DNR grants paper companies more time to submit PFAS cleanup plans

Late last month, Ahlstrom Rhinelander and Wausau Paper requested and were granted extensions to a previously set Nov. 25 deadline for submission of a Site Investigation Work Plan (SIWP) for the PFAS-contaminated lands in the Town of Stella.
In late September, the Department of Natural Resources sent both companies, the current and former owners of the Rhinelander paper mill, a letter advising them they have been designated as the parties responsible for the extensive PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) contamination in the small eastern Oneida County township.
The letter included a deadline of Nov. 25 for each company to submit a site investigation work plan (SIWP).
On Nov. 20 and 24, the two companies sent letters to the DNR requesting more time to submit the plans.
“Wausau Paper is working diligently to develop a SIWP for the site. However, given the lengthy history of the area, which presents complex issues, Wausau Paper would benefit from additional time to ensure the SIWP meets the needs of the Department of Natural Resources,” attorney Delanie Breuer wrote.

Environmental manager Dustin Madlung expressed a similar sentiment on behalf of Ahlstrom, noting that additional time would be “of assistance” to Ahlstrom and its environmental consultants.
John Sager of the DNR’s remediation and redevelopment program responded to both requests by granting each company a 60-day extension.
According to the DNR’s Sept. 25 letter to the two paper companies, “site investigation scoping and work plans should include an evaluation of the history of the site or facility, including industrial, commercial or other land uses that may have been associated with one or more hazardous substance discharges at the facility. In addition, an evaluation of the history of previous hazardous substance discharges or environmental pollution, the location of the site or facility, and its proximity to other sources of contamination must be included. Site investigation work plans should also include a sampling and analysis strategy to be used during field investigation that considers all information in the evaluation conducted under Wis. Admin. Code § NR 716.07...”
The 60-day extension comes as Stella residents are marking three years since the contamination was discovered. In December 2022, the DNR informed residents that testing conducted as part of a DNR-led project showed that the rural township has some of the highest PFAS levels in the country.
PFAS are a group of human-made chemicals used for decades in numerous products including non-stick cookware, fast food wrappers, stain-resistant sprays and certain types of fire-fighting foam. Health risks associated with PFAS include developmental impairments in children, links to higher risks of cancer, harm to the immune and reproductive systems, increased cholesterol levels and altered hormone regulation.
In early fall, the DNR issued updated advisories related to the consumption of fish and deer harvested in the Stella area. People are not to consume any fish species from the Moen Chain of Lakes (including Moen Lake, Second Lake, Third Lake, Fourth Lake, Fifth Lake), Sunset Lake, Starks Creek (upstream to and including Starks Spring) and Snowden Lake. Similarly, the agency had advised that people consume no more than one meal per month of venison muscle tissue harvested within a 5-mile radius of the town hall. Liver tissue taken from deer harvested in this area is not to be consumed at all, according to state officials.
Since 2023, the DNR has been looking into the possibility that the elevated PFAS levels in Stella are the result of the long-standing practice of spreading industrial sludge from the Rhinelander mill on the town’s agricultural fields. According to DNR records, such land spreading was a common practice going back to at least 1996.
In its “responsible party” letters, agency officials explained that they compared groundwater, surface water, sediment and soil samples where sludge was spread with areas where the agency has no record of land spreading.
“Analytical results from soil samples collected from areas where industrial sludge from the (Rhinelander mill) were land spread contained PFAS at concentrations orders of magnitude greater than PFAS concentrations in soil samples collected where DNR has no record of land spreading,” the September letter states.
While the land spreading activities were conducted pursuant to permits issued by the DNR, the letters note that no permit issued to the mill authorized the discharge of PFAS.
Ahlstrom, Wausau Paper and the chemical companies 3M and BASF are also facing a federal lawsuit over the contamination brought by a group of Stella residents who allege their properties were damaged by the sludge spreading practices associated with the Rhinelander mill.
Ahlstrom officials have repeatedly stressed that the Finnish-based company did not purchase the Rhinelander mill until 2018 and no longer uses PFAS chemicals in its manufacturing process.