Booklist raves, Paper Valley "is a compelling human-interest tale on par with Erin Brockovich and Jonathan Harr's A Civil Action."

When government scientist David Allen arrived at his new jobsite in the 1990s, the Fox River near Wisconsin's Green Bay was dominated by hulking paper mills, noxious industrial odors, and widespread ecological damage. Confronted by his lack of resources to force the politically powerful "Paper Valley" polluters to fix their mess, Allen proceeds against all bureaucratic odds in building a $1 billion case against the paper company bosses. Two small but vital players, Allen along with journalist Susan Campbell were relentless in bringing the case to the public at the time. They do so again in this book: an act of radical transparency to uncover the intrigue that nearly blocked the cleanup behind the scenes at US Fish and Wildlife, Wisconsin's Department of Natural Resources, and the US Environmental Protection Agency. In a rare and major environmental win, the Fox River became the site of the largest polychlorinated biphenyls cleanup in history, paid for by the paper companies rather than taxpayers, to the tune of $1.3 billion, and completed in 2020.

David Allen is an award-winning scientist and author. He directed the natural resource damage assessment of the Lower Fox River and the Bay of Green Bay from 1992 through 2001 as the assessment manager for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. His team led the $10 million effort to collect and organize the information that was used to launch Superfund at the site, and they published one of the most comprehensive and public natural resource damage assessments in U.S. history during 1998-2000. He was the leader and public face of the assessment for federal, state, and tribal agencies. That assessment eventually led to $1.3 billion of cleanup and restoration, paid by the polluters. It was among the largest Superfund efforts since the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska, and the effort led to the largest PCB cleanup in history.

Susan Campbell is an award-winning environmental journalist and author. As environmental reporter for the Green Bay Press-Gazette from 1995-2000, she covered the scientific and political controversy leading to the landmark $1.3 billion cleanup of PCBs from Wisconsin’s Fox River, and the implications for the bay of Green Bay and Great Lakes beyond. Her extensive reporting on the issue won her national and state honors, including a national “Best of Gannett” award for specialty reporting, an enterprise reporting award from the Wisconsin Newspaper Association, and a spot news award from the Milwaukee Press Club. 

Campbell is also co-author of “Beyond Earth Day: Fulfilling the Promise,” with the late Earth Day founder, U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson (University of Wisconsin Press, 2002).

Livestream: David Allen and Susan Campbell