EPA pledges ‘expeditious action’ on Dow dioxin clean-up, but Superfund status not in the works

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s promise to hold Dow Chemical (NYSE:DOW) accountable for dioxin contamination in Michigan’s largest watershed is being greeted with “cautious optimism” by some environmental groups and with weariness by others who have been living on contaminated ground for so long they’ve learned not to get too excited about the announcement of new government action.

West Michigan Park in Saginaw Township regularly floods and has been a dioxin hot spot. (Michigan Messenger photo)

On Tuesday, EPA Director Lisa Jackson announced that the agency would take the lead role in pursuing investigation and cleanup planning for dioxin pollution in the Saginaw Bay and Saginaw River, but would not place the contaminated watershed on the national Superfund list and have it cleaned up at taxpayers expense.

Jackson called the contamination a threat to human health, the ecosystem and to economic development in the region and said that addressing it is one of EPA’s highest priorities.

Dioxin — a potently toxic and cancer-causing chemical that is a byproduct of the chemical manufacturing process — has been documented in the soils and water of the Saginaw Bay watershed for more than 30 years. The chemical has spread 50 miles downstream from Dow’s Midland plant through the Tittabawassee and Saginaw rivers and into Lake Huron’s Saginaw Bay.

Jackson’s announcement marks a change in how responsibility for the enormous toxic site will be divided between state and federal authorities. Until now, Michigan has had primary responsibility for negotiating with Dow about the contamination and the cash-strapped state has seemed unable or unwilling to enforce its agreements with the company. Even communication with the public about how to avoid risky dioxin exposure has stalled because the state has been unable to compel Dow to fulfill a legal agreement to fund advisory signs.

In her announcement, Jackson said that her agency will use the tools of the Superfund program to make Dow address the pollution in a timely way.

“We also will undertake the work ourselves at Dow’s expense if there is continued non-compliance with EPA directives. These strong enforcement tools will assure progress here after a history of delay in accomplishing significant cleanup,” the director said.

“My priority will be expeditious action to protect human health and the environment, and I will not hesitate to intervene if this goal is not being met.”

Jackson announced the details of the plan and a strategy to keep the process transparent would be presented at a June 17 meeting in the tri-cities area.

In a joint statement released shortly after Jackson’s announcement, two Michigan environmental groups, the Lone Tree Council and the Ecology Center, said: “Our groups are cautiously optimistic based on the commitments made in the letter released today by EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson. Our groups are particularly cheered to hear that transparency will be a pillar principle for the Agency moving forward.”

The groups urged EPA to take immediate steps to minimize public health risks by supporting state efforts to communicate the dangers of eating local fish and game and by appointing an ombudsman to “help residents cope with the many challenges of living in a contaminated area.”

Locals say that many of the approximately 100 families that live in the dioxin-laden floodplain of the contaminated Tittabawassee River would like to be able to relocate.

“I’m fed up with the situation,” said John Taylor who has lived on the Tittabawassee River 12 miles downstream from Dow since 1985. “I have a house full of sick people. They haven’t done anything at all to protect the residents.”

He’s had to abandon part of his yard that has been flooded four times this spring, Taylor said, and dioxin levels as high as 3,500 parts per trillion have been measured around his home. The threshold level for clean up in Michigan is 90 parts per trillion.

Taylor said that he wants EPA to clarify whether his family will be able to get funds to relocate under the Superfund-like process the EPA is proposing.

“We would definitely relocate,” said Mary Whitney, who lives along the Tittabawassee in Shields, which is just west of the city of Saginaw. “That would be one of our very top choices.”

“We have a three year old granddaughter who wants to play in the yard,“ Whitney said. “We try to limit when she’s there and we wash her hands and feet afterwards. But [the dioxin] is always in the back of my mind.”