The records are divided into three series: Subject Files; Published Materials; and Clippings. The SUBJECT FILES, each of which is arranged alphabetically by topic, detail WES involvement in a wide variety of environmental causes and include flyers, bulletins and newsletters which were issued by WES as well as other groups and individuals; correspondence; and notes taken at hearings and conferences. Also filed here are copies of notices issued to inform the public that public hearings were going to be held by an agency of the State of Wisconsin or of the federal government; transcripts of the hearings; and findings, conclusions and orders which were issued primarily by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and its predecessors ordering rectification of a violation. Files titled legislation, statues, standards, rules and ordinances contain materials from federal, state, county and local governments including administrative rules.
The bulk of the material relating to Project Elf dates from 1969 to 1973 when it was known as Project Sanguine. The records document WES's own opposition as well as that of other opponents of the project. Attempts to force compliance by the Paper and Pulp Industry with water quality standards, as well as the industry's attempts to circumvent them, are documented in this subseries. Adjudicatory hearings were held between 1971 and 1974 before the U.S. environmental Protection Agency (EPA) concerning alleged dumping by the paper industry into Green Bay and other Wisconsin waterways. The Advisory Committee on Waste Disposal of the Wisconsin Pulp and Paper Industry consisted of industry and state representatives that met in Madison to discuss disposal methods for the industry's waste products.
The Neenah-Menasha Sewerage Commission and Kimberly-Clark data contains statistics documenting the amount and types of sewerage put into the Neenah-Menasha water treatment facility by Kimberly-Clark. The hearings transcript of Reynolds v. Fort Howard Paper Company presents testimony resulting from a 1970 suit filed by Robert “Toby” Reynolds, a Madison attorney, against Fort Howard arguing Fort Howard's treatment facilities were inadequate and ineffective, resulting in the discharge of raw sewerage into the Fox River in violation of state water quality standards.
The Water subseries primarily focuses on sources of pollution other than the paper industry. The EPA teaching tools file concerns an attempt to educate the public in the permit granting process and contains a cassette tape dated September 1973 entitled Clean Water-It's Up to You Now. Endeavors by N.E. Isaacson and associates to build dams and artificial lakes as part of development schemes in Adams, Burnett and Menominee counties faced opposition that is evidenced in the Isaacson Development Projects file. The Newwood Dam controversy stemmed from a dispute between residents of Lincoln County who lived along the Newwood River and the Wisconsin Valley Improvement Company, which sought creation of a dam along the river. Hearings held by the DNR as part of an effort to set standards for interstate surface water are covered in the 1967 Water Quality Standards Hearings. The folder relating to PLUARG, part of the International Joint Commission (Canada and the United States), contains information on workshops, notifications and invitations to hearings. Status of Orders indicate whether or not those found in violation of water quality standards are in the process of compliance with DNR clean-up orders. The Wisconsin River Restoration Committee was a citizens' group interested in the revitalization of the Wisconsin River.
The Wisconsin Ecological Society emphasis on the conservation of energy is clearly seen in the Energy subseries, particularly in regard to measures resulting from the dramatic increases in the price of oil as a result of actions taken by OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries). The Utilities subseries primarily documents hearings held as a response to various utilities' requests for rate increases, which WES generally opposed.
The debate over the Wisconsin Department of Transportation's proposal to construct Interstate Highway 43 through some prime farmlands and wetlands in the corridor between Milwaukee and Green Bay is documented in the Transportation subseries. Also included are materials detailing such concerns as surface paving and asphalt, alternate forms of transportation including mass transit, and bicycling.
The Air subseries contains materials dealing with efforts to clean up Wisconsin's air; while Land Use includes information on wetlands and solid waste. The Save Our Sylvania (Whitefish Lake) file in the Land Use Subseries documents the activities of a group of citizens in northeastern Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan united in opposition to the proposed construction of a road through the Sylvania tract of the Ottawa National Forest in the Upper Peninsula.
PUBLISHED MATERIAL consists of magazines, journals, regularly published newsletters, and state and federal government reports, as well as special commission findings arranged topically. The bulk of the Nuclear Power material concerns the Three Mile Island accident of 1979. Non-Nuclear Power concerns primarily alternative forms of energy while Water concentrates on pollution and clean up of waterways. Land Use contains information on solid waste and wetlands while Paper and Pulp Industry deals with pollutants. The General subseries incorporates transportation, air pollution and utilities related documents.
CLIPPINGS are newspaper articles that have been placed in folders by decade from the 1950s through the 1970s. They have not been arranged by subject.
