May 1st, 2008 #122
Dioxin Update #122
Lone Tree Council and TRW
Dioxin Update #122
May 1, 2008
www.trwnews.net
EPA's top Midwest regulator forced out
Mary Gade, based in Chicago, says Bush administration made her quit over Dow Chemical case
By Michael Hawthorne Chicago Tribune reporter May 1, 2008
The Bush administration forced its top environmental regulator in the Midwest to quit Thursday after months of internal bickering about dioxin contamination downstream from Dow Chemical's world headquarters in Michigan.
snip: For the past year, Gade has been locked in a heated dispute with Dow about long-delayed plans to clean up dioxin-saturated soil and sediment that extends 50 miles beyond its Midland, Mich., plant into Saginaw Bay and Lake Huron.
snip:Though regional EPA administrators typically have wide latitude to enforce environmental laws, Gade drew fire from officials in Washington last month after she sent contractors to test soil in a Saginaw neighborhood where Dow had found high dioxin levels.
snip:"There is no question this is about Dow," Gade said. "I stand behind what I did and what my staff did. I'm proud of what we did."
READ MORE
Make no mistake good people of the Saginaw Bay Watershed, Mary Gade was a great asset to the region and to the Saginaw Bay Watershed.
Harken back to the 1980's and Dow interference with EPA. For months now Dow has been reaching out to EPA headquarters shopping around for a better deal, a quick-out or an opportunity to skirt the law. Same thing they've been doing for thirty plus years.
Looking forward to the ongoing investigative story by the Tribune. Go to the link and watch the video clip of Joy and Lloyd Cooper who live on the Tittabawassee River in the neighborhood that drew Mary Gade so much fire.
Special thanks to Dr. Varner, Medical Director Saginaw County Health Department
Earlier this week, Dr. Varner sent a letter to the Lt. Governor asking him to proceed with caution in making any decision on the dredge pit. I liked this statement best:
It appears that the local decisions are being displaced from a community-wide ones to political ones.... a method that will be unlikely to serve any good long term solution..
Here's Dr. Varner's entire letter:
April 30, 2008
Honorable Lt. Governor John D Cherry Jr:
Recent activities surrounding a toxic waste disposal site in Zilwaukee Township has prompted public concern and even letters from Ms Patricia Brandt, Clerk of Zilwaukee Township regarding the wisdom and safety of current site and precautionary safety measures that appear to be lacking in the current plan and design.
History can teach us valuable lessons . We need only look back at the many plans and revised plans in Europe following the 1976 Seveso accidental dioxin release to grasp just how complicated the entire subject of waste management is, even with extensive public involvement.
It appears that the local decisions are being displaced from a community-wide ones to political ones.... a method that will be unlikely to serve any good longterm solution.. It was Joseph Joubert ( writing in “Poisoned Harvest” by Robbins, C., pg 7...Gollancz., London 1991) who said, “Tis better to debate a question without settling it, than to settle a question without debating it....” How relevant that remark is to the current debate cannot be underestimated since it is the question of pollutants biologically active at the parts-per-trillion level, pollutants that cannot be seen or even easily measured as they waft into the atmosphere or wash along the flood plain where wildlife, fish and game can carry them into the food chain ........
Please proceed with utmost caution in this area of public interest and concern......public health and human lives depend upon it..........
Neill D Varner, DO, MPH
Medical Director
Saginaw County Department of Public Health
It's been a bad day in this ailing sick watershed of ours. Good people are silenced at all levels of government either by being fired or ignored as the LG ignored MDEQ on the dredge site. As usual its the stench of dark corners, lack of sunlight and the ability of Dow to lobby quietly and privately in places of power and decision making. And political affiliations don't matter do they?
Michelle Hurd Riddick
Lone Tree Council
