECT
IS EXPECTED TO BE COMPLETED BY 2017.