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4/20/2007
Kagen wants to Superfund the Lower Fox
This is too unbelievable. And serious. Yesterday Rep. Kagen took the floor of the house to publicly proclaim, as he did to the Green Bay Press Gazette last week, that he was reversing a provision of the Water Resources Act agreed on months ago by leaders throughout the Fox Valley. Unbelievable.
Kagen removed a provision, inserted by Representative Green last year that would have reduced the Lower Fox River channel depth from 18 to 6 feet deep and significantly narrowed the channel from 150 to 75 feet. Kagen claims the larger channel is critical because most barges require a minimum of 9 feet of depth. Not so coincidentally, the superdredging Kagen supports will not allow capping the channel, as was previously agreed upon for PCB cleanup.
Read the Press Gazette article. It does a good job describing the issue – and the dismay of all sorts of folks.
The DNR: Kagen’s inquiries come a little too late.
The DNR: I’m surprised he hasn’t contacted us to get some answers.
The DNR: It’s not a congressional issue.
Georgia-Pacific: reducing the channel [i.e., allowing capping] will not create a health risk.
Paul Jadin (former GB mayor and current president of the GB Chamber): I’m offended…he’d just pull that out without getting public input. We studied this long and hard and are quite confident the science shows [capping] is safe.
Kagen’s press release says "The Fox River is one of the world's greatest working rivers and has been the economic engine of Northeast Wisconsin for generations. It supports higher-wage industries with low-cost transportation and hydroelectric power. I am fighting hard to keep our river working for our children and grandchildren."
What a bunch of bunk.
The river isn’t working. It hasn’t been “working” for decades. Why would local leaders close off a working “economic engine of Northeast Wisconsin…” That’s ridiculous. I’ll tell you why Kagen’s on it. It’s to get at the PCB issue. He either believes – or is getting pressure to believe – that spending $390M to cap the Lower Fox simply isn’t enough. He’s looking for $600M, superdredging, extensive PCB removal, and corporate blood.
On C-Span today, Kagen pounded the podium (well, not really) saying we must not impair the potential for future commerce. The potential? Geeez. The commerce is fishing boats and sailboats these days. Then he throws in that he wanted “to [also] accomplish the goals of safe cleanup of the Fox River.”
Aha. So here’s the kicker. When Kagen finishes speaking, he yields to the chairman of the House Transportation Committee, Rep. James Oberstar (D-Minnesota). Oberstar commended Kagen for his leadership. He driveled a bit about navigability. But then he got to brass tacks. PCBs.
“Superfund really ought to deal with this problem. It’s not going to. We’re going to be vigilant on the matter. If there’s an opportunity in conference to address the matter in an appropriate manner, we’ll do that. If not, we’ll do it in a subsequent Water Resources bill and I look forward to coming to Green Bay to see the gentleman’s district and the Lower Fox River.”
There you have it. The anti-business lobby is still out to dredge the entire dang channel.
The House passed the Water Resources Development Act by a vote of 394 to 25, requiring the Lower Fox to be superdredged to 150 feet wide and 18 feet deep. Dr. Kagen ended by saying, "The PCB clean up in the Fox River will establish a new standard for our nation in how we preserve our waterways, our health and our Wisconsin heritage."
We’ve fallen backwards five years. The Green provision must be reinstated in conference. I hope the rest of our Congressmen know that. This is scary, folks – and could be phenomenally expensive.
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