Group: Dow dioxin clean-up plans lack transparency
BY TINA LAM • FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER • December 19, 2008

A decision to start closed-door negotiations between state and federal environmental regulators and Dow Chemical Co. over how to clean up the largest dioxin-contaminated site in the nation is a mistake, environmental groups said.

The closed door process doesn’t allow public input on the final decision on how to clean up 50 miles of contaminated rivers near and downstream from Dow’s Midland plant, and may result in it being incomplete, several environmental groups said Wednesday in a letter to Steven Johnson, director of the Environmental Protection Agency. “Given that one of the nation’s premier natural resources is at stake, this is unacceptable,” the letter said.

“The best disinfectant is always sunlight,” said Lana Pollack, director of the Michigan Environmental Council. Others who signed it represent the Lone Tree Council, Sierra Club, Michigan League of Conservation Voters and Michigan Clean Water action. The EPA announced earlier this week that it, Michigan Department of Environmental Quality and Dow would start talks on the cleanup.

The EPA’s top administrator in Chicago, Mary Gade, was dismissed earlier this year after she rejected a cleanup plan from Dow that she said didn’t go far enough.

The new process will include public input at the beginning and at the end, said Robert McCann, spokesman for DEQ. He said sampling of contaminated rivers will still continue, and if there are hot spots found, as there were in 2007, those will be immediately cleaned up.

McCann said even with direct negotiations, it will probably still take until the end of 2009 before a cleanup plan is finalized.

“We can’t have hundreds of people sitting at the table,” he said. “We’re not trying to shut out the public, but we have to work with fewer people or we’ll never get anywhere.”
 

For additional articles like this one, go to the Tittabawassee River Watch web site www.trwnews.net for complete coverage of the Tittabawassee River Dow Chemical dioxin contamination saga. . The Newspaper / Media page of our site contains an extensive archive of media articles dating back to January 2002. The source organization's web site link is listed to the right of the article, visit often for other news in our area. The Newspaper / Media page may be accessed by scrolling down to the bottom of the CONTENTS section and clicking on the Newspaper/Media link.