Saginaw residents hear plans about dioxin cleanup

by Justin Engel | The Saginaw News

Robert W. Young doesn't want Midland's Dow Chemical Co. to waste his time -- or the company's -- if crews preparing to clean up dioxin contamination in his southwest Saginaw neighborhood don't do the job right.

"I'm not saying protect us from every flood ever because I mean, come on, we live on the water," said Young, the owner of Saginaw-based Young Realty Co. "But why are they going to spend the money if a flood brings (contamination) back? That doesn't make any sense."

The subject was a top topic at Thursday's community dioxin meeting at Horizons Conference Center, where about 80 people gathered.

The chemical company plans to perform soil excavation, topsoil replacement and interior home cleanups at the properties by mid-October. The work remains in the planning stages as officials seek agreements from the homeowners. Young hasn't given his yet.

Al Taylor, a geology specialist with the DEQ, acknowledged the likelihood of more floods returning spoils to the community.

"It's going to recontaminate," he said. "We need to work out an ongoing monitoring plan."

Taylor said data from other studies shows the level of contamination another flood may carry could prove high or low.

"We hope the upstream controls are going to occur fast enough" to result in lower levels of recontamination, he said.

Taylor pointed to plans to stabilize areas of the riverbank -- where contaminants have gathered over the years -- that remain in danger of falling into the water.

Planting vegetation that would prevent erosion could lessen the amount of dioxin the river reacquires during floods, he said.

Taylor showed the audience a diagram illustrating how erosion has shifted the course of the river several feet in various directions over the decades. He compared a 2004 map of the river system with a 1937 map to show the difference.

Young said his property has flooded four times in the 10 years he's lived there.

Waters were high enough that he needed a boat to access his house from the road, but he said Dow crews could put a significant dent in the number of floods there by dumping another "6 or 7 inches" of topsoil above the soil that will replace the contaminated lot.

"A job isn't worth doing if you're not going to do it right," Young said.

In April, officials conducted tests there that revealed the contamination.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency-sponsored crews took 1,300 soil samples and tests revealed an average contamination of 1,400 parts per trillion. One sample showed levels reaching 20,000 parts per trillion.

Michigan's state average for dioxin in soil is 7 parts per trillion.

Dow tests in November that revealed "an elevated dioxin level" prompted the follow-up initiative.

Spokesman John C. Musser attributes the Riverside Drive contamination to Dow's pre-World War I chemical releases.

He said the results don't pose "an imminent or significant health threat" to the neighborhood, pointing to a $15 million 2006 University of Michigan-led study that downplayed dioxin exposure on residents living along the Tittabawassee and Saginaw rivers. Age has more to do with exposure to the contaminant than living near the river, the probe revealed.