GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – After about 15 years of dredging the Fox River from Menasha to the waters of Green Bay, the billion-dollar-plus PCB cleanup project is almost complete.
Conservationists and other officials toured the area Monday afternoon to get a look at the progress.
Members of the Conservation Group called The Clean Bay Backers, say Monday could be one of the last times they see the big red barge in action.
“This is the largest PCB cleanup in the world. And it’s starting to come to an end,” said Julia Noordyk, Clean Bay Backers.
“We expect 2019 to be the final year for the dredging and capping chapter of the story,” said Beth Olson, DNR PCB Project Manager.
Olson tells FOX 11 crews have dredged more than six million cubic yards of sediment from the Lower Fox River since 2004.
That’s enough to cover one football field more than a half-mile high. Workers have also capped 975 acres.
PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, are toxic compounds discharged into the river starting in the 1950s from the manufacturing and recycling of carbonless paper.
In recent years, dredging barges have become a common sight as they work their way downstream to the mouth of the Fox River.
Noordyk tells FOX 11 the effort is making a difference.
“The PCB clean up and a cleaner river have definitely spurred economic development and waterfront revitalization in this area. You’re seeing new development come in along the riverfront. We have Bay Beach, the restoration of Bay Beach happening. So these are all really good signs that our community is now turning back towards the river and the Bay.”
“The Fox River cleanup is removing the toxic legacy. What we need to do now, is work together for a lasting legacy on conservation and protecting the natural resources,” said Olson.
Officials say they will continue to monitor the progress of the dredging for decades.
