Paper Valley: The Fight for the Fox River Cleanup

by II Allen, Susan Campbell

Overview

The compelling true story of a hard-fought environmental win, set in motion by a tenacious government scientist and an unrelenting journalist—resulting in the polluting companies paying for the $1 billion, 20-year cleanup.

Booklist raves, Paper Valley "is a compelling human-interest tale on par with Erin Brockovich and Jonathan Harr's A Civil Action."
A 2024 selection by the Sierra Club, Wisconsin Chapter Book Club
Winner, Midwest Book Award!

When government scientist David Allen arrived at his new jobsite in the 1990s, the Fox River near Wisconsin's Green Bay was dominated by hulking paper mills, noxious industrial odors, and widespread ecological damage. Confronted by his lack of resources to force the politically powerful "Paper Valley" polluters to fix their mess, Allen proceeds against all bureaucratic odds in building a $1 billion case against the paper company bosses. Two small but vital players, Allen along with journalist Susan Campbell were relentless in bringing the case to the public at the time. They do so again in this book: an act of radical transparency to uncover the intrigue that nearly blocked the cleanup behind the scenes at US Fish and Wildlife, Wisconsin's Department of Natural Resources, and the US Environmental Protection Agency. In a rare and major environmental win, the Fox River became the site of the largest polychlorinated biphenyls cleanup in history, paid for by the paper companies rather than taxpayers, to the tune of $1.3 billion, and completed in 2020.

This true story of struggle, perseverance, and success inspires hope for environmentalists who strive to restore natural landscapes. The detailed account given in this book is meant to inspire and offer practical knowledge and solutions for those fighting similar opponents of environmental cleanup and restoration. Allen and Campbell eloquently outline the problematic bureaucracy involved in environmental cleanup efforts and reveal tactics to compel corporate entities who would dodge accountability for decades worth of contamination.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780814349595
Publisher:	Wayne State University Press
Publication date:	04/11/2023
Series:	Great Lakes Books
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	296
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

P. David Allen II is a retired wildlife biologist and environmental consultant, who has worked for federal, state, tribal, and local governments in twenty-five states.

Susan Campbell is a former environmental reporter for the Green Bay Press-Gazette and the coauthor of Beyond Earth Day: Fulfilling the Promise, with the late Earth Day founder, Sen. Gaylord Nelson.

What People are Saying About This

Former Michigan Policy Director, Clean Water Action, and Author of Great Lakes for Sale: from Whitecaps to Bottlecap - Dave Dempsey

In a classic tale of the collision between environmental science and environmental politics, this account shows the good guys can win—and so can our environment. Much-needed hope for clean water and air abounds in this book.

2016) William Rapai of Lake Invaders: Invasive Species and the Battle for the Future of the Great Lake

Paper Valley provides a first-person account of a significant environmental win, not just for the people and wildlife of northeastern Wisconsin but for everyone and everything who loves or lives around our Great Lakes. Susan Campbell and David Allen II provide a compelling account of events, laying out their efforts to stop paper companies from dumping cancer-causing PCBs into a Lake Michigan tributary. This book is a road map for those who are seeking environmental justice, yet it reads like a whodunit as Allen and Campbell describe how they feared physical threats and put their careers in jeopardy to do the right thing. I am in awe of their courage and tenacity.

Editorial Reviews

This is a compelling human-interest tale on par with Erin Brockovich and Jonathan Harr's A Civil Action.

Booklist

05/15/2023

In this brisk account, investigative journalist Campbell (Beyond Earth Day) and wildlife biologist Allen revisit their efforts in the 1990s to uncover the damage done to Wisconsin’s waterways by the region’s paper producers, who from the 1950s to the ’70s had dumped polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, a component of the “carbonless paper” used to make receipts, into the state’s Fox River. By the early 1990s, PCBs had been identified as a carcinogen and were known to accumulate in the bodies of wildlife, but Campbell, writing for the Green Bay Press-Gazette, reported on even more controversial findings: although PCBs had been banned in the ’70s, the pollution left in the sediments of the Fox River was slowly spreading into Green Bay and wreaking more environmental havoc. Allen, then working at U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services and Campbell’s main government source, assembled the evidence that led to the $1.3 billion cleanup of the contaminated waterway, which was paid for by the polluters and not completed until 2020, when the EPA hailed it as the largest PCB cleanup in history. This is an insightful look into how regulatory agencies and news media can act in concert to grapple with corrupt corporate power. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

Paper Valley provides a first-person account of a significant environmental win, not just for the people and wildlife of northeastern Wisconsin but for everyone and everything who loves or lives around our Great Lakes. Susan Campbell and David Allen II provide a compelling account of events, laying out their efforts to stop paper companies from dumping cancer-causing PCBs into a Lake Michigan tributary. This book is a road map for those who are seeking environmental justice, yet it reads like a whodunit as Allen and Campbell describe how they feared physical threats and put their careers in jeopardy to do the right thing. I am in awe of their courage and tenacity.

author of Lake Invaders: Invasive Species and the Battle for the Future of the Great Lakes (Wayne State University P - William Rapai

In a classic tale of the collision between environmental science and environmental politics, this account shows the good guys can win—and so can our environment. Much-needed hope for clean water and air abounds in this book.

former Michigan policy director, Clean Water Action, and author of Great Lakes for Sale: From Whitecaps to Bottlecap - Dave Dempsey