NCR, Others Must Pay $700M for Wisconsin River Cleanup

A federal judge in Wisconsin has ordered NCR Corp. and Appleton Papers Inc. to pay an estimated $700 million to help clean a contaminated river.

The judge ruled Atlanta-based NCR and the Appleton, Wis.-based paper company are responsible for cleaning up the Green Bay-area Fox River.

The waterway is contaminated with toxic PCBs that NCR used to make paper products from the 1950s to the 1970s.

NCR and Appleton had asked the court to have other paper companies share in cleanup costs. Instead they must reimburse other companies for future cleanup costs.

NCR spokeswoman Anne Marie Agnelli says the company is assessing the ruling but doesn’t expect a major impact.

Appleton spokeswoman Katherine Querard says her firm is “baffled” by the decision and evaluating next steps.