VIDEO: 10th Year of Fox River Dredging Underway

J.F. Brennan Company Inc., a marine construction and environmental remediation company, has just released the latest update on the 2018 Fox River Cleanup Project.

For the 10th year, the equipment is back in the water, dredging PCB sediment left behind from decades of pollution by the paper industry.

Since 2009, more than 4.8 million cubic yards of sediment have been dredged and around 2.7 million tons of sediment have been processed and taken to the landfill for disposal.

Project goals

The long-term goals of the Fox River Cleanup Project include meeting the following Remedial Action Objectives (RAOs):

• RAO 1: Achieve, to the extent practicable, surface water quality criteria for PCBs throughout the Lower Fox River and Green Bay;
• RAO 2: Protect humans who consume fish from exposure to contaminants that exceed protective levels (achieve safe exposure for recreational and high-intake fish consumers);
• RAO 3: Protect ecological receptors from exposure to contaminants above protective levels (achieve safe ecological thresholds for fish-eating birds and mammals within 30 years following remedy completion);
• RAO 4: Reduce transport of PCBs from the Lower Fox River into Green Bay and Lake Michigan (reduce loading to Green Bay and Lake Michigan comparable to loading from other Lake Michigan Tributaries).