The DNR has suggested that it would take steps to hold municipalities immune from liability if they assist in the cleanup process. Cities are in largely in a holding position, however. Counties, not cities, own and operate area landfills. But city officials realize that the cost of the cleanup would be greatly reduced if a local disposal site was available and the sediment did not have to be shipped to a distant site. As a group, we can try to convince the counties.
Landfills are primarily county issues.
If Outagamie, Winnebago and Brown counties come to the table to offer landfilling capacity, it certainly is an aid to everybody. There has been staunch local opposition to burying PCB-contaminated sediment in area landfills, however. PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, were widely used to make carbonless paper and other products at paper mills along the river until the government banned the chemicals in 1977. Studies have linked PCBs to cancer, reproductive problems and poor mental development in children. In January, amid strong public opposition, the Winnebago County Solid Waste Management Board canceled its application for a state permit that would allow its landfill to accept sediments with the highest levels of PCB contamination.