EPA official: Quicker pace for dioxin cleanup
By John Flesher AP Environmental Writer / March 19, 2009 TRAVERSE CITY, Mich.

Federal regulators will push to quicken the cleanup of a Michigan watershed contaminated with dioxin from a Dow Chemical Co. plant and will keep the public informed as plans are developed, an Obama administration official said Thursday.

Robert Sussman, senior policy counsel to Environmental Protection Agency head Lisa Jackson, said the administration wants to accelerate a cleanup that has been discussed since the 1980s but that critics say has produced few tangible results.

"There needs to be a very clear schedule, very clear timelines and milestones going forward," Sussman told The Associated Press by telephone after a two-day visit to the tainted area in Michigan's Lower Peninsula. "We absolutely will make a priority of that, and of making the process more transparent."

The effort to devise a cleanup strategy for one of the nation's largest toxic zones -- a 50-mile-long watershed near Lake Huron's Saginaw Bay -- has been hampered by what Sussman described as "false starts."

In January 2008, EPA pulled out of negotiations with Dow, saying the Midland-based chemical giant's proposal was unacceptable. Mary Gade, head of the agency's Chicago regional office, said last May she had been fired because the Bush administration considered her too aggressive toward Dow.

New talks began in December. Jackson, newly appointed by President Obama, put them on hold this month and sent a delegation on a fact-finding mission to the region.

Led by Sussman, the EPA group met separately Wednesday and Thursday with representatives of the company, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, business and environmental groups, legislators and congressional offices.

"I feel we've advanced the ball," Sussman said. He said his team will consult with EPA managers and decide soon on the next steps.

One question is whether to stick with a decision in the final days of the Bush administration to change the regulatory framework for the cleanup planning.

Previously, it operated under the federal hazardous waste law, with the Michigan DEQ as the lead agency. The latest talks were switched to a "Superfund Alternative Site" approach that divided responsibilities between EPA and the DEQ. Critics, including Gade and environmentalists, said that gave EPA less regulatory clout.

Sussman said he hadn't decided which option to support but insisted the Superfund alternative approach wouldn't let Dow off the hook.

"This is a mandatory process with a lot of enforcement teeth to it," he said. "We can require things to be done, and if they're not done, we can assess very substantial penalties."

A third possibility, he said, was making the watershed a full-fledged Superfund site and adding it to the national list of top-priority hazardous areas.

The DEQ will cooperate with EPA regardless of what regulatory approach it chooses, spokesman Robert McCann said.

"We've been making significant progress the past couple of years and we need to keep that moving forward," he said.

Representatives of a half-dozen environmental groups remained skeptical of the new framework after a three-hour meeting with Sussman, said Michelle Hurd Riddick of the Saginaw-based Lone Tree Council.

"We say this still could be Dow just setting up another process to slow things down," Hurd Riddick said. "This is how they've done it since the 1980s."

But she said environmentalists were encouraged by Sussman's pledge of greater public involvement and more open planning. They have complained repeatedly that Dow and regulators have negotiated privately and informed concerned citizens only after decisions have been made.

"We're going to do our level best to design a process that involves all the stakeholders," Sussman said. "This should not be a behind-closed-doors process. This should not be a political process. It should be very transparent."

Hurd Riddick said environmentalists would watch to see if EPA follows through -- and how it defines "transparent."

"We're very happy with his commitment," she said.

Dow spokeswoman Mary Draves described the company's meeting with Sussman's team as "very productive."

"Dow remains ready and willing to go back to discussions with EPA when they're ready," Draves said. "We really want a resolution of this issue and are focusing on how to find a path forward to get the cleanup finished."

The company says the pollution hasn't harmed people or wildlife. It has spent about $40 million on studies, sediment sampling and other preliminary work. Dow has removed tainted soil from several toxic "hot spots" and agreed this month to another cleanup in a Saginaw Township park.

Dow acknowledges polluting the Tittabawassee and Saginaw rivers, their floodplains, portions of the city of Midland and Saginaw Bay with dioxins for much of the 20th century, first by dumping liquid wastes and later by incinerating them.

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Editor's note -- John Flesher is the AP correspondent in Traverse City and has covered environmental issues since 1992.
 

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