Forwarded from Becky Katers, Executive Director Clean Water Action Council of N. E. Wisconsin January 30, 2001 For more information contact Becky Katers 920-437-7304 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: Wisconsin Activists --- I am concerned about the River Alliance of Wisconsin. At the Friday meeting of the Wisconsin Stewardship Network, a vote was held on whether to add 4 issues to WSN's priority list of issues. The issues were the northern transmission line, groundwater supplies (Perrier, etc.), mercury legislation, and the Fox River PCB cleanup. The first three were adopted. The Fox River wasn't. The Fox River is one of the biggest toxic contamination cases in the country, affecting all of Green Bay and Lake Michigan, a 4-state area. After 15 years of work, it's finally coming to a head in the next 6 months, so support is critical NOW. The DNR expects to propose the final comprehensive cleanup plan in a few months, which could cost between $400 million and $1.2 billion The 6 paper companies are fighting tooth and nail against the cleanup, and they are likely to step up their attacks on the DNR, EPA, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and others. Therefore, the WSN vote to not list the Fox River as priority is disturbing. (I am resigning from WSN as a result.) Even more disturbing is the fact that Todd Ambs of the RIVER ALLIANCE voted against it. The Alliance calls itself the premier river group in the state, and brags that it supports local groups working on river issues, but they just stabbed us in the back on one of the biggest river fights in the state and country. We had 5 public hearings over the past 2 months on the Natural Resources Damage Assessment --- which would provide $170 to $333 million in funding for wetland habitat (etc.) work in Northeast Wisconsin as compensation for past and future PCB damages on the Fox River. The River Alliance was invited to testify in support at these hearings, but sent no one. At the same time, the River Alliance is accepting major funding from International Paper Company (IP) to pay for the conference on "Celebrating Community-Based Conservation" in April. (how ironic) This company has 2 large polluting mills on the Fox River. International Paper is also one of the biggest and worst bad actors on the global paper scene, because they rabidly oppose new Totally Chlorine Free (TCF) paper making technologies which would eliminate all chlorinated organic (dioxin, etc.) releases from paper companies. TCF technologies also make closed-loop wastewater recycling processes possible, by removing the corrosive chlorine. (Closed loop recycling would save water, energy and chemicals, and is more economical, once the capital investment is made to switch technologies.) We could have zero-wastewater paper mills, if not for lobbying by companies like IP against TCF technology. The North American paper industry (with IP in the lead) has even used the World Trade Organization to intimidate the European Economic Community into dropping requirements for TCF in Europe, by calling it a trade barrier. (Not sure if this has happened yet or not, but I know they were working on it.) European paper makers often use TCF technologies. The paper industry is one of the biggest polluters of rivers in Wisconsin, with roughly 14 million pounds of toxic releases in 1996. It's an outrage that the River Alliance is accepting funding from one of the biggest paper corporations, at the same time that the River Alliance is undercutting our work on the Fox River cleanup. In addition, the River Alliance features Fox/Wolf Basin 2000 as one of their organizational members. Over the past 10 years, Fox/Wolf Basin 2000 has received more than $617,026 from Fox River dischargers, and has been a major lobbying force against Superfund for the Fox River cleanup, and against the Natural Resources Damage Assessment. FWB2000 was created by Fort Howard Corporation (now Georgia Pacific), the Green Bay Metropolitan Sewerage District, and the DNR as a phony "environmental" group looking for "cost-effective" solutions to the Fox River pollution problem. Not surprisingly, FWB2000 works to focus everyone's attention on non-point pollution, which allows the paper mill and sewage treatment plant to blame farmers and homeowners for the Fox River problem. (Though farmers and homeowners are NOT responsible for the severe PCB contamination which got the Fox River nominated for toxic Superfund status.) Their executive director called the PCB issue "overblown." FWB2000 pretends to be a citizen environmental group, while serving the interests of its corporate funders. The River Alliance seems headed down the same path. I'm really tired of environmental groups who suck up all the grant money and citizen donations, who put on a pretty show then do the opposite of what they should be doing. Rebecca Leighton Katers Clean Water Action Council of N.E. Wisconsin East Port Center 1270 Main Street, Suite 120 Green Bay, WI 54302 Phone: 920-437-7304 Fax: 920-437-7326 E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Homepage: www.cwac.net
