Papermaker Appleton plans to appeal ruling on PCB cleanup of Fox River in Wisconsin; costs expected to reach US$700M or more

Jan 13, 2010 — Forestweb

LOS ANGELES, January 13, 2010 (Forestweb) — Wisconsin papermaker Appleton Papers Inc. disclosed plans Monday to appeal a judge’s Dec. 16 ruling to dismiss a claim by the company and NCR Corp. for cleanup contributions for the Fox River in Wisconsin from several other parties, The Post-Crescent reported Jan. 11.

Cleanup costs for the polychlorinated biphenyl- (PCB) contaminated waterway are expected to reach at least US$700 million and possibly $1.5 billion. The river cleanup between Green Bay, Wisconsin, and Appleton, Wisconsin, the company's headquarters, began last summer and is expected to continue for several years.

Michael Hermes, an attorney for Appleton, said Monday the company will appeal U.S. District Judge William Griesbach’s ruling to dismiss a claim over funding a paper-industry cleanup of contamination, The Post-Crescent reported.

NCR, based in Duluth, Georgia, had previously indicated it plans to appeal the same ruling, which blocked attempts by the two companies to spread out cleanup costs.

Appleton and NCR wanted unspecified contributions from other paper companies in the region, as well as from municipalities and wastewater treatment plant operators.

One of those other companies, Georgia-Pacific Corp. (GP), said Monday it would ask the court to award GP $80 million in cleanup costs from papermaker Appleton and NCR. GP has a pending countersuit asserting that it had incurred costs that should be paid by papermaker Appleton and NCR, The Post-Crescent reported .

Atlanta, Georgia-based GP asked Griesbach in a court filing to delay entering his Dec. 16 order until after he rules on that countersuit.

Hermes questioned GP’s decision to revive its countersuit following its previous public assurances that the company remained committed to the river cleanup. GP has provided Appleton and NCR with financial assistance for the federally ordered cleanup.

The contamination began in the 1950s in connection with the production of carbonless copy paper, which involved the use of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), which were later found to be toxic.

The primary source of this article is The Post-Crescent, Appleton, Wisconsin, on Jan. 11, 2010.

All news reports are copyrighted by the respective papers.