December 27, 2002
The state Department of Environmental Quality is still rushing pell-mell to seal a debased dioxin cleanup deal with Dow Chemical Co. before the clock strikes midnight on the Engler administration. The entire framework is fatally flawed, to the point that it's hard to see how anyone could sign off on it with a straight face.
According to Patricia Spitzley, DEQ press secretary, everything remains on the table. That includes the possibility of creating Dow's very own standard for cleaning up people's dioxin-contaminated yards. The "interim" level could end up anywhere between the current standard and an amount nearly 10 times as lax.
A change in standard for one company sets a horrible precedent. It would turn soil cleanup limits -- in theory, the maximum contamination allowed -- into nothing more than the low opening bid when the DEQ deals with other polluters. (Chief among them will be Dow, again, because this agreement deals only with the immediate Midland area. Farther downstream along the Tittabawassee floodplain, dioxin loads appear to be as bad or worse.)
But even if the DEQ enforces the right number, the overall deal has enough problems to fill a toxic drum. Virtually every action to protect public health would be determined by researchers and a scientific study committee, not by state agencies. And it even ties the scientists' hands on some points.
The DEQ also appears ready to sign away its legal rights over conflicts that might emerge as the work runs its course. A vague "dispute resolution" process would hold sway.
The only potential bright spot is that if this agreement is reached, it is likely to be so bad that a judge will void it on the spot. The people of Michigan should not have to spend time and money undoing such an eleventh-hour abuse of authority by the outgoing DEQ.