EPA finds 'elevated dioxin level' in sample
Friday, April 04, 2008
JUSTIN ENGEL THE SAGINAW NEWS

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials remain vague about details surrounding agency-sponsored soil sampling under way at 10 Saginaw homes near the Tittabawassee River.

A spokesman said a February disclosure about ''an elevated dioxin level found in a residential soil sample'' discovered by Midland's Dow Chemical Co. in November prompted the initiative.

Dow spokesman John C. Musser said he doesn't know to which samples the EPA is referring.

''I don't know what that's about,'' he said. ''I don't remember us collecting any information in that area (at that time).''

Dow is not involved in the latest sampling measure. Musser said he learned about the EPA's plans from a media release.

EPA spokesman Mick Hans said his agency won't disclose the specific region of the sampling or the details behind the elevated dioxin find. ''We're trying to respect the privacy of property owners,'' Hans said.

EPA officials say the targeted homeowners willingly submitted to the testing.

Analysis has begun and may take ''two to three weeks,'' while the results could prompt more comprehensive sampling and cleanup actions, Hans said.

''Residential soil contamination is a serious matter,'' Ralph Dollhopf, EPA associate Superfund director, stated in the media release. ''At this time of year, children are playing outside again and families are planning gardens. If action is needed, this project will ramp up very quickly.''

Musser said the agency's concern is misguided, regardless of where and why EPA crews conduct the latest sampling.

''The press release doesn't seem consistent with what we've learned from the (University of Michigan) study where it says soil was not a contributor (to dioxin levels in residents),'' he said.

''I don't know where (the EPA is) coming from. Either we're going to let science drive this thing or we're going to let people's impressions or emotions do that.''

A 2006 $15 million U-M exposure study showed dioxin contamination in riverside residents had more to do with age than pollutants Dow deposited in the waterway largely at the turn of the 20th century.

Dow has tested and performed cleanup in the Tittabawassee River as part of an operating license agreement with the state Department of Environmental Quality.

Musser speculated about the general location of the sampling.

''We believe that it's along the river where we conducted interim response activity a few years back,'' he said.

In 2005-06, the company cleaned 330 households along the Tittabawassee River on Midland and Saginaw county properties that the DEQ deemed contaminated.

State officials dubbed them ''priority one'' areas, meaning that the properties were flooded in spring 2004 and presumably were contaminated with dioxin levels above 1,000 parts per trillion. Crews reseeded patches of lawn, laid topsoil, paved walkways and cleaned carpets.

State guidelines require corrective action on environmental contamination measuring above 1,000 parts per trillion. Michigan's state average for dioxin in soil is 7 parts per trillion. v

Justin Engel is a staff writer for The Saginaw News. You may reach him at 776-9691.
 

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.