Lone Tree Council and TRW
Dioxin Update
January 11 th 2006 # 60
HB 4617 a cleanup bill?
Not sure why the Saginaw News chose the headline
they did ( Cleanup bill nixed) to lead their coverage of the Governor's
veto. HB 4617 is anything BUT a cleanup bill. This Trojan Horse piece of
legislation is not a cleanup bill and the DEQ rightly defined it as a
Polluter Relief Act. In paragraph 3 of her press release on the veto the
Governor points out the devil hiding in the detail of the legislation.
Governor Granholm states:
In addition to these deficiencies, House
Bill 4617 is poorly drafted, containing incomplete citations to
administrative rules. These technical problems were identified by the
Department of Environmental Quality yet were ignored during the
legislative process. These technical omissions have consequences. By
referencing the incorrect rules, this legislation would foreclose the
ability of the state to protect surface water from contamination,
increasing health risks for homeowners and Michigan's environment.
A great deal of statutory verbiage but in essence
the failure of Moolenaar and Goschka to include the administrative rules in
the bill would have eliminated the soil and sediment contact criteria for
dioxin. With the sweep of the legislative pen these bills would eliminate
the 90 ppt soil contact criteria for dioxin. Still think this bill isn't
about Dow Chemical or what the City of Midland want?
These incomplete citations and rule omissions in
HB 4617 aren't limited to just dioxin. It includes a lengthy list of
chemicals harmful to people and all biota. Section 20120a(8) lists the rules
(exposure/transport pathways) that DEQ must consider in a generic
residential cleanup. The omission of the rules for soil direct contact and
sediment cleanup would prevent the DEQ from considering any of these
criteria for generic residential cleanups. The pertinent rules are
299.5720, 299.5730, 299.5712, and 299.5716, respectively. In addition, the
omission of R 299.5728 could mean the DEQ would be unable to require
response activity to address other risks (such as food chain contamination)
that are not ordinarily factored into generic cleanup criteria.
For the proponents of this bill the best way to
act on their visceral contempt for the DEQ is to cripple their power and
authority by legislative measures with no apparent regard for the
outcome. Michigan is the only state entirely in the watershed of the Great
Lakes. Either the Great Lakes are a national treasure to be protected or
they are not. Either public health matters or it does not.
Governor Granholm did not nix a
cleanup bill. She defended public health and our water resources. Below are
the Saginaw News and Midland Daily News coverage.
Cleanup bill nixed
The Saginaw News - Jeremiah Stettler
Granholm vetoes facility proposal
Midland Daily News - Kathie Marchlewski
*
Body Burdens The Pollution in
Newborns
A benchmark investigation of
industrial chemicals, pollutants and pesticides in umbilical cord
blood by the Environmental Working Group, July 14, 2005
One of the relevant findings is the presence
of dioxin, both polychlorinated and polybrominated, in most samples
taken from infant cord blood. The Environmental Working Group (EWG)
commissioned laboratory tests of 10 American Red Cross cord blood
samples for the most extensive array of industrial chemicals, pesticides
and other pollutants ever studied. The group found that the babies
averaged 200 contaminants in their blood. The pollutants included
mercury, fire retardants, pesticides and the Teflon chemical PFOA. In
total, the babies' blood had 287 chemicals, including 209 never before
detected in cord blood. More and more science is pointing to the adverse
effects of chemical exposure while the infant is developing. Please take
time to read the study.
http://www.ewg.org/reports/bodyburden2/
In 1993 the National Academy of Sciences
listed in a Congressionally mandated study, the primary factors that
contribute to children's unique vulnerability to the harmful effects
of chemicals (NAS 1993):
- A developing child's chemical
exposures are greater pound-for-pound than those of adults.
- An immature, porous blood-brain
barrier allows greater chemical exposures to the developing
brain.
- Children have lower levels of some
chemical-binding proteins, allowing more of a chemical to reach
"target organs."
- A baby's organs and systems are
rapidly developing, and thus are often more vulnerable to damage
from chemical exposure.
- Systems that detoxify and excrete
industrial chemicals are not fully developed.
- The longer future life span of a
child compared to an adult allows more time for adverse effects
to arise.
None of these vulnerabilities have been
disputed and they are most relevant to the lives of children living in
Dow's dioxin mixture along the river. There are those who for many
reasons do not want to talk about children and dioxin ............but we
must. The failure to do so is unfair to the kids and a deliberate denial
of the science that surrounds their development and quality life.
Migration and persistence of Dow's
dioxin in our SB Watershed
Below are few links to stories written in the
past month regarding the persistence of chemicals and toxins in the
Great Lakes. Dioxin is one of them. In the near future DEQ will finalize
data on the dioxin concentrations in the Saginaw River which came from
the Tittabawassee River and are making their way to Lake Huron. Part of
the discussion which is not taking place, in context of the Great Lakes
degradation, is how do STOP dioxin from migrating any further into the
Saginaw Bay. Seems pretty important and worthy of priority status and
attention in 2006.
Update of water quality plan is up next
Traverse City Record-Eagle - John Flesher, AP
Cooperative strategy needed for
vulnerable Great Lakes
Ann Arbor News - John Mulcahy
Toxins alarm tribe with few boy births
Scientist links loss to chemicals near reservation lands
Lansing State Journal - Matt Crenson, AP
*
Let me wish all of you a Happy New Year and peace
in 2006. This watershed remains the commons and property of the people and I
encourage you to defend your right to fishable and swimmable waters and the
clean water resources that should be a given here in the heart of Michigan's
largest watershed.
This e-mail list is growing and I appreciate all
of you who pass it along to others. Please continue to do so. As always go
to the Tittabawassee River Watch web site for the latest news and updates.
Best Regards,
Michelle Hurd Riddick
Lone Tree Council
Next Update
EPA OK with Dow not telling us about their
releases
Dow's RI submittals
Zilwaukee Twp Dredge Facility Nightmare