BK 77 (Dec 3, 2024): Paper Valley: The Fight for the Fox River Cleanup

Our Dec 3rd meeting we will be discussing the book Paper Valley: The Fight for the Fox River Cleanup by P. Allen David IV,  P. Allen David II & Susan Campbell (Apr 11, 2023). With 296 reading pages it is approximately 9 pages a day.  (We have 33 days to read!)

Check out the Bio, links and videos below:

"Booklist raves, Paper Valley "is a compelling human-interest tale on par with Erin Brockovich and Jonathan Harr's A Civil Action."

A 2024 selection by the Sierra Club, Wisconsin Chapter Book Club
Winner, Midwest Book Award!

When government scientist David Allen arrived at his new jobsite in the 1990s, the Fox River near Wisconsin's Green Bay was dominated by hulking paper mills, noxious industrial odors, and widespread ecological damage. Confronted by his lack of resources to force the politically powerful "Paper Valley" polluters to fix their mess, Allen proceeds against all bureaucratic odds in building a $1 billion case against the paper company bosses. Two small but vital players, Allen along with journalist Susan Campbell were relentless in bringing the case to the public at the time. They do so again in this book: an act of radical transparency to uncover the intrigue that nearly blocked the cleanup behind the scenes at US Fish and Wildlife, Wisconsin's Department of Natural Resources, and the US Environmental Protection Agency. In a rare and major environmental win, the Fox River became the site of the largest polychlorinated biphenyls cleanup in history, paid for by the paper companies rather than taxpayers, to the tune of $1.3 billion, and completed in 2020.

This true story of struggle, perseverance, and success inspires hope for environmentalists who strive to restore natural landscapes. The detailed account given in this book is meant to inspire and offer practical knowledge and solutions for those fighting similar opponents of environmental cleanup and restoration. Allen and Campbell eloquently outline the problematic bureaucracy involved in environmental cleanup efforts and reveal tactics to compel corporate entities who would dodge accountability for decades worth of contamination."

Panel Discussion which includes Susan Campbell

Theo Colborn Letter to the President

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This is what we discussed at the meeting...

*  Colborn background, her research on endocrine disruptors, Video of Theo Colborn "Letter to President (posted above!),  her book Our Stolen Future, Federal Govt providing funding to expand research and Congress calling for the screening of 100K chemicals in the environment to search for estrogenic or other hormonal effects.

* Voting for FEB/MAR/APR books

* General impressions of the book

* Science PCB's

* Prove need EPA reason Federal

* PCBs sediment Flow

* "The paper mills weren't breaking any laws when they discharged the PCBs"  and then they offer HUGE amount, 70M, to settle & not be sued for 7 yrs (why 7 yrs? selling company or someone retiring?)

* Guy that was killed by workers

* Green Bay 

* WI first to ban DDT

* Crossbills  not being caused by PCBs

* Fish Caught & turned in policy

* Fish caught allowed to eat 

* NCR Carbonless Receipts

* Effects of PCBs & how they are also carried in the air and thus effect migrating birds and have been found in seals, polar bears and breast milk of Inuit women in the Canadian Arctic

* Flow of water seasons and storms

* Hmong

* Sea Lamprey killing trout in Lake Michigan. Have them at the Shedd

* ppm high amounts

* Door County population from 28K to 250K during the summer. My family's visits

* More on Senator George

* Exxon Valdez taking 19 yrs

* More on how studied

* Sheboygan

* Others views of book/Author

* Little more on citations

* Packers stadium

* Authors portions of book

* 1980s CNN reporter...should monitor people who eat the fish

* Attorney for Paper Mills only have Masters degree, never published, never done studies valuing natural resources & only defended companies

* 130 different PCB congeners, liquid temps from -2 to 650 degrees F

* Monsanto's involvement

* Diagram p 58

* PCBs liver enzymes, genetic system, reproductive failure, behavioral problems and cancer

* Politics vs doing right for the environment and people

* David: "even when it annoyed them" and "battering-ram force"

* voice activated software...voice to typing slow

* BCCing so Bill would not know who sent to

* Bill's unorganized office and David going in and organizing while Bill was on vacation

* "I would not eat anything out of the Fox River...Unless you want to glow in the dark."

* Val Adamkus retiring from the EPA and in June 1997 elected as President of Lithuania on Jan 4, 1998.

* Each year the delay sent 600lbs of PCBs flowing from the Fox River into the bay of Green Bay & Lake Michigan...A major storm could send much of the remaining 90K lbs of sediment-bound PCBs into the bay in one flush.

* Modeler explaining sixth order relationship was wrong "Never reflexively accept the detail just because it's been repeated again and again and the speaker has a bunch of letters after this name."

* 60% of women Sierra Club surveyed were unaware of health advisories of eating contaminated fish from Lake Michigan nor were 80% of the fishermen from minority ethnic groups.

*  11 yr old children whose mothers regularly ate contaminated fish from Lake Michigan and Erie had lower birth weights, lower reading and math score and lower IQ scores

* Tour of Appleton plant employees told not to talk to David but they did

* 209 individual PCB chemicals throughout the system

* Threshold was exceeded in every single water sample in the entire assessment, and by 10-100 times in most Fox River samples. 

* PCB concentrations measured 2-5ppm at the surface but 700ppm in the dep sediments.

* Chairman of the WI Committee on Water Pollution quote from 1948

* Senator George investigation

* 19 yrs to complete the cleanup and longer to finish the restoration project 

* Total restoration 100M with 78 restoration projects through 2016 using 43M, preserving Ks of wetlands and habitats.

* Total cleanup costs exceeded 1B and declared finished on Aug 12, 2020

* EPA never had to finalize the placement of the Fox River on the Superfund's National Priorities List.

* What each of those involved are now doing, including Jim Hahnenberg living in Aurora.

** If there is anything I have missed, please let me know.