WHEREAS, Seven paper companies legally discharged waste containing small amounts of polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, into Wisconsin’s Fox River from about 1954 to 1971, and

WHEREAS, PCBs later were identified as a cancer-causing chemical and a threat to the environment, and

WHEREAS, The Department of Natural Resources and the Environmental Agency drafted a cleanup plan for the Fox River in 2001, and

WHEREAS, Paper companies that discharged PCBs into the Fox River bought $2.5 billion worth of insurance coverage to handle the possible costs before insurance companies stopped writing insurance policies that included pollution coverage, and

WHEREAS, To date, paper companies have paid $130 million toward the cleanup project, and insurance companies have paid nothing, and negotiations with insurance companies to pay damages covered by the policies they wrote have stalled, and

WHEREAS, State Sen. Rob Cowles (R-Green Bay) and State Rep. Dean Kaufert (R-Neenah), plan to introduce a "Fair Claims Act" that could force insurance companies to pay for the cleanup sooner rather than later by requiring insurers to pay covered cleanup costs before it is determined what share of the costs each company owes, and

WHEREAS, the paper industry operates in a highly competitive global market, and failure to pay insurance claims for legitimate cleanup costs would jeopardize the jobs of 50,000 Wisconsin citizens who work directly in the paper industry and their families, and

WHEREAS, it also is in the interest of the environment and communities throughout Wisconsin to end the foot-dragging by insurance companies that sold policies covering pollution cleanup,

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Wisconsin Alliance of Cities supports the Fair Claims proposal and urges members of the Wisconsin Legislature to pass it as soon as possible, and

FURTHER BE IT RESOLVED that the Wisconsin Alliance of Cities transmit copies of this resolution to sponsors of the Fair Claims Act, legislative leaders and Gov. Jim Doyle.

adopted this 11th day of March
Waukesha, Wisconsin

(signed)