Superfund Alternative Site possible on Tittabawassee
By Tony Lascari of the Midland Daily News
http://ourmidland.com/articles/2008/11/11/local_news/1362469.txt
Published: Tuesday, November 11, 2008 12:33 PM EST

The Dow Chemical Co. has agreed to negotiate a plan to deal with dioxins, furans and other contaminants in the Tittabawassee River.

The company had until Monday to respond to a proposal from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Michigan Department of Environmental Quality to begin negotiations to create a Superfund Alternative Site.

The plan would take a systemwide approach to corrective action on the Tittabawassee River, Saginaw River and Saginaw Bay, MDEQ Senior Policy Adviser Frank Ruswick said.

Remedial actions -- which could include sediment removal, soil capping and river bank stabilization -- would be taken from upstream to downstream in the Tittabawassee.

The clock now starts on a 60-day negotiation period to work out details on creating the Superfund Alternative Site. If there is a good faith effort, a 30-day extension could be approved.

"We most certainly would want to rely on the data that's been gathered for decision making," Dow spokesman John Musser said. "Let's make sure we're making decisions based on the science on hand."

That includes Dow's extensive mapping and sampling of the Tittabawassee River, MDEQ sampling, EPA tests, University of Michigan exposure study and Michigan State University animal studies.

"Second, let's make sure we're aiming at real progress here, that the work we maybe thought necessary really satisfies a data gap that needs to be filled to make decisions to move forward," Musser said.

If an agreement is made to form the Superfund Alternative Site, it would provide the process for major cleanup work on the river, but not all of the details of what locations would get certain remedial actions. That would be worked out as the project progressed.

"This isn't going to provide all the answers, but hopefully it's going to give us a direction and confidence that we're heading toward a solution," Musser said.

Ruswick said the state takes seriously the importance of protecting the environment for future generations.

"That legacy is at the forefront of our approach to this problem," he said.

Natural resource trustees issued a Natural Resource Damage Assessment Plan earlier this year that outlined a process to determine what resources have been damaged and what needs to be done to compensate the public for those damages. Lisa William, case manager with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said the trustees' assessments will have to adapt depending on what remedial actions are taken.

Ruswick said those trustees should be included in discussions on creating the Superfund Alternative Site, but it has not been determined what role they will play.
 

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.