With more than 7 million cubic yards of PCB-contaminated sediments originally targeted for dredging and upland disposal, the Lower Fox River has been identified as the single largest contaminated sediment cleanup site in the United States.  Remedial design and remedial action is being completed under a cooperative agreement between the responsible parties (RPs), Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 5.   

Based on the initial design activities, Anchor QEA developed an alternative remedy to that defined in Record of Decision (ROD) that involved significant cost-saving measures including dredge residual management and in situ capping strategies.  These cost savings alternatives (totaling hundreds of millions of dollars) were formalized in a ROD Amendment issued by the regulatory agencies in 2007.  

Anchor QEA designed a remedial action within an area along the west bank of the river (the “Phase 1” project area) to address elevated PCB concentrations identified during remedial design sampling, which warrant expedited removal in advance of the remainder of the Fox River remedial action.  Anchor QEA assisted NCR and U.S. Paper Mills Inc. with design documentation, contractor selection and negotiation, and construction management and technical support services during implementation of the Phase 1 project.  In addition to the Phase 1 project, Anchor QEA assisted the RPs with the procurement of a contractor to perform the approximately 10-year-long Phase 2 remedial action and has worked closely with the selected contractor to implement the remedial action, which began in 2009.  Anchor QEA’s support role during construction includes strategy development, negotiations with regulatory agencies, evaluation and design of adaptive management and value engineering alternatives, post-dredge residuals management, and long-term monitoring planning.  As part of the ongoing adaptive management and value engineering on the project, Anchor QEA has evaluated innovative dredging and capping designs (including reactive caps) and developed refined remedial action plans resulting in significant cost savings, while maintaining or improving the environmental benefit of the remedy.

Anchor QEA’s work on the Lower Fox River is ongoing.