Township official eyes settlement funds

THE SAGINAW NEWS

Saginaw Township Supervisor Tim Braun envisions a network of pedestrian paths, courtesy of any money the suburb and other communities might collect in a possible dioxin contamination cleanup settlement between Dow Chemical Co. and the state Department of Environmental Quality.

"Hopefully we can come up with a project that would benefit all the communities along the Tittabawassee River affected by the dioxin issue if there becomes a settlement," he said.

Dow proposed a natural resources restoration trust fund in its initial proposal to clean up dioxin in the river watershed, company spokesman John C. Musser said. He expects the plan will surface again when the two sides reach a final agreement.

A Saginaw County Chamber of Commerce official says townships haven't had a voice in a possible agreement, and now's the time to hear what they have to say.

Chamber Executive Vice President Veronica Horn has scheduled six public meetings next week with township officials to find out what they want out of a potential deal.

"We'd like to give them a voice with the current administration so when a settlement does come, they know what kinds of things communities would like to see," she said.

Terry R. Miller, chairman of the Tri-County environmental group Lone Tree Council, said he welcomes the help. But if the effort is an attempt to use the townships to pressure Lansing to reach a settlement prematurely, or give Dow added political muscle, "then I'm afraid we're on a different page."

Robert A. McCann, an agency spokesman, said the state isn't at the point of negotiating a settlement while it gathers more information on the extent of contamination.

"That's something we consider much further down the road," the spokesman said, noting the agency has solicited public input through quarterly meetings. "Just throwing cash on the table doesn't solve the problem. It doesn't remove the contamination."

While Horn said the chamber sees a role as a facilitator, she criticized the DEQ for a lack of progress.

Its role thus far, she said, remains "more adversarial with residents along the Tittabawassee, but also with the company. They've asked the company to put forward a remediation plan, and they've done that. Let's get serious about settling this issue so we can move forward in this region. This issue hanging over our heads only serves to make it a very uncompetitive in a state that's already dead last for economic growth."

While McCann said he understands Horn's frustration, environmental quality officials want to do the job right to clean up dioxin hot spots, some of which register hundreds of thousands of parts per trillion.

"You can't create a settlement of a cleanup plan unless you have the right information," he said. "If we weren't doing this, you could have a haphazard cleanup plan. But years down the road, the dioxins that we missed would wash further down the river" or elsewhere in Saginaw Bay.

McCann said both his agency and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency found Dow's initial cleanup proposal inadequate.

Miller said Dow, not the state, has slowed progress.

Dow has worked collaboratively with the DEQ, Musser responded.

"Have things been moving as fast as we wanted them to? No," he said. "These are complex matters."

The chamber has set meetings for 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Wednesday, 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. Thursday and 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Friday, June 29. The sessions will take place inside the chamber board room, on the second floor of 515 N. Wash-ington.v