Public input sought on dioxin damage-assessment plan

jkart@bc-times.com | 894-9639

The public is invited to comment on a 131-page Natural Resource Damage Assessment plan released Monday by state regulators involved with a Dow Chemical Co. cleanup of rivers in the Saginaw Bay watershed.

The plan, released online by the Department of Environmental Quality, doesn't appear to include a timeline for when the assessment will be completed.

But the plan lays out how trustees working on the issue of historic dioxin discharges from Dow will assess impacts to the Tittabawassee and Saginaw rivers and Saginaw Bay.

Lisa Williams, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife official involved in the closed-door federal NRDA process, could not be reached for comment by The Times on Monday.

State officials have said the assessment process likely will result in a large, monetary settlement from Dow, which will go to restoration projects in the watershed.

According to Monday's plan, the trustees will produce a report after the assessment is complete and ''may then seek recovery of damages from the (potentially responsible party)'' which may include ''direct and indirect costs necessary to complete all actions identified in the selected alternative.'' Trustees will assess injuries to biological resources, surface water, sediment, groundwater and geologic resources, according to the plan.

The NRDA plan can be found online at www.michigan.gov/deq and www.fws.gov/midwest.

Comments on the draft will be accepted through May 19 and should be submitted to Dr. Lisa Williams, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 2651 Coolidge Road, Suite 101, East Lansing, MI 48823.

A public meeting on the draft is scheduled for 7 p.m. April 17 in the Great Hall B at the Best Western Valley Plaza Inn,

5221 Bay City Road, Midland.

©2008 Bay City Times