MILWAUKEE, Wis (WSAU) A trial begins today that could decide whether more than two paper companies are liable for a $750-million clean-up of the Fox River. Appleton Papers and N-C-R are challenging a decision by government agencies that they're the only ones liable for the massive river cleanup from Green Bay to Oshkosh. The trial is expected to last about nine days.
Federal Judge William Griesbach of Green Bay is holding the trial in Milwaukee to accommodate the large numbers of attorneys on both sides. The state D-N-R and the federal E-P-A say Appleton's and N-C-R's corporate predecessors dumped cancer-causing P-C-B's into the Fox River a half-century ago -- and therefore, those two firms should be the only ones liable for the Fox River cleanup. But the two companies say others like Georgia-Pacific should also be held liable. That's because they bought scrap paper from Appleton and N-C-R and used it to manufacture recycled paper, which required discharges into the river. But Georgia-Pacific and the others say N-C-R and Appleton arranged for them to dispose of the P-C-B's -- and therefore, those two outfits should be solely liable.
The two have already paid about $300-million in cleanup costs.
