Lone Tree Council and TRW
Dioxin Update
August 19th , 2005 #49
http://www.trwnews.net/

Pensacola agrees to reduce cleanup level at `Mount Dioxin'
July 22, 2005 Pensacola News Journal

a few snips

PENSACOLA, Fla. The city has agreed to reduce the proposed level of cleanup at "Mount Dioxin" after waiting 13 years for the Environmental Protection Agency to do something about toxic soil piled nearly 60 feet high at a former wood treating plant.

The city council voted 9-1 Thursday for the lower standard to clear the way for cleaning or removing two intersecting mounds of contaminated soil, one about 1,000 feet long and the other some 300 feet.

Local officials had proposed cleaning the site to a residential dioxin standard of seven parts per trillion............


The federal agency has since agreed to 30 parts per trillion, which would permit reuse of the property for commercial and industrial purposes, as proposed by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.

http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?s_site=pensacolanewsjournal&f_site=pensacolanewsjournal&f_sitename=Pensacola+News+Journal+%28FL%29&p_theme=gannett&p_product=PNJB&p_action=search&p_field_base-0=&p_text_base-0=dioxin+escambia&p_perpage=10&p_maxdocs=200&p_queryname=700&s_search_type=keyword&p_sort=_rank_%3AD&p_field_date-0=YMD_date&p_params_date-0=date%3AB%2CE&p_text_date-0=2005

Go figure. Florida has a residential cleanup number of 7 ppt for dioxin but settled for the lower commercial cleanup number of 30 ppt. Here in Dow Chemical's back yard we have the chemical giant and a number of legislators calling for residential cleanup numbers greater than 1,000ppt even though the MDEQ says the number most protective of human populations is 90 ppt. Why is there support for 1,000 ppt? Because at least then on paper the city of Midland would not look as contaminated.

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The Great Lakes: An endangered legacy
August 11, 2005 Detroit News

Outstanding job by the Detroit News for the phenomenal insert in last Sunday's paper on the enormous problems facing our Great Lakes. The first link is to the overall coverage of Great Lake stories. The second link is to the story of Dow Chemical's dioxin contamination of the Tittabawassee and Saginaw Rivers leading to Lake Huron. The interactive maps are great.

http://www.detnews.com/2005/project/0508/14/index.htm

http://www.detnews.com/2005/project/0508/14/Z05-275417.htm

One of the biggest toxic threats to Lake Huron is Dow's dioxin. Every delay, every year that goes by without a cleanup plan endangers this water resource. We should be well beyond engaging Dow over the toxicity of dioxin. Dioxin is one of the world recognized POPs (persistent organic pollutant) one of the "dirty dozen" of chemical substances that persist in the environment, bio accumulate through the food chain causing adverse effects to human health and the environment. With the ability to be transported far and wide across the globe and the threats these chemicals pose, the international community on several occasions, beginning with the Stockholm Treaty, has called for measures to reduce and eliminate releases of these chemicals. Dow needs to be a good corporate neighbor and clean up their poison and stop delaying cleanup by debating dioxin's toxicity, its pervasiveness or the company's responsibility.

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Legislators, DEQ spat over brochure
August 8, 2005 Saginaw News

The tumult along the Tittabawassee River over which properties constitute a contaminated "facility" started with one state official who acted alone and without authorization, two lawmakers claim.
State Sen. Michael Goschka and Rep. John Moolenaar say a mailer sent to about 2,000 property owners in June 2003, notifying them that their land could lie within a "facility" because of dioxin, never had department approval.

http://www.mlive.com/news/sanews/index.ssf?/base/news-15/1123510822105050.xml&coll=9

This story of "rogue" DEQ employee could easily have been settled had anyone taken the time to review DEQ files from June of 2003. There are several e-mails in the DEQ office in Bay City regarding the packet of June 2003 mailings which included:

Supplemental Advisory ( facility language)
Information Bulletin #3
Soil Movement Advisory.

The emails were addressed to and copied to numerous DEQ field staff and management over a few weeks. Convenient as it may be for these legislators to fabricate a villain, the mailing of the facility brochure did not happen in a vacuum. Would appear DEQ bashing is always in fashion for some legislators.................... in particular when their arguments are lame. That this mailing "never had department approval" is ridiculous at best and a shameless attempt to malign the agency.

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Town Hall Meetings Planned to Discuss Dioxin Response Efforts ( DEQ press release August 11 2005 )


The Department of Environmental Quality and The Dow Chemical Company will be holding a series of public meetings to further discuss dioxin response efforts in the Midland, Saginaw, and Bay City areas. Officials from the DEQ and Dow will be available to provide updates on work being done in these areas, discuss further public involvement measures, and answer any questions from the public. DEQ Director Steven E. Chester will also provide an overview of the DEQ's new policy regarding the "facility" designation.

The meetings are open to the public and will be held as followed:

Wednesday, August 24
Holiday Inn
1500 W. Wackerly Street
Midland MI

Thursday, August 25
Horizons Conference Center
6200 State Street
Saginaw, MI

The meetings will run from 6:30 * 8:30 p.m., and staff from the DEQ and Dow will be available afterwards to have additional one-on-one discussions with the public.


Best Regards,

Michelle Hurd Riddick
Lone Tree Council


 

Source: The Lone Tree Council and TRW

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 source organization's web site link is listed above. The Newspaper / Media page of our site contains an extensive archive of media articles dating back to January 2002. The Newspaper / Media page may be accessed by scrolling down to the bottom of the CONTENTS section and clicking on the Newspaper/Media link.