Dioxin Update
Lone Tree Council and TRW
February 13th 2007 # 83
DEQ
Dow Community Meeting
Great turnout for last Thursday meeting from a
number of communities in the watershed; Midland, Saginaw, Freeland,
Zilwaukee, Bay City and Flint. The Dow contractors gave a very detailed
analytical presentation of their sampling along the upper T-river and
floodplain. Dow and DEQ reinforced that plans are under way to cleanup those
high concentrations by August. Oxymoronic position but I am cynically
optimistic. MDEQ has not signed off the Geo-Morph processes yet but likely
will in the near future……….EPA needs to give it their blessing too before it
can be applied to the remaining river miles.
What we didn’t hear from Dow or DEQ, yet again,
is what numbers ( part per trillion) is considered high enough that it
warrants removal. A threshold.
We also did not hear any discussion about real
time removal of contaminants when permissible. ( Walleye spawning season,
weather events could contraindicate real time removal). We hope DEQ or EPA
insists on it and Dow doesn't resist.
One young mother from Midland stood up and
talked about her son’s cancer, Ewings Sarcoma. She said his doctor at the UM
told her there were five kids in Midland with this cancer………a high number
for a community that size. As I recall women in Midland for two decades had
some the highest incidents of soft tissue sarcomas in the nation. This
mother admonished Dow and DEQ to look at the problem.
An
enthusiastic young man from Freeland commented that it was huge problem that
Dow and DEQ could not agree on the public health problems surrounding this
contamination. He asked Dow if any studies on health effects had been done
and once again Dow pulled out their famous healthy workers study and once
again, Dow’s Dr. Carson did not tell the truth. Dr. Carson stated that Dow
employees, according to their studies, enjoy very good health. But he didn’t
tell the public the truth until a member of the audience called Dr. Carson
out on his glaring
omission! Dow employees had higher incidents of prostate and stomach cancer.
Only when pressed did Dr. Carson admit that in 1998 Dow Chemical did amend
their workers study in a report to EPA to show higher incidents of these
cancers. Dow has no shame when it comes to defending the company
line..........dozens of Dow employees sat passively as this lie was passed
onto the audience in attendance.
In attendance at the Feb 8th
meeting was the Michigan Director of Clean Water Action who along with a
Sierra Club member inquired about what definitive plans long and or short
term were in place to address the migration of dioxins to Lake Huron. Dow
sat silent but DEQ did give a brief over view of the sediment trap studies
being undertaken by Dow for use perhaps sometime in the future……..nothing
for sure. What the hell it's just one of the GREAT LAKES!
A few Midland residents stood up and commented
that the UM Exposure Investigation showed no dioxin uptake by residents
living amid Dow's contamination. DEQ responded that this was not a correct
interpretation of the study, that indeed, residents living along the
floodplain did have higher levels of dioxin.
Environmental
cleanup is a jobs creator
Below is an article from TMC online about
General Electric’s plan to hire local businesses for people and services in
their long-term cleanup of the Hudson River’s PCB contamination.
GE seeks
businesses to help with dredging
February 2006
GE's willingness to
employ local people and businesses during the dredging project has for years
been a subject of debate, with local business and political leaders
criticizing Hudson River bed from Fort Edward to Troy. GE capacitor plants
in Fort Edward and Hudson Falls dispersed the contamination over a
more-than-40-year period from the 1930s to 1977.
snip
Phil Tucker, the local business representative
for the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades District Council
9, was pleased to get word of GE's announcement Tuesday.
"That's a big turnaround," he said.
Tucker was heavily involved with the Local Jobs for Local People Coalition
that three years ago held a rally at the Glens Falls Civic Center to urge GE
to hire locally for the project.
At that time, GE just
kind of closed the door to us," he said. "There is definitely local interest
in doing the work here. We were concerned that GE would be tight-lipped and
then we'd see out-of-state contracts and out-of-state license plates."
Todd Shimkus, executive director of the Adirondack Regional Chamber of
Commerce, said he knew about GE's plans to launch the Web site for "a little
while" because the company had contacted him about sharing the site with
chamber members. He said the chamber will market the opportunity to its
members and help businesses with no Internet access apply.
GE will perform the first
phase and transitional work for the second phase for the $700 million
project, which aims to remove PCBs from a 40-mile stretch of the river.
A CORRECTION IS IN ORDER
In the
last Dioxin Update I included some numbers in Reaches (sampling areas) that
were incorrect. Would appear my eyes drifted over to the next column. You
can view these documents on the TRW web site.
The 23,000
ppt in Reach N is correct. (Page 253)
The 100,000
ppt is correct in Reach 0 (Page 303)
In Reach K the 61,000 ppt I stated was
from the wrong column. Reach K does have dioxin levels of 40,000 ppt, 44,000
ppt and 80,000 ppt (Page 116)
In Reach M
I sited 54,000 ppt in error. Reach M's highest concentrations were 43,000
ppt ( page 240)
Much
appreciate the errors being pointed out.
Stay warm
and a special thanks to those of you who have chosen to share this update
with your personal lists. Appreciate it much!
UP NEXT
The next
update is coming on the heels of this one. It will be committed to the
dioxin slurry pit on the Saginaw River that each and every tax payer of
Saginaw County is being strapped with for decades to come.
Michelle
Hurd Riddick
Lone Tree Council