Michelle Hurd Riddick is after justice. John C. Musser wants the truth told. James A. Koski just aches to get his job done.
The many players involved in the Zilwaukee Township dredge disposal site are sounding off against each other again after Riddick’s local environmental watchdog group claimed that Dow Chemical Co. officials are involved in closed-door negotiations to use the site to someday dispose of cleaned-up contaminants originating from its Midland plant.
Musser, a spokesman for the Midland-based company, said Dow’s interest in the facility is no secret and stems from the possibility that a regulatory agency may someday order it to dredge contaminated rivers.
He added that Riddick’s organization, the Lone Tree Council, is blowing the issue out of proportion to gather support for a federal lawsuit they’ve filed to delay the site’s start date.
Koski, the Saginaw County public works commissioner overseeing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ construction of the site, is hoping the controversy surrounding the facility will dissipate so that he can complete the project before Saginaw River dredging is scheduled to begin in fall 2007.
“I’ll be happy when it’s done,” he said.
The latest fuss centers around U.S. Environmental Protection Agency papers Riddick said she obtained from the organization’s Chicago offices in August after submitting a Freedom of Information Act.
She showed The Saginaw News the documents, which contain an April 2006 EPA memo referencing Dow officials’ interest in the dredging facility.
“In exchange for this disposal option, Dow would contribute money to improve the design of the (facility),” the memo read. “(The) estimate for the improved design is greater than Dow had anticipated and Dow is currently discussing the increased cost internally.”
Riddick believes a move by Dow to use the site would present several problems, including a violation of the facility’s permit by using it as more than just a tool to open up the waterways.
While the site’s purpose is to make the river more navigable, even the officials spearheading the project admit that the dredging will result in the collection of hazardous chemicals.
Samples taken by the Corps of Engineers in 2004 showed pervasive industrial pollution along the river bottom just upstream from the disposal facility, which workers later built on a site straddling Zilwaukee Township in Saginaw County and Frankenlust Township in Bay County.
In 2005, Department of Environmental Quality officials found a dioxin hot spot of 16,000 parts per trillion just south of the Genesee Bridge in downtown Saginaw. The state standard is 90 parts per trillion.
Riddick also has a problem with who will take responsibility for the site if Dow is involved.
Saginaw County is the chief sponsor of the project, also making it liable for any clean-up costs or damages. If Dow began using the site for disposing of toxic substances, Riddick said Saginaw taxpayers effectively would pay for Dow’s clean-up efforts.
“This unlined slurry pit sitting in the floodplain of the Saginaw River is not appropriate for the corps’ contaminated river dredgings, let alone considering it for Dow’s cleanup,” she said. “The lack of transparency and candor with the public and impacted communities is appalling.”
Musser said Dow isn’t hiding its interest. He points out that Jim Sygo, the state DEQ’s deputy director, brought up the possibility during a February community dioxin meeting at Saginaw Valley State University.
DEQ spokesman Robert McCann said Sygo has acknowledged Dow’s potential use of the facility. However, he said many hurdles stand in the way of such a usage.
“If that’s the road they want to go down, it would require a much more stringent effort,” McCann said.
Koski said Dow would have to submit to a long process of acquiring a new permit to replace the current one.
Dow also likely would have to modify the site’s structure to make it useable as a contaminant clean-up facility.
Musser said the company is aware of the obstacles.
“We’ve got an interest in possibly using that facility if we’re required to pursue any dredging,” he said. “That has not been decided upon at this point, however.”
Koski doesn’t believe the Corps of Engineers would approve a Dow partnership.
“The corps doesn’t build landfills,” he said. “Their goal is not to clear the river (of contaminants), it’s to help open up the river.”
Musser said Dow already has played a role with the dredge site. The company provided between $300,000 and $500,000 to the Saginaw River Alliance, an organization that contributed more than $1.5 million toward the $5 million project.
The group primarily consists of docking companies that help import goods from freighters doing business along the Saginaw River.
Dow’s contribution helped secure federal funding in danger of reallocation to other projects.
Musser believes Riddick is attempting to paint the company’s involvement as a behind-closed-doors operation to support a pending federal lawsuit filed by her organization.
“They’ve got an ax to grind,” he said. “You have to take what (the Lone Tree Council) says with a grain of salt.”
The group claims federal law requires the Corps of Engineers to conduct a rigorous environmental impact statement before using the site.
The corps disagrees, saying the site lacks the “significant” environmental impacts to warrant it.
Justin Engel is a staff writer for The Saginaw News. You may reach him at 776-9691.
