River Dredging Gets Push

GREEN BAY - U.S. Rep. Steve Kagen is recruiting support from the recreational boating industry in his efforts to have the Fox River channel dredged to 18 feet.

The National Marine Manufacturers Association in Washington, D.C., Mercury Marine in Fond du Lac, and the owner of the Foxy Lady cruises in Green Bay have been contacted by Kagen's office during the past week and have lent varying degrees of support.

"In reality, given a choice between six feet and 18 feet, I would want 18 feet," said John Michkowski, owner of the Foxy Lady Cruise that makes its first trip up the river today and will make about 300 trips this year. "A compromise wouldn't be out of the question, but it should be at least 10 or 12 feet."

Jim Hubbard, vice president and chief of staff for Mercury Marine, sent Kagen a letter of support in which he said failing to dredge the channel to 18 feet "seems counter to the whole project's aim of reopening the waterway."

Contacted Tuesday, Hubbard said he realizes there may be other factors to consider.

"I'm not so naive to think there aren't a lot of other issues," Hubbard said. "I support going to 18 feet, but I know there are dollar costs. That would have to be weighed in. I'm open to hear other points of view."

Kagen, D-Appleton, removed an amendment from the Water Regulatory Act that would have allowed the channel from the Georgia-Pacific basin to the De Pere dam to be reauthorized to six feet from the current 18 feet requirement, even though the channel hasn't been dredged for almost 40 years. The bill passed the House of Representatives but the Senate version, with a six-foot channel provision, hasn't come to a vote.

"I am listening to and representing all the people of the 8th District with their various interests - sportsmen, businessmen small and large, boaters and conservationists," Kagen said Tuesday.

Kagen has organized a Saturday public forum on the Fox River cleanup project at St. Norbert College.

He is encouraging public debate over the possibility of capping some of the polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) pollution in the river, a process that has received initial backing from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.