Industry discharged far more chemicals into the Fox River than originally thought, according to initial results of a state Department of Natural Resources analysis.
A group of paper mills questions the findings.
The department is estimating that six mills along the river discharged between 420,000 and 825,000 pounds of PCBs, a now-banned industrial chemical suspected of causing cancer, into the Fox River in the period beginning in 1954 and ending in the mid-1970s. Previous estimates, based on analysis of river sediments, had put the total at 250,000 pounds.
The Fox River group, which includes seven paper companies that could pay for cleanup, said the findings are preliminary and one of many items to be considered in determining how to clean up the river.
