EPA officials en route to Saginaw to roll out details of Dow dioxin strategy

Detailed information about a new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency strategy for addressing dioxin contamination in the Saginaw Bay watershed is expected at a community meeting in Saginaw on Wednesday evening.

For decades, state and federal environmental agencies have been negotiating with Midland-based Dow Chemical (NYSE:DOW) over how to address a 50-mile long stretch of dioxin contamination in the state’s largest watershed. In 2003, Michigan officials and Dow agreed on a framework for investigating and cleaning up the pollution but the state government has lacked the resources and political will to enforce its agreement with Dow, one of the world’s largest chemical corporations.

On May 26, the EPA announced that it would take on primary responsibility for overseeing investigation and cleanup of the Saginaw River and Saginaw Bay portions of the contaminated zone. The agency promised its handling of the contamination would involve an unprecedented level of transparency and announced the formation of a new office in the Saginaw area.

Wednesday evening, officials from EPA headquarters in Washington, D.C., are expected to spell out how they will proceed. Although no formal agenda has been set for the meeting, these are some of the issues that are expected to surface:

Clarification of roles for state and federal agencies: The EPA has taken over responsibility for a portion of the zone, but has not designated it a Superfund site. Critics and EPA insiders have warned that sites that are handled outside the Superfund process are subject to less strict regulatory oversight.

One of the reasons that the EPA and state of Michigan have split oversight responsibility is that the state has had a hard time compelling cooperation from Dow. Will the EPA still back up the state if it is unable to compel the company to cooperate with cleanup in Midland and around the Tittabawassee River where it remains the primary regulatory authority?

Timeline: Sampling has been underway for decades but so far only limited emergency cleanups have been conducted at pollution “hot spots.” When will comprehensive clean up begin?

Dioxin reassessment: As part of the announcement of new strategy on Michigan’s dioxin contamination, EPA announced that it expected to release it’s long delayed dioxin assessment by the end of next year. Lack of clear information about the health risks posed by the chemical has slowed efforts to achieve cleanup. At Wednesday evening’s presentation, some expect an update on efforts to establish human health parameters for dioxin and discussion of the standards that the agency will use in Michigan while it awaits the finalized dioxin assessment.

Currently dioxin contamination at levels of 1,000 parts per trillion require clean-up under federal law. The state of Michigan’s clean up level is 90 ppt. Some locals are concerned that federal handling of the dioxin problem could mean that a lower standard of cleanup is required.

Risk reduction and help for people in contaminated homes: Hundreds of homes in the floodplain of the Tittabawassee River have become contaminated with dioxin from operations at Dow. Many of these residents would like to be able to move and want to know whether EPA will be offer relocation assistance.

Environmental groups the Lone Tree Council and the Ecology have asked EPA to take immediate action to communicate the risks of fish and game consumption and contact with dioxin contaminated soils.

Locals have also asked EPA to monitor of the effects of a U.S. Army Crops of Engineers dredging project on the Saginaw River on areas downstream and especially the municipal water systems of Bay City, Saginaw and Midland, which get their water from Saginaw Bay.

The meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. at Saginaw Valley State Univeristy‘s Curtiss Hall in banquet rooms A and B.