Kathie Marchlewski, Midland Daily News 05/18/2005
State Rep. John Moolenaar's proposal to keep dioxin-contaminated properties from being stuck with a stigmatic "facility" designation is moving through the House of Representatives.
The House Government Operations Committee has scheduled a review of House Bill 4617 and will conduct a public hearing at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday in the Anderson House Office Building in Lansing.
The proposed legislation, which also has been introduced in the state Senate by Sen. Mike Goschka, would require on-site testing to show dioxin levels in excess of the state's residential contact criteria of 90 parts per trillion before a "facility" designation is applied. It also would require consideration of a risk assessment based on bioavailability and human exposure studies.
It would allow local residents to request the facility label if they wish, a move that would require the party responsible for the contamination to pay for cleanup.
"This is homeowner fairness legislation that will protect homeowners and stop the state from issuing blanket facility designations," Moolenaar said. "The reform effort will ensure that any move by the Department of Environmental Quality will incorporate the best available science to get a true indicator of dioxin exposure."
The DEQ has been blamed for suggesting that dioxin-contaminated properties in the Saginaw Valley are facilities, though Director Steven Chester has said repeatedly that the department has no control over the designation; it is applied by state law.
The designation potentially reduces property values by requiring owners to disclose contamination information to potential buyers. It also limits activities on property by preventing owners from moving or disturbing contaminated soil. The Tittabawassee River flood plain and an estimated 9,000 homes in Midland could have levels of dioxin higher than the state's 90 parts per trillion residential contact criteria, thus falling subject to the label.
Moolenaar said residents who own property in dioxin-contaminated areas -- those at risk of having the facility designation applied to their homes -- will be given first priority at the public hearing.
"I can't guarantee that every outside interest group will be given as much time as they'd like," he said. "We want to make sure the committee hears from residents."
Along with residents of dioxin-contaminated properties, Dr. David Garabrant of the University of Michigan, who is leading a study of human dioxin exposure, is scheduled to give the committee an overview of his work.
Moolenaar said while the proposed legislation focuses on dioxin contamination in mid-Michigan, if passed the new law could be "beneficial" across the state. "It may be applicable in a broad way. As you look across the state, you see other concerns."
He mentioned lead problems in Detroit and PCB contamination in Kalamazoo.
©Midland Daily News 2005
Reader Opinions:
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Fred Stoll May, 19 2005
John Moolenaar is no friend to us. Once again his primary concern is helping Dow.
Why would any elected official want to do away with this law? I wish this law was in place when I bought my property. I wouldn't be in the situation I am now. I would not have endangered myself and family by purchasing land that is polluted with dioxins.
In reference to what Kathy Henry said, I do feel that the City of Midland and Dow conspired to defraud many people over the years. It seems that some of our elected state officials are more than happy to help in this endeavor.
In my opinion, it appears that Mr. John Moolenaar seems to think it is fine for others to commit fraud in order to protect land values. What has he done to help the many victims that Dow has created? Time and time again he has turned his back on them. Mr. Stamas hasn’t been much better either. One could make an argument that they are just stooges for Dow Chemical; bought and paid for with campaign donations.
They have not learned that doing something wrong, is still wrong even if it is disguise as a law.
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Kathy Henry May, 18 2005
First, let's make it clear that our opposition to this bill has nothing to do with a lawsuit filed against Dow on behalf of property owners living along the Tittabawassee River. We filed the lawsuit long before properties were ever designated as part of Dow's "facility".
Any logical person would conclude the same as the MDEQ has. If your property is frequently flooded, it is contaminated. During flooding, the soil is constantly moving around, re-depositing everywhere, every time it floods. Samples taken from fishing docks at Freeland Festival Park by the DEQ after past floods have shown more than 500 ppt on the docks. The contamination is found to be more than 4 feet deep in floodplain soils.
This same logic holds true in Midland where dioxin deposition mainly comes from air borne emissions from Dow's incinerators.
Should one believe that the river floods, or the air emissions are selective, only depositing their contaminants in a few choice areas?
What if I chose to have the "facility" label, so that Dow would be required to clean up my property, but my neighbor upstream chose not to. Next flood, my "clean" property would again be contaminated by flood waters from that upstream neighbor and from the contaminated river sediments. Thanks a lot.
Instead of the DEQ "blanketing" the area with a contamination label, John Moolenaar, Mike Goschka and the like are attempting to blanket an area with permission to commit fraud. God help unsuspecting out-of-town home buyers if this bill passes. Or home buyers in the entire state for that matter.
Let's not forget individuals who receive soil from local landscapers, who would be permitted to remove soils from the contaminated floodplain, and distribute the soils through out all of our counties. The "facility" designation currently does not allow this.
Do the wild game in the area that now have a health advisory against eating them by state and federal governments secretely know where these contamination "hot spots" are, and willing feed there so they will not be hunted? This is about as logical as what is being proposed.
Truth science is out there everywhere, for those who choose to read it. This "sound science" aka Dow science, is trying to be forced on the residents in our area with terrible consequence to all but Dow Chemical. Politicians and Dow are the only ones who will benifit from such a bill. THE DIOXIN NEEDS TO BE CLEANED UP.
For additional articles like this one, go to the Tittabawassee River Watch web site www.trwnews.net for complete coverage of the Tittabawassee River Dow Chemical dioxin contamination saga. . The Newspaper / Media page of our site contains an extensive archive of media articles dating back to January 2002. The source organization's web site link is listed to the right of the article, visit often for other news in our area. The Newspaper / Media page may be accessed by scrolling down to the bottom of the CONTENTS section and clicking on the Newspaper/Media link.