The Fox River Intergovernmental Partnership will host a free public meeting, Thursday, December 10, to discuss the release of the Fish Consumption Advisory Report and how it factors into the restoration process for the Fox River and Green Bay. The report is the first in a series of Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) determinations which lead to a report of assessment and final action determinations.
The public meeting will be held from 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. in the Brown County Public Library Auditorium in Green Bay. Speakers from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, including Regional Director Bill Hartwig, will be joined in the presentation by the Chief Medical Officer for the Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services, and a representative from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
According to David Allen, Natural Resource Damage Assessment Manager with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, This presentation will offer the public information on the importance of fish consumption advisories and what those advisories mean to them. Cleanup and restoration work in the Fox River and Green Bay will also be addressed. There will be project updates and additional time for the audience to participate in a question-and-answer session.
Several years ago, the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA), prompted by concerns about human health effects from chemical contamination in the environment and the food supply, developed tolerance levels for polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) in fish within U.S. waters. The States of Michigan and Wisconsin have issued fish consumption advisories for Fox River, Green Bay, and Lake Michigan fish. These consumption advisories and tolerance levels advise the public on how to avoid health risks from eating too much PCB-contaminated fish. Elimination of Fox River PCBs, which lead to fish consumption advisories, is a focus of all efforts to clean and restore the Fox River and Green Bay, including the NRDA, the Superfund, the RI/FS (Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Study), the State/Company Agreement, and the Fox River Coalition. The Fish Consumption Advisory Report, now being released, explains in detail how tolerance levels and advisories were determined and set, and provides a basis for eliminating human health risks and natural resource injuries through clean up and restoration of Fox River and Green Bay.
The meeting is sponsored by the Fox River Intergovernmental Partnership, a group of six federal and state agencies and two tribes which, under a July 1997 Memorandum of Agreement, agreed to work together to clean and restore the Lower Fox River. Partners include the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin, the Oneida Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The Brown County Library is located at 515 Pine Street in downtown Green Bay. Parking is available at the library, located on the northwest corner of Monroe and Pine Streets. For more information, call David Allen, 920-465-7407, or Larry Dean, 612-713-5312.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal Federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 93-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System which encompasses more than 530 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 66 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resource offices and 78 ecological services field stations. The agency enforces Federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Aid program that distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies. For further information about the programs and activities of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the Great Lakes-Big Rivers Region, please visit our home page at: http://midwest.fws.gov
