Dioxin Update

Lone Tree Council and TRW

 

 

Great News from the Dow Shareholders Meeting- thanks to the Sisters of Mercy!

 

Please read the press release below for details on the big news at last Thursday's Annual General Meeting of the Dow Chemical Company. Many headlines reported, as the top story, the firing of Dow Executive J. Pedro Reinhart which took place at the AGM. Corporate Executives come and go.... The real story was the passage of the Resolution to report to the shareholders on the remediation down river from the Dow Chemical facility in Midland. This  is huge for a first time resolution! OVER 20 % OF SHAREHOLDERS SUPPORTED TRANSPARENCY

 

Special thanks to the good Sisters of Mercy for their perseverance and commitment to our watershed. Thanks also to Laurie Burtt and Paul Damore who addressed the shareholders on behalf of the Tittabawassee River residents. Too bad Dow Chemical once again shut off all cameras, pod casts and communications during the public comment period. Shame on you Mr. Liveris.......listen to your shareholders. Transparency is a good thing.

 

Best Regards,

 

Michelle Hurd Riddick

Lone Tree Council

 

 

 

For immediate release

May 15, 2007

 

Unprecedented Dow Shareholder Vote Urges Transparency on Cleanup

 

Contact: Sanford Lewis

413 549-7333

 

Midland, Michigan.  More than 20% of Dow's shareholders voted

at Dow's annual shareholder meeting to urge the company

to report on progress  to clean up a massive

contamination site at Dow's mid-Michigan global headquarters.
Shareholders were responding to a resolution forwarded by the Sisters
of Mercy challenging the company's potential liabilities associated
with the slow pace of cleanup.

The resolution, which required the company to "issue a report to
shareholders...summarizing the pace and effectiveness of the
environmental remediation process being undertaken by Dow in the
vicinity of and downstream from its Midland headquarters," garnered

unusual support, based on the vote count reported at the meeting.

Shareholder resolutions requiring reports of this nature typically garner

3-7% of voting shares.

Shareholders may be concerned about potential ongoing liability from
the company's handling of the more than 50-mile long contamination
stretching from the company's headquarters to the Saginaw Bay.  Fish
and wildgame in the region are contaminated.  Area residents have
elevated levels of dioxin in their blood when compared with a
comparison population.

Dow's response has been to downplay the hazards of dioxin, the toxic
compound which characterizes the contamination.  Dow has also sought
to weaken state cleanup standards.

"We believe this vote signals an interest in a more forthright
approach to protect shareholder value," said Valerie Heinonen of the
Sisters of Mercy Detroit, who filed the resolution on Midland
contamination.   "As shareholders, we are concerned that the
continued delays in Dow's remediation of dioxin exposures near their
flagship Midland facilities could lead to increased long-term
liabilities. Dow's reluctance to address such a publicly documented
contamination problem, especially in its own backyard, raises red
flags about how the company deals with environmental and human health
concerns more broadly." She continued, "we are concerned that they
are investing more in public relations than in efforts to provide
real solutions."

"When more than 20% of Dow's 600 million shares voted for more
transparency and action on this issue, the company should take

notice," said Sanford Lewis, attorney, who drafted the resolution.