EPA, Wisconsin Agency Reach Agreement on River Cleanup Work

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 5 and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources have signed an agreement with WTM1 (formerly Wisconsin Tissue Mills) under which the company will complete the design work for the sediment cleanup in Little Lake Butte des Morts. This section of the Fox River lies between Lake Winnebago and Appleton and is referred to in the cleanup plan as Operable Unit 1.

The agreement, contained in an administrative order on consent, calls for WTM1 to provide up to $2 million for the detailed engineering plan to be used in implementing the cleanup plan announced in the Record of Decision this past January. The scope of work to be covered in the design includes:

* The removal of PCB contaminated sediment from the river

* The handling, treatment and transportation of the removed sediment

* The final disposal of the contaminated sediment

EPA Regional Administrator Tom Skinner said, "This agreement allows us to get moving this summer, starting with design work and then beginning actual remediation in 2004."

The cleanup plan for Little Lake Butte des Morts calls for dredging of about 784,000 cubic yards of contaminated sediment. The sediment will be mechanically dewatered, and the water will be treated and returned to the river.  The dried sediment will then be taken to an engineered landfill for permanent disposal. 

Neither the staging area at Little Lake Butte des Morts for processing the sediment nor the landfill site for its disposal have yet been selected, however this design work will begin to address those items.