The Fox River/Green Bay Cleanup Project

This Web site provides the public with information about the cleanup project, including information on the background studies and plans that lead to the final cleanup decisions for the Lower Fox River and Green Bay.

The ultimate goal of the cleanup is to reduce contaminant levels in fish so that people can eat them safely and so the environment is protected.

Little Lake Butte des Morts monitoring results.

Clean up on the first of five segments, also known as Operable Unit 1, OU1, was completed in 2009. Monitoring in 2010 revealed the clean up is working.

Press release: Successfully Cleaning Up the Fox River [PDF], March 31, 2011.

Post Remediation Executive Summary[PDF], March 29, 2011.

Current health advice for eating fish caught from the Lower Fox River (Little Lake Buttes des Morts to DePere Dam and DePere Dam to mouth) and Green Bay [PDF]

DNR and DHS will use this information, its own data, and next year's sampling results to consider changing the PCB advisory to allow people to eat more walleye meals.

Between about 1954 and 1971, paper companies using polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) to make carbonless copy paper discharged nearly 700,000 pounds of these chemicals into the Fox River. The dangers posed by PCBs were unknown until the early ´70s, but their use and discharge into the environment were outlawed by federal environmental regulations in 1976. The ban was successful, but because PCBs bind to dirt and break down very slowly, they are still found today in the sediment of the Lower Fox River and Green Bay.

Since the 1970s there have been significant improvements in the water quality in this system. This has resulted in the restoration of a diverse fishery, including a world-class walleye fishery. However, levels of PCBs (and mercury) in fish are still high enough that consumption advisories for most species are needed to protect human health.