United States Environmental Protection Agency
Region V
POLLUTION REPORT

Date:	Sunday, September 02, 2007
From:	James Augustyn/Brian Schlieger, On-Scene Coordinator

To:	Jason El-Zein, ERB 1/RS-1	David Chung, OSWER
	Al Taylor, MDEQ	NRC Duty Officer, National Response Center
	Cheryl Howe, MDEQ	Rick Karl, USEPA
	Mark Johnson, U.S. EPA R5	Bill Bolen, ERB 1
	Todd Konechne, Dow Chemical Company	Jeff Cahn, USEPA
	Jim Sygo, MDEQ

Subject:

Reach O
Tittabawassee River Reach O
Midland, MI
Latitude: 43.5522
Longitude: -84.1714

POLREP No.:	3	Site #:	B5KF
Reporting Period:	August 24 through August 30, 2007	D.O. #:
Start Date:	8/13/2007	Response Authority:	CERCLA
Mob Date:	8/13/2007	Response Type:	Time-Critical
Completion Date:		NPL Status:	Non NPL
CERCLIS ID #:	MID980994354	Incident Category:
RCRIS ID #:		Contract #

Site Description

On June 27, 2007, U.S. EPA ordered The Dow Chemical Company (Dow) to negotiate an Administrative Order on Consent, to address removal of extremely elevated levels of dioxin-contaminated sediment from within Reach O of the Tittabawassee River near Midland, Michigan. Dow agreed to the terms of the Order and on July 12, 2007, the Order was signed by the Regional Administrator and Dow. For additional background information please see the site profile.

Current Activities

The following tasks have been completed by Dow’s contractor during the period from August 24 through August 30, 2007:

•    Tree removal and grading along two areas of the river bank in order to access the Removal Management Units (RMU) in the Tittabawasse River.

•    Grubbing and grading an area for the construction of the sediment dewatering and wastewater treatment operations.

•    The construction of a temporary access haul road along the river and the installation of a silt fence along the road.

•    Collection and laboratory analysis of waste characterization samples from the RMU’s.

•    The excavation and staging of dioxin-impacted sediments from a “hot spot” in the vicinity of RMU #1.

•    The collection and laboratory analysis of a post removal sample from the “hot spot” after excavation activities were completed.

The following tasks are currently on going:

•    Collection of turbidity measurements from meters in the Tittabawasse River in order to establish background turbidity measurements.

•    Mobilization and staging of additional heavy equipment and materials to begin driving sheet piling for the temporary turbidity barrier in RMU #1&2).

•    Continue construction of the dewatering pad.

Planned Removal Actions

• The installation of temporary sheet piling, within the Tittabawasse River, to contain the areas of dioxin contaminated sediment during the excavation activities in the five RMU’s.

Next Steps

• Once an RMU has been constructed and dewaterd, Dow plans to have continuous operations 7 days a week until the RMU is completed and post removal samples have been collected.

Estimated Costs *

	Budgeted	Total To Date	Remaining	% Remaining
Extramural Costs
RST/START	$100,000.00	$14,600.00	$85,400.00	85.40%
Intramural Costs

Total Site Costs	$100,000.00	$14,600.00	$85,400.00	85.40%

* The above accounting of expenditures is an estimate based on figures known to the OSC at the time this report was written. The OSC does not necessarily receive specific figures on final payments made to any contractor(s). Other financial data which the OSC must rely upon may not be entirely up-to-date. The cost accounting provided in this report does not necessarily represent an exact monetary figure which the government may include in any claim for cost recovery.