The federal Department of Justice has stated that Appleton Papers Inc. and NCR Corp. should be ordered to resume a full-scale cleanup of the lower Fox River, postcrescent.com reports.
Department attorneys have asked a U.S. district judge to direct the companies to resume dredging by April 2 and to dredge more materials than they did last year.
Appleton Papers believes that prior to removing pollutants from part of the Fox River near De Pere, the federal government first must take into consideration issues involving other polluters and how much they must pay for the cleanup.
The government, API, NCR and other companies have been arguing over how to divide a cleanup cost that has been estimated at $750 million and rising.
Since the government has asked the companies to remove at least 660,000 cubic yards of sediment from the river beginning on April 2, API has stressed it should be allowed to limit dredging to 250,000 cubic yards, or even to take the year off from dredging, while NCR is willing to remove up to 500,000 cubic yards this year.
Cleanup incorporates dredging, cleaning and dewatering of river sediment, which is then transported to a landfill in Calumet County. Lower Fox River Remediation LLC, an entity formed by NCR and API, has so far been in charge of funding the river dredging activities.
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Dredging Today Staff, March 22, 2012;