January 9th, 2008 #111
Dioxin Update
Lone Tree Council and TRW
January 9th 2008 #111
www.trwnews.net
Fond Remembrance
Michigan lost one of its finest voices and an articulate advocate for the Great Lakes with the passing of Dr. Fred Brown. A retired Dow Chemical employee, Dr. Brown served for many years in many capacities including the Water Resource Commission, founding member and president of Great Lakes United and president of MUCC. He was the consummate conservationist and lover of the Great Lakes. He was advisor to many including the Lone Tree Council. Dr Brown welcomed any and all conversation about water quality and the Great Lakes. He will be sorely missed.
Here's Dr. Brown's obituary.Defending Dow
The Midland Daily News is still defending Dow Chemical's recalcitrant behavior. Admonishing EPA for terminating unproductive negotiations with Dow Chemical the MDN said:
Absent an explanation, we have to assume that the intent of the press release was public relations, an attempt to paint Dow once again in a bad light.
- Dow doesn’t need any help looking bad. A company with their financial, legal and scientific resources has no excuse to cop ignorance of regulatory obligations. They have no excuse to not meet deadlines time and time and time again. They have no right to expect that time and again they can miss deadlines and expect to be granted more time.
- EPA could take lessons from Dow in PR. For MDN to be critical of EPA's PR tactics after watching Dow use PR for decades to gloss over their responsibility and contamination is a almost laughable.
The MDN also admonishes EPA for not being transparent. Fair enough but.......One would think it a contradiction in the world of journalism for newspaper to call for transparency ONLY when the hometown corporation is being attacked. Shut the public out, as we have been on so many occasions, and the MDN is silent. Why? Shutting out the public benefits Dow. Now Dow is shut out and the MDN is outraged.
READ MOREHistorical Perspective
Others are upset too about EPA terminating negotiations. The Chamber of Commerce and Representative Ken Horn are also upset with EPA. I would agree talking and negotiating are always preferable to a stalemate. Yet again, how many deadlines to produce does Dow get? Mr. Horn blamed EPA for not taking Dow’s offer and lamented that EPA needs to get serious and make something happen. Mrs. Horn, from the Chamber of Commerce suggested a cooling down period to overcome roadblocks.
I would submit both EPA and DEQ have been most serious in addressing this contamination. Dow had a deadline to submit a plan to EPA. They failed to do it! What Dow offered up was not “protective of public health” according to EPA.
The “cooling down period to overcome roadblocks”, suggested by Mrs. Horn would be buy time for the Chamber of Commerce and anti-DEQ legislators to put their heads together with Dow Chemical and lobby for the easiest and fastest way out of this conundrum…..shopping for a sympathetic political ear perhaps because Dow and the Chamber do not like the regulatory arena.
About history being important. I would suggest reading Jack Doyle’s book. TRESSPASS AGAINST US, Dow Chemical and the Toxic Century. It was 1983 when Dow Chemical of Midland Michigan was permitted by the political powers of the day, to edit EPA’s dioxin report. This resulted in Congressional hearings and numerous firings. One line from the report which Dow edited out stated:
Dow Chemical…… has extensively contaminated their facility with PCDDs and PCDF’s and has been the primary contributor to contamination of the Tittabawassee and Saginaw Rivers and Lake Huron.
Anyone else one thinks 25 years of political interference and negotiating with Dow is enough? How many more years will we allow people, wildlife, resources and Lake Huron to play second fiddle to Dow and their multitude of studies, their shopping around for a new format to “ negotiate” in and their deliberate efforts to stonewall.
READ MOREThe Future
What happens next is anyone’s guess. Hopefully EPA and DEQ will continue to work together to resolve this long-standing issue. It is imperative for the agencies to now come forward with a collective and coherent strategy and engage the public. What are your next steps Director Chester and Administrator Gade? Please do not assume we know.
There are laws in place and a corrective action license ( RCRA ) signed by Dow Chemical and the State of Michigan. This 'contract' is legal and binding and still in force: READ MORE. It took the state 8 years to negotiate this license with Dow. This license in tandem with EPA authority under CERCLA (law used this past summer to compel Dow to expedite hot spot cleanup ) should give us all hope that 2008 will be productive. Sampling will continue to drive this process and both agencies assured the public at the last meeting that there are no plans to back off on the collection of samples.
Frankly, I doubt Dow intended to negotiate in good faith with Region V anymore than they intended to abide by their RCRA license, the Framework or the laws of this great state. With negotiations terminated by Region V it should come as no surprise should Dow move up the food chain to EPA in Washington DC and ask for a meeting with Administrator Johnson---whining that the company and their science is just not understood.
Given the bad press for Dow lately it’s also about time for them to go into public relations overdrive; something Dow has done for decades in the face of critical media coverage-
Documents
We will be placing a folder/link on the TRW web page with documents obtained by DEQ and EPA under FOIA. This contamination is the public’s business.
DMDF
DEQ still has no slurry wall design plan, the groundwater permits have not been issued and money is still an issue. Meetings are taking place and Dow Chemical is well represented by Jack Bailes ( Lansing Lobbyist) and Dow's outside counsel, Gene Smarey. Long overdue for a public meeting to update the taxpayers and residents on this project.
Wishing all you of very Happy New Year. All good things to you and to our magnificent Great Lakes!
Regards,
Michelle Hurd Riddick
Lone Tree Council
