Tittabawassee
River Watch www.trwnews.net
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TRW Archives 2008 1st quarter 01/01/08 - 03/31/08
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 | Henry et al v Dow |
| Petition to the Saginaw County Board of Health |
| Data: What's in and what's coming up |
| Sunshine week in March but not for Midland or the DMDF |
| Detroit Free Press on our sweet water seas |
Click here for all the Dioxin Updates
03/14/08
Court denies Dow's Motion for Reconsideration
The
Michigan Court of Appeals
has denied Dow Chemical's request for reconsideration in granting
class action status for residents living in the Tittabawassee River floodplain
for property damage due to their dioxin contamination. This was in
response Dows Motion for Reconsideration filed February 14, 2008
regarding the Michigan
State Appeals Court January 2008
decision to grant Class
Action Certification to the Tittabawassee floodplain residents case against Dow
Chemical.
Click here to review all the detail of the case since it was filed in March of 2003
03/14/08
Center for Disease Control publicizes it's concerns for Tittabawassee
River residents health
As reported back in February 2008 by Sheila Kaplan and the Nation Institute Investigative Fund, "the nation's top public health agency has blocked the publication of an exhaustive federal study of environmental hazards in the eight Great Lakes states, reportedly because it contains such potentially "alarming information" as evidence of elevated infant mortality and cancer rates."
The CDC's Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) has now made the information public on it's website, http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/grtlakes/2007.html,. Below are a few excerpts From Chapter 4 "Lake Huron" beginning at page 185 which pertain to the Dow Chemical contamination of the Tittabawassee River and it's impact on human health.
The Dow Chemical Company plant in the city of Midland, Midland County, MI was the subject of an ATSDR health consultation that was triggered by community concerns regarding high levels of PCDDs in soil in the city of Midland and in fish in the nearby Tittabawassee River downstream of Midland. An additional concern arose when sampling of the Tittabawassee floodplain near the confluence of the Tittabawassee and Saginaw Rivers revealed high levels of dioxin contamination. The soil contamination issue was considered in the ATSDR health consultation on the Dow Chemical Co. site, presented in Section 4.1.1.12, which provides a description of the plant location and releases to the environment. The issue of contamination of the floodplain of the Tittabawassee River is considered in a separate 2002 ATSDR health consultation, summarized below. The Tittabawassee floodplain area that is potentially of concern extends from the City of Midland in Midland County to the City of Saginaw in Saginaw County. The sampling sites were within Saginaw County.
Category of Public Health Hazard:
This site was categorized as an Indeterminate Public Health Hazard (Category 3) because of the potential threat to human health from exposure to PCDDs and PCDFs and the lack of monitoring data for the residential area. Initial findings of a University of Michigan study, as reported by EPA (2006), are suggestive of an exposure-related elevated blood levels for dioxin in residents consuming fish from the area and in those participating in the area’s recreational activities (see Public Health Outcome data).Contaminants of Concern in Completed Exposure Pathways:
Elevated dioxin TEQs (as high as 7,261 ppt, includes PCDDs and PCDFs) were found in soil samples from a floodplain area near the confluence of the Tittabawassee and Saginaw Rivers in Saginaw County, analyzed as part of a wetland mitigation project, and in other floodplain areas (golf course, wildlife refuge) upstream from the mitigation site. These levels were considered to be high enough to pose an urgent public health hazard if people were routinely exposed to soil at these locations, but ATSDR concluded that the level of exposure on these properties is not known, and was concerned regarding the lack of sampling on nearby residential properties. The only known source of dioxin contamination was the Dow Chemical Company plant upstream at Midland. ATSDR concluded that the contamination likely resulted from deposition of contaminated river sediments in the Tittabawassee River floodplain. As discussed in Section 4.1.1.12, fish in the Tittabawassee River below the city of Midland have elevated levels of PCDDs and PCBs. Based on the floodplain soil data together with the fish data, ATSDR concluded that dioxin contamination may be widespread throughout the Tittabawassee River watershed below Midland, but data were lacking on possible exposures. EPA reported (2006) that fish contamination by PCDDs and PCDFs, which have resulted in fish consumption advisories, represented a potential completed exposure pathway for residents of the area. EPA also reported that subsequent sampling found dioxin TEQs as high as 41,000 ppt within the first six miles downstream of the Dow plant. In addition, an initial investigation for other contaminants besides PCDDs and PCDFs is expected to be completed by 2007.Demographics:
Twelve homes are located adjacent to the river less than half a mile upstream from the mitigation site where very high TEQs were detected. Numerous other residential properties are located within the floodplain upstream of the wetland mitigation site. 186 Do Not Cite or QuotePublic Health Outcome Data: EPA reported (2006) that, in 2006, the University of Michigan conducted a dioxin exposure study which was funded by Dow. EPA further reported some of the key initial findings of the study as:
| Residents living in regions expected to have dioxin contamination (Midland/Saginaw) have higher concentrations of dioxins in their blood than do residents in a control area without dioxin contamination. |
| Residents in areas with higher levels of dioxins in soil have a higher TEQ (total dioxin-like activity) in their blood. |
| Populations consuming fish from the Tittabawassee River, Saginaw River, and Saginaw Bay waterways have higher concentrations of dioxins in their blood than people who do not eat fish from these waterways. |
| Populations participating in recreational activities in the Tittabawassee River, Saginaw River, and Saginaw Bay have higher concentrations of dioxins in their blood than persons who do not participate. |
Conclusions:
This site is contaminated with the IJC critical pollutants PCDDs and PCDFs, probably from releases from the Dow Chemical Company plant upstream at Midland, Midland County. The dioxin contamination, as reported by EPA (2006), is widespread throughout the Tittabawassee River watershed below Midland, but initial data were lacking on possible exposures. More recently (2006), EPA reported the availability of analytical sampling data combined with information on human activities in the watershed areas which indicate that statistically significant exposures to dioxin could be occurring, especially within populations who consume significant quantities of locally harvested fish and/or wild game. In addition, a wild game study for the flood plain of the Tittabawassee River downstream of Midland was conducted by Dow in 2004. State of Michigan health assessors have reviewed the wild game data and found that levels of dioxins in the wild game harvested in the floodplain for the study were up to 7 times higher than samples taken upstream of Midland in deer muscle meat, 118 times higher in deer liver, 66 times higher in turkey, and 40 times higher in squirrel. The assessors concluded that eating contaminated deer, turkey, or squirrel containing dioxin, at the levels found in the Dow wild game study, could result in adverse health effects.
03/04/08
Lone Tree
Council / TRW Dioxin Update
Below are just a few snippets from the Update, read it all
for the full details, see link below:
| Dow asking appeals court to reconsider | ||||||||||||||||
| DEQ writes it for Dow and rights it for
community
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| The smaller more gentle environmental
footprint lost on Rep Horn
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The Center for Public Integrity on the Area of Concerns in the Great
Lakes
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| Coal fired plants |
Click here for all the details
03/02/08 Saginaw County Board of Health discusses
dioxin contamination - public invited
After receiving suggestions by TRW and the Lone Tree Council, Dr. Neil Varner, Medical
Director of the Saginaw County Department of Public Health (SCDPH), has taken
steps toward fostering better community awareness about the local dioxin
contamination.
Dr. Varner told TRW that the MDCH gave a presentation to about 50 of SCDPH nursing staff on Friday, 2/29/08, discussing the local dioxin contamination. The talk gave an overview of risk assessment and health effects, referencing three studies that had been done ( two from U of M; one from MDCH). They also discussed the local fish advisories and recommended getting the message out to their health department clients to clean up after visiting the banks of the local waterways, to leave the toxic debris in place and to avoid consuming contaminated fish, stressing the catfish and carp and white bass as prime agents of toxicity to humans.
A second MDCH presentation will be given to the members of the SCDPH Board of
Health at this months regularly scheduled meeting ( 4:30 Wednesday, March 5th )
... As always, the public is invited to this open meeting. NO other agenda items
are planned in order for the board members to devote their full attention to the
talk. The meetings are held
at 4:30 p.m. in the Third Floor Conference Room
of the Bennie T. Woodard, Jr. Public Health Center, located at 1600 North
Michigan Avenue,
The department is also developing preliminary plans to do more community outreach sessions similar to those held a few summers ago by the Michigan Department of Community Health, targeting people who fish and eat their catch.
Regarding Ann Doyle’s, Saginaw County Commissioner District 13, letter, "Adjust dioxin studies, clean up," published by The Saginaw News February 25, 2008, I would suggest that she and other interested readers of her letter consult the following references for information concerning the human health effects of dioxins and furans:
| "Health Assessment Document for Polychlorinated Dibenzo-p-dioxins." 1985. Office of Health and Environmental Assessment. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency |
| "Exposure and Human Health Reassessment of 2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-p-Dioxin (TCDD) and Related Compounds." 1994. Office of Research and Development, and National Center for Environmental Assessment. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency |
| "Overall Evaluation of Carcinogenicity to Humans." 2002. IARC Monographs, Volumes 1-82. International Agency for Research on Cancer |
| "Health Risks from Dioxin and Related Compounds: Evaluation of the EPA Reassessment." 2006. National Research Council |
| "Dioxins and their effects on human health." 2007. Fact Sheet No. 225. World Health Organization |
Sincerely,
Richard A. Maltby
02/26/08 Dow taking MDEQ to court over Lake Huron
According to a WJRT TV 12 news
story, the Dow Chemical Company has filed a lawsuit against the Michigan
Department of Environmental Quality because they added Lake Huron as part of
Dow's cleanup responsibility.
The MDEQ says the agency's maps indicate this will not take testing into Lake Huron waters, and denies the DEQ changed the company's operating license.
The article goes on to state which is probably the real reason Dow filed the suit:
"But the legal action could slow down further investigation of contamination of the Saginaw River and Saginaw Bay."
02/21/08 Dow appeals the Appeals
Court decision
On February 14, 2008 Dow filed a motion for reconsideration with the Michigan State Appeals Court regarding the Courts January 2008 decision to grant Class Action Certification to the Tittabawassee floodplain residents case against Dow Chemical.
Click here to review all the detail of the case since it was filed in March of 2003
02/18/08
State updates fish consumption advisory for Saginaw River
An MDCH statement this week said that the findings of the public health consultation emphasize that people should closely follow the Michigan interim fish consumption advisory for the Saginaw River, which states:
| No one should eat carp, catfish, or white bass; |
| Women of childbearing age and children under the age of 15 should not eat smallmouth bass; |
| All other people are advised to eat no more than one meal of smallmouth bass per week; |
| Women of childbearing age and children under the age of 15 should eat no more than one meal per month of walleye less than 22 inches in length and six meals per year of larger walleye; |
| All other people are advised that walleye smaller than 22 inches may be eaten in unlimited quantities, but larger walleye should be eaten no more often than once per week; and |
| For all other species of fish caught in the Saginaw River, women of childbearing age and children under the age of 15 should eat no more than one meal per month and all other people may eat these fish one meal per week. |
With new data on chemical levels in Saginaw River fish expected, the fish
consumption advisory will be updated this year.
02/12/08
Lone Tree
Council / TRW Dioxin Update
| The Saginaw River
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| The Saginaw County Chamber of Commerce
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Click here for all the details
02/10/08 The local poor cancer risk as high as 1 in 25 from eating Saginaw River fish
At the dioxin public meeting this past Thursday held in Saginaw, a Health
Consultation report was released by MDCH in a cooperative agreement with ATSDR
evaluating Saginaw River dioxin exposures and health risk.
There is a population here, the poor, uneducated Saginaw East side community who
regularly fish and feed their families all species of fish from the Saginaw
River including catfish and carp. When asked about the fish advisories, over 1/2
of these individuals did not even know there were advisories.
MDCH consultation concluded that some Saginaw River
fish eaters from this population could have an individual cancer risk as high as
1 in 25.
A Dow supporter stood up and asked if this consultation had been peer reviewed.
Stunning.
Of course, this did not make the news the next day as the
Shiver on the River
fishing contest comes to a
conclusion this weekend.
And the Saginaw Chamber of
commerce is up in arms about an accidental document released by EPA to
The Lone Tree Council that paints Dow in a bad light, and is calling for an
investigation.
Kathy Henry, TRW
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Health Consultation: Evaluation of Saginaw River Dioxin Exposures and Health
Risks
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Fish Consumption Survey of people fishing and harvesting fish from Saginaw Bay watershed
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MDCH Interim Fish Consumption Advisory for the Saginaw River | ||||
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02/10/08 Dioxin Exposure, from Infancy through Puberty, Produces Endocrine
Disruption
and Affects Human Semen Quality
This
study on men from Seveso published in January 2008 provides evidence
of a permanent disruptive effect of TCDD on the human male reproductive
system,
depending on the age at exposure.
Conclusions:
Exposure to TCDD in infancy reduces sperm concentration and motility, and anClick here for additional information about Dioxin and it's effects on human health
02/10/08 Great Lakes Danger Zones - CDC blocks release of study
As
reported by Sheila Kaplan with assistance from the
Nation Institute Investigative Fund,
"For more than seven months, the
nation's top public health agency has blocked the publication of an exhaustive
federal study of environmental hazards in the eight Great Lakes states,
reportedly because it contains such potentially "alarming information" as
evidence of elevated infant mortality and cancer rates.
Researchers found low birth weights, elevated rates of infant mortality and
premature births, and elevated death rates from breast cancer, colon cancer, and
lung cancer.
The 400-plus-page study, Public Health Implications of Hazardous Substances in
the Twenty-Six U.S. Great Lakes Areas of Concern, was undertaken by a division
of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at the request of the
International Joint Commission, an independent bilateral organization that
advises the U.S. and Canadian governments on the use and quality of boundary
waters between the two countries. The study was originally scheduled for release
in July 2007 by the IJC and the CDC's Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease
Registry (ATSDR). ..."
Click here to view entire article or here to view reports chapter 4 on Lake Huron and it's tributaries including the Tittabawassee and Saginaw Rivers. Many of the reports other chapters can be viewed at http://www.publicintegrity.org/GreatLakes/index.htm
02/09/08 Finally, State investigating dioxin cleanup options
At Thursday nights MDEQ Community Dioxin Meeting, Art Ostaszewski of the MDEQ gave a presentation on Dioxin Treatment Technologies currently under review by the state.
| Source of contamination to be cleaned is basically divided into 3
categories:
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| MDEQ treatment approaches used to date
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| MDEQ requirements for testing new technology
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| Two companies participated in the trial (note the MDEQ does not endorse
either at this time)
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| 4 steps will be used to assess treatment technologies
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| Next Steps
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02/03/08
Lone Tree
Council / TRW Dioxin Update
MEETING THIS WEEK NOT CANCELLED
COME TO THE DEQ MEETING THURSDAY FEBRUARY 7 AT THE HORIZON CENTER IT HAS NOT BEEN CANCELLED --SAME TIME 6:30 SAME PLACE ---JUST NO DOW CHEMICAL
Thursday Dow Chemical issued a press release that was a bit misleading:
“Joint Dow/MDEQ Dioxin Meeting Canceled”— so read the opening title. As a result of the headline a few news outlets and a number of citizens were left with the impression the quarterly meeting was canceled which it is not. DEQ and EPA will host this meeting. Please plan on attending. One needed to read the body of the press release where the message stated the meeting would go on without Dow's participation.
In the company's press release, Dow’s Greg Cochran stated the company felt it was not a good use of time since there was no new information to discuss. I would disagree.
| Plans or lack there of for the Saginaw River and Bay in the coming year are worthy of Q&A. |
| DEQ’s issuance of yet another Notice of Deficiency to Dow for failure to submit acceptable work on the Saginaw River are worthy of Q&A. |
| Sampling data on the middle Tittabawassee River is a big deal worthy of discussion |
| The Health Consultation on the Saginaw River and the fish consumption overview by MDCH is an important public health discussion this community needs to have. |
| EPA presence at the meeting and DEQ’s plans to meet one on one with residents to talk about their properties, testing and other issues impacting their backyards, lives and the river system is important. |
http://www.michigan.gov/documents/deq/deq-whm-hwp-dow-2-7-2008-CommMeeting-Final-agenda_223275_7.pdf
EPA Meeting Thursday night at SVSU
A great turn out and great presentations on the many issues impacting the Saginaw Bay were presented and discussed at Thursday’s meeting. The impairments facing the Bay and Lake Huron are as massive as they are diverse and the public vocalized their impatience for many of these issue, which are decades old (not just dioxin). People called for action from EPA and DEQ and well they should. But restoring the Bay is not free—nothing worth having is free. We cannot have legislators, at the state or federal level, refusing to fund the very agencies whose expertise is needed to clean up this mess. The Michigan legislature will be speaking loud and clear, as will the Governor, in the coming weeks with regard to funding the DEQ. Stay tuned! Show us your budget and we'll see if the Great Lakes and public health are a priority.
The second half of the meeting Thursday night was an overview of the extensive dioxin contamination and the work completed in the last year. The most important statement made came from EPA’s Ralph Dollhopf in explaining why EPA Region V ended negotiations with Dow Chemical:
"I can only emphasize for you, that it would be a travesty for the EPA to do anything that would undermine the progress that has been made to date over the last several months, over the last year, with respect to getting Dow to step up and accept responsibility for its legacy in environmental contamination," he said.
The quote was reported in the Midland Daily News. http://www.ourmidland.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19254420&BRD=2289&PAG=461&dept_id=472542&rfi=6
DEQ did a great power point illustrating how contaminated river banks are a constant source of dioxin and furans to the river system and Lake Huron. The agencies are hopeful that as part of an interim response Dow will deliver a final report on the feasibility of sediment traps to help slow down these migrating dioxins. In the meantime the question remains what will be done about the banks that keep feeding this poison to the river?
Addressing head on an issue raised by the Chamber of Commerce, in the recent past, and Thursday night about Dow answering to DEQ or EPA, (echo of Dow’s position they will not serve two masters), EPA was accurate to point out that by utilizing RCRA and CERCLA, the agencies were able to facilitate the removal of highly contaminated sediments accomplishing more this summer than in thirty years. It’s called progress. Dow Chemical was commended for the progress made last summer making it all the more regrettable that Dow undermined the summer's progress.
A Midland resident demanded to know from the agencies where the risk assessment was. I would point all of you the TRW web site: click on FOIA documents on the left and go to the DOW HHR Brief 9-07. Perhaps the Midland resident should be asking Dow where the risk assessment is---Would appear by reading this document Dow wants another 3.5 years to complete the human risk assessment and does not wish to use widely accepted scientific practice. Oh- and Dow has already been working on this for 2.5 years.
One public official commented that stories like the ones that ran in the Free Press serve no purpose. Respectfully disagree-- Public information and an honest airing of regulatory laundry is good for democracy and the role of the media in community right to know should be lauded and encouraged by all of us. Residents impacted by this contamination are entitled to be heard above Dow's PR spin. These stories are important........the truth may burst a few bubbles, shatter some rose colored corporate glasses or make us uncomfortable but the implications surrounding the human element caught up in this contamination cannot be denied.
"I can only emphasize for you, that it would be a travesty for the EPA to do anything that would undermine the progress that has been made to date over the last several months, over the last year, with respect to getting Dow to step up and accept responsibility for its legacy in environmental contamination," he said.
Mr. Dolhopf is the Associate Director of the EPA Region 5 Superfund Division.
http://www.ourmidland.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19254420&BRD=2289&PAG=461&dept_id=472542&rfi=6
01/28/08 FOIA Tidbit
Three new Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) documents added
| Chemicals found in T.River |
| Chemicals to remove from Dow RIWP |
| Scientists reject chemical rules |
Click here for additional documents
01/25/08 Michigan Court of
Appeals Grants Flood Plain Residents Motion for Class Action Lawsuit
"Based on the findings and reasons set forth above, the Court hereby orders that Plaintiffs’ Motion for Certification as a Class Action be and the same is hereby GRANTED"
Michigan Court of Appeals
Click here to view the entire Michigan Appeals Court opinion
Click here to review all the detail of the case since it was filed in March of 2003
01/24/08
Lone Tree
Council / TRW Dioxin Update
| DEQ and EPA working together |
| Freedom of information |
| New York Times circa 1983 Dow memo - anxiety of dioxin in 1965 |
| Fearless accountability - a statement from Dow's CEO |
| The DMDF (Saginaw River dredge disposal site) |
Click here for all the details
01/20/08
Lone Tree
Council / TRW Dioxin Update
| EPA hosts meeting on Saginaw Bay
Environmental Issues January 31, 2008
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Click here for all the details
01/23/08
43 years later: ????
Below are a few snippets from a New Your Times article published in 1983 discussing 1965 memos about Dow and the EPA's attempt to downplay dioxin health hazards in the public arena. Currently, Dow and the EPA are going at it again, will history repeat itself?
Almost 20 years ago, scientists from four rival chemical companies attended a closed meeting at the Dow Chemical Company's headquarters. The subject was the health hazards of dioxin, a toxic contaminant found in a widely used herbicide that the companies manufactured.
Shortly after the meeting, in Midland, Mich., on March 24, 1965, one of those attending wrote in a memorandum that Dow did not want its findings about dioxin made public because the situation might ''explode'' and generate a new wave of government regulation for the chemical industry.
...
''Initially,'' Dr. Legator went on, ''Dow planned on comparing the birth defects among the wives of Dow dioxin workers with two controls. First, a group of wives of Dow workers in Midland who had not been directly exposed to dioxin, and second, some wives of workmen who lived outside the Midland area. This second control group was important because the Midland area is quite polluted and the general population has a relatively high level of congenital abnormalities. But when they published the study the second control group was not included.'' A 'Sampling Problem'
...
The company's repeated public statements about the comparative safety of dioxin, including testimony to Congressional committees, press releases and scientific papers, have been accompanied by efforts on its part, particularly in the Reagan Administration, to block the Government from collecting information about the contaminant.
Evidence of the repeated contacts between Dow and E.P.A. officials in Washington, if not of the subject of the meetings, is contained in the calendars and travel records of these officials that have been obtained by the House subcommittees investigating the agency.
Anne McGill Burford, for example, made at least two trips to Midland, Mich., in her 22 months as the head of the Environmental Protection Agency. Rita M. Lavelle, the former head of the Government program to clean up toxic waste dumps, met at least 14 times with Dow officials in the 11 months she held office.
Mrs. Burford, Miss Lavelle and 11 other political appointees recently resigned or were dismissed amid Congressional inquiries on allegations that the agency's toxic waste program had been mishandled. According to the public testimony of some officials of the agency, Dow used its connections with the top echelon of the agency's Washington officials to get its way on several important matters relating to the regulation of dioxin.
Three weeks ago, for example, agency officials in Chicago told the Investigations Subcommittee of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce that their superiors in Washington ordered them to change an important report on dioxin to comply with the wishes of Dow.
The key deletion from the report was the following central conclusion about Dow's Midland plant: ''Dow's discharge represented the major source, if not the only source, of TCDD contamination found in the Tittabawassee and Saginaw Rivers and Saginaw Bay in Michigan.
Click here to view the entire article
01/18/08
Check out new FOIA document page
We just added a new Freedom Act (FOIA) document page to our website. The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is a federal law that gives the public the right to make requests for federal agency records. All federal agencies, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), are required to disclose records unless the records are protected from disclosure by certain exemptions. The EPA FOIA Home page will guide you to information about the statute and give you information on submitting a request to the Agency. For more information about FOIA, visit the EPA FOIA website. We will post relevant documents on this page as time permits, check back often!
01/17/08
Tri-Counties Planning Program
Suggestion
January 17, 2008
TRW Current News
Subject: Tri-Counties Planning Program
In view of my letter published by the Midland Daily News (January 15, 2008), entitled "Practice environmental regionalism," I propose that the Saginaw Valley Tri-Counties conduct a comprehensive environmental management planning process for the Saginaw Valley Tri-Counties region. I described in the Midland Daily News the approach used by the Erie and Niagara Counties Regional Planning Board, New York, while addressing the international environmental needs of the Niagara River system, which involved a regional environmental framework. This approach has application to all the communities in the Saginaw Valley Tri-Counties region.
The "International Environmental Study," which included the "Niagara River Environmental Plan," emphasized the implications and impact of the Niagara River system on the larger regional framework in terms of tourist-oriented land use concentrations, transportation, environmental health, parks and conservation areas, governmental management and coordination practices, air and water pollution generators and vacant developable land adjacent to the Niagara River and Lakes Ontario and Erie.
The communities have a right to a clean and ecologically balanced environment, free from pollution, degradation and conflicting land and water uses. It is recommended that the environmental planning and management process suggested for the Tri-Counties region include four phases as follows:
| Phase I – Organize a planning body and develop a work program for conducting a regional environmental study and plan. |
| Phase II – Inventory and analyze the various elements directly related to the ecological and physical-visual environment so as to determine the magnitude of the problem. |
| Phase III – Develop and evaluate alternative solutions to environmental problems and select the most suitable solution or plan. |
| Phase IV – Develop an implementation program of action designed to carry out the selected solution or plan. |
Richard A. Maltby
Midland
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TRW note:
Mr. Maltby recently published Revival of the Tittabawassee, a collection of commentaries, warnings, and actions - Part Two. As he states in the preface, the book is "a sequel to both the second edition of The Pollution Signature and the four episodes of The Dioxin Story." All are available in local libraries.
01/10/08
Dow /EPA negotiations: The past,
present, and future
Defending Dow
The Midland Daily News is still defending Dow Chemical's recalcitrant behavior. Admonishing EPA for terminating unproductive negotiations with Dow Chemical the MDN said:
Absent an explanation, we have to assume that the intent of the press release was public relations, an attempt to paint Dow once again in a bad light.
1. Dow doesn’t need any help looking bad. A company with their financial, legal and scientific resources has no excuse to cop ignorance of regulatory obligations. They have no excuse to not meet deadlines time and time and time again. They have no right to expect that time and again they can miss deadlines and expect to be granted more time.
2. EPA could take lessons from Dow in PR. For MDN to be critical of EPA's PR tactics after watching Dow use PR for decades to gloss over their responsibility and contamination is a almost laughable.
The MDN also admonishes EPA for not being transparent. Fair enough but.......One would think it a contradiction in the world of journalism for newspaper to call for transparency ONLY when the hometown corporation is being attacked. Shut the public out, as we have been on so many occasions, and the MDN is silent. Why? Shutting out the public benefits Dow. Now Dow is shut out and the MDN is outraged.
http://www.ourmidland.com/site/?brd=2289&pag=461&cat_id=407&newsid=19174879&rfi=16
Historical Perspective
Others are upset too about EPA terminating negotiations. The Chamber of Commerce and Representative Ken Horn are also upset with EPA. I would agree talking and negotiating are always preferable to a stalemate. Yet again, how many deadlines to produce does Dow get? Mr. Horn blamed EPA for not taking Dow’s offer and lamented that EPA needs to get serious and make something happen. Mrs. Horn, from the Chamber of Commerce suggested a cooling down period to overcome roadblocks.
I would submit both EPA and DEQ have been most serious in addressing this contamination. Dow had a deadline to submit a plan to EPA. They failed to do it! What Dow offered up was not “protective of public health” according to EPA.
The “cooling down period to overcome roadblocks”, suggested by Mrs. Horn would be buy time for the Chamber of Commerce and anti-DEQ legislators to put their heads together with Dow Chemical and lobby for the easiest and fastest way out of this conundrum…..shopping for a sympathetic political ear perhaps because Dow and the Chamber do not like the regulatory arena.
About history being important. I would suggest reading Jack Doyle’s book. TRESPASS AGAINST US, Dow Chemical and the Toxic Century. It was 1983 when Dow Chemical of Midland Michigan was permitted by the political powers of the day, to edit EPA’s dioxin report. This resulted in Congressional hearings and numerous firings. One line from the report which Dow edited out stated:
Dow Chemical…… has extensively contaminated their facility with PCDDs and PCDF’s and has been the primary contributor to contamination of the Tittabawassee and Saginaw Rivers and Lake Huron.
Anyone else one thinks 25 years of political interference and negotiating with Dow is enough? How many more years will we allow people, wildlife, resources and Lake Huron to play second fiddle to Dow and their multitude of studies, their shopping around for a new format to “ negotiate” in and their deliberate efforts to stonewall.
The Saginaw News article: http://blog.mlive.com/saginawnews/2008/01/epa_quits_dioxin_talks.html
The Future
What happens next is anyone’s guess. Hopefully EPA and DEQ will continue to work together to resolve this long-standing issue. It is imperative for the agencies to now come forward with a collective and coherent strategy and engage the public. What are your next steps Director Chester and Administrator Gade? Please do not assume we know.
There are laws in place and a corrective action license ( RCRA ) signed by Dow Chemical and the State of Michigan. This 'contract' is legal and binding and still in force: (http://www.michigan.gov/deq/0,1607,7-135-3312_4118_4240-53424--,00.html). It took the state 8 years to negotiate this license with Dow. This license in tandem with EPA authority under CERCLA (law used this past summer to compel Dow to expedite hot spot cleanup ) should give us all hope that 2008 will be productive. Sampling will continue to drive this process and both agencies assured the public at the last meeting that there are no plans to back off on the collection of samples.
Frankly, I doubt Dow intended to negotiate in good faith with Region V anymore than they intended to abide by their RCRA license, the Framework or the laws of this great state. With negotiations terminated by Region V it should come as no surprise should Dow move up the food chain to EPA in Washington DC and ask for a meeting with Administrator Johnson---whining that the company and their science is just not understood.
Given the bad press for Dow lately it’s also about time for them to go into public relations overdrive; something Dow has done for decades in the face of critical media coverage-
Documents
We will be placing a folder/link on the TRW web page with documents obtained by DEQ and EPA under FOIA. This contamination is the public’s business.
DMDF
DEQ still has no slurry wall design plan, the groundwater permits have not been issued and money is still an issue. Meetings are taking place and Dow Chemical is well represented by Jack Bailes ( Lansing Lobbyist) and Dow's outside counsel, Gene Smarey. Long overdue for a public meeting to update the taxpayers and residents on this project. Visit www.dredgeitright.org for more information
Fond Remembrance
