U.S. Water News Online
GREEN BAY, Wis. -- A legal attempt to overturn a settlement with Georgia-Pacific Corp. involving environmental damages caused by pollution in the Fox River has failed.
U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman rejected a citizens group's claims that the 2002 settlement did not contain enough money for the company's share of the environmental damages and it violated federal procedures.
``We're extremely disappointed,'' said Rebecca Katers, the Clean Water Action Council of Northeast Wisconsin executive director.
In June 2002, state and federal officials said Georgia-Pacific would give 1,000 acres of land and $10.1 million to pay for environmental damages caused by polluting the Fox River more than three decades ago.
Georgia-Pacific is one of seven paper companies liable for wildlife damages from dumping polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, in the Fox River from the 1950s through the 1970s. The chemicals were linked to reproductive and developmental problems in people, fish and wildlife.
Atlanta-based Georgia-Pacific and its subsidiary, Fort James Operating Co., was the first to settle its natural resources damage liability with the Natural Resources Trustees of the Lower Fox River. The trustees include state Department of Natural Resources representatives, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Oneida and Menominee Indian tribes.
Katers' group went to court in August 2002, asking the federal judge to intervene in the settlement.
One state study suggested the company's share should be $73 million, Katers said.
A U.S. Fish and Wildlife study released in 2000 pegged the wildlife damage claims from the paper companies' pollution at $176 million to $333 million.
The money represents an attempt to define the harm the pollution caused the ecosystem, to compensate the public for lost recreational opportunities and to restore them.
Bruce Baker, the DNR's Fox River project manager, said Adelman's decision to finalize the so-called consent decree and resolve the legal challenge means work can begin the recreational projects called for in the agreement with Georgia-Pacific.
Some of the money will pay for 11 projects, including riverfront trails, boat access ramps and picnic areas along the river. It also will help restore habitat for yellow perch, spotted musky and northern pike.
In separate deals with the paper companies, state and federal officials want to spend about $400 million to mostly dredge PCB-contaminated sediment from the Fox River to clean up the pollution.
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