A larger than usual bloom of blue-green algae in Saginaw Bay is causing an unpleasant flavor in Bay City’s municipal water and adding to pressure to find a new source for water.

According to the Bay City Times most of Bay County gets water from the Bay City system, which draws from an intake near the mouth of the Saginaw River.

Blue-green algae is nothing new to the Saginaw Bay, but extremely high temperatures recently have brought more of the bacteria than normal. While treating the drinking water removes the algae, it releases a compound, when broken down, that leaves that dirty taste in the water.

Levengood said plant workers have put an oxidizer into the water treatment and amped up the amount of ozone — an oxidant known to treat the algae compound.

“It’s not going to hurt you, but it’s not something we want to taste in the water,” Levengood said of the algae.

Treatment is necessary because blue-green algae, a cyanobacteria, produces the toxin Microcystis.

According to Michigan Sea Grant:

Blooms of Microcystis are suspended in surface water and can give water a green appearance. These harmful algal blooms tend to stay in the water column, and the toxins can affect the liver, skin, or nervous system of humans who come into contact with them.

Bay City’s water system is also vulnerable to toxins from the Saginaw River which is known to be a source of dioxin and other chemical pollution.

In 2004 the Michigan Dept. of Environmental Quality measured dioxin at 26 pert per trillion in the sediments at the Bay City water intake and there are concerns that ongoing dredging will increase dioxin levels in the bay.

Also, the enormous coal ash piles at Consumers Energy’s Karn/Weadock power plant near the mouth of the Saginaw River are known to have leached arsenic into the bay.

A Saginaw County judge ruled this week that a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision means that property owners in the dioxin-contaminated Tittabawasee floodplain cannot sue Dow Chemical for damages in a class action.

Operations at Dow’s Midland plant have spread dioxin — a highly toxic and cancer-causing byproduct of the chemical manufacturing process — and other chemicals, through the Tittabawassee and Saginaw Rivers and into Lake Huron. Flooding of the rivers downstream from Dow has deposited dioxin-laden sediments on properties in the floodplain.

Sampling of floodplain properties has revealed dioxin contamination at levels thousands of times higher than allowed by Michigan and prompted state health officials to warned residents to keep children from playing in dirt near their homes, to wear masks while mowing their lawns, to avoid eating fish and livestock raised in the floodplain and to take other precautions.

Since 2003 a group of about 150 Tittabawassee property owners have been trying to sue Dow as a group on behalf of the more than 2,000 people with property in the floodplain.

The plaintiffs claim that they are not able to fully use their properties because of the contamination and that their properties have lost value. Dow has acknowledged that the dioxin contamination came from its operations but insists that it is not harmful to residents.

In the battle over certification of class status Dow has argued that because the level of pollution on the contaminated parcels varies, the property owners should not be treated as a group.

In 2005 Saginaw County Judge Leopold Borello approved class action status for this lawsuit, but Dow appealed to the Michigan Supreme Court.

In 2009 that court established new guidelines for certification of class status and ordered Borello to reevaulate his certification in view of the new standards.

Borello, who had retired, went back to work to hear arguments on the matter.

In an opinion released Tuesday Borello reversed his earlier approval of class status for the group.

He said that the case met the Michigan guidelines for class standards but that the recent U.S. Supreme Court case Wal-Mart v. Dukes has created a new rules for what a group must have in common with one another in order to be considered a class.

In a 5-4 decision last month the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that 1.5 million former and current Wal-Mart employees could not sue the company as a class for discrimination in compensation and promotions because they could not show that they were victims of one single discriminatory policy.

Writing for the court’s conservative majority Justice Antonin Scalia said that Wal-Mart’s decentralized structure meant that the case involved millions of employment decisions and the women failed to show “some glue holding the alleged reasons for all those decisions together.”

Borello said that the Wal-Mart decision forced him to reverse his order granting class certification to the Tittabawassee floodplain residents.

“Even assuming that defendant negligently released dioxin and that it contaminated the soil in plaintiffs’ properties,” he wrote, “whether and how the individual plaintiffs were injured involves highly individualized factual inquiries regarding issues such as the level and type of dioxin contamination in the specific properties, the different remediation needs and different stages for different properties, and the fact that some of the properties have been sold.”

Plaintiffs’ attorney Teresa Woody said that her legal team is still reviewing Borello’s order.

“It’s our impression that there is an error of law in the order,” she said. “We think that if the state has its own certification rules then the Dukes case does not apply.”

Woody said she intends to continue to pursue Dow for damages regardless of whether the claims go forward as a class or as many individual claims.

“Dow intends to continue to vigorously defend the case if plaintiffs choose to appeal this decision or if the case moves forward with individual plaintiffs,” the company said in a statement.

The 220 acre pit where the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dumps dioxin contaminated sediments from the Saginaw River has been given a pleasant new name.

The disposal site, which sits along the Saginaw River in Zilwaukee and Frankenlust townships, is known as the Dredged Material Disposal Facility, but Saginaw County Controller and Chief Administrative Officer Marc A. McGill has decided that it shall now be called the “Saginaw River Preservation Project”.

A county document provided to the The Saginaw News News indicates that McGill is chiefly concerned with preservation of the businesses along the Saginaw River.

“At least 14 businesses provide jobs associated with this River Preservation Project. Without the River Preservation Project, all these businesses could be subject to closure and all the over-300 Americans would lose their jobs.”

Moreover, according to the county definition, river freighters bring in materials that municipalities need, such as crushed stone and rock salt, at “advantageous prices,” and the project “improves the cleanliness of the river as well as improves its flow.”

“I think it’s kind of putting lipstick on a pig because it’s nothing more than a pit … in middle of the wetlands,” Lone Tree Council environmental spokeswoman Michelle Hurd Riddick told the News. “That’s hardly consistent with preservation.”

The Michigan Dept. of Environmental Quality opposed the Army Corps plan to dispose of dredged materials at the pit and asked that the Corps seek a groundwater permit for the disposal facility and construct a slurry wall to line the pit and protect against seepage.

State regulators backed off that request, however, after then-Lt. Gov. John Cherry intervened in a closed door meeting with the agency and Army Corps staff.

Environmental groups, health officials and people who live near the disposal site have expressed concern that dioxin from the dredged materials could contaminate groundwater, wildlife and locals.

It’s been more than two months since the dioxin-contaminated Tittabawassee River spilled into Saginaw Township’s West Michigan Park but results of soil sampling have not yet been shared with the public.

Midland-based Dow Chemical is responsible for a plume of dioxin contamination that stretches from its Midland facilities though the Tittabawassee and Saginaw Rivers and into Lake Huron.

Dioxins are potent toxins that can cause developmental problems for children at minute amounts.

In 2009 EPA forced Dow to remove 17,000 tons of contaminated soil from West Michigan Park and scrub playground structures after sampling showed dioxin at five times the maximum allowable level.

Under an arrangement with the EPA the company is required to sample the park after flooding events to determine whether it has been recontaminated.

In May EPA Project Manager Mary Logan said that results of sampling in the park were expected in June, but the data has not been made available.

On Tuesday Dow spokeswoman Mary Draves confirmed that sampling has taken place but said that it is “being quality checked and is therefore not yet available.”

Draves said that the data will be submitted to EPA at the end of August.

The U.S. Environmental Protection agency has signed an agreement with Dow Chemical that allows the company to deal with dioxin contamination in parks and yards by covering it with gravel and building raised garden beds.

Dow Chemical is responsible for a highly toxic plume of dioxin contamination that stretches from Midland, through the Tittabawassee and Saginaw Rivers and into Lake Huron.

Though the contamination has been documented for decades federal regulators have not yet finalized a plan for long term cleanup of the pollution (or even established the scope of the contamination in Lake Huron).

On Thursday EPA announced:

EPA and Dow Chemical Co. signed a legal agreement May 26, 2011 requiring Dow to carry out EPA’s interim plan that is intended to limit human exposure to dioxin and furan contamination along the Tittabawassee River. EPA’s selected plan calls for placing barriers such as ground cover over flood plain soil and moving or raising eligible land-use features such as gardens and recreation areas. EPA will oversee the work to make sure that the barriers remain effective. After careful review and consideration of public comments that were submitted about the interim plan, EPA decided to proceed with its original recommendations. The plan is aimed at areas that flood frequently, contain bare soil and are used by people. Since 2010, EPA has been evaluating properties in areas called Exposure Units or EUs. The signed plan will provide controls to limit people’s contact while a final cleanup plan is developed for floodplain soil.

Hundreds of people live on the contaminated floodplain and many hoped that EPA’s plan would include support for them to move to safer areas.

Saginaw County Medical Director Dr. Neill Varner told Michigan Messenger that the plan to install barriers around homes in the floodplain might not protect child who play in dirt and grass and put their fingers in their mouths.

“Since EPA’s take over of Dow’s dioxin contamination, I find myself at a loss to find one instance where EPA acted on any recommendation from the public (good or bad) based on public comment,” said Michelle Hurd Riddick of the Lone Tree Council.

When EPA took over responsibility for enforcing cleanup of the floodplain in 2009 the agency called the dioxin contamination a threat to public health and promised swift action.

Interim cleanup actions were required at Saginaw township’s West Michigan Park in 2009 after tests showed contamination at six times the maximum allowable level.

Flooding this April is suspected to have redeposited dioxin-laden sediments on the park. EPA has ordered soil samples from the park and expects results in June. In the meantime, the park remains open to the public.

Saginaw County Judge Leopold Borello said Thursday that he is close to issuing an opinion on whether property owners in the dioxin-contaminated Tittabawassee floodplain may sue Dow Chemical as a group.

Henry v. Dow was filed in 2003 and Borrello approved class action status for the suit five years ago but Dow fought that decision all the way to the state Supreme Court, which in 2009 ordered Borello to reexamine his decision.

At the time Teresa Woody, attorney for the plaintiffs, said that she didn’t think it would take long for Borello to verify his earlier decision in view of the new standard developed by the supreme court.

ABC12 reports that Borrello, who is now retired, has promised to issue an opinion within two weeks.

Years of chemical manufacturing at Dow’s Midland facility has resulted in a plume of contamination that reaches from Midland through the Tittabawassee and Saginaw rivers into Lake Huron and covers thousands of acres.

The disputed class action involves property owners in the Saginaw County portion of the 100-year floodplain of the Tittabawassee River.

If Borello approves the class it could involve around 2,000 plaintiffs.

Dow has argued that the property owners should not be treated as a group because their properties have varying levels of contamination.

Information about dioxin levels in Saginaw township’s West Michigan park will not available until June, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials said today.

Last week the agency said that it will sample soil in the park to determine whether it has been contaminated by dioxin-laden sediments from the Tittabawassee River, which flooded the park late last month.

The Tittabawassee is contaminated with dioxin and other chemicals from Dow Chemical’s Midland facility.

In 2009 EPA ordered Dow to clean playground equipment in the park and remove more than 17,000 tons of contaminated soil after dioxin levels at 5,900 parts per trillion were measured. EPA requires cleanup at levels of 1,000 ppt and has proposed updating cleanup guidelines to require action at 72 ppt.

In presentations to local residents the agency has promised to take swift action to address dioxin exposure risks in high use areas.

Dioxin is a carcinogen and is known to cause health problems at extremely minute levels.

People who visit West Michigan Park are advised to avoid contact with the soil and to wash their hands with soap after visiting the park.

The Michigan Senate has passed a bill that would block state agencies from making environmental rules that are stricter than federal requirements, prompting concerns from environmental advocacy groups.

According to an analysis by the Senate Fiscal Agency:

Senate Bill 272 would do the following:

– Prohibit an agency from promulgating a rule more stringent than the applicable Federal standard unless specifically authorized by statute.
– Require an agency to adopt Federal rules and standards if it adopted rules to implement a federally delegated program.
– Specify that a guideline, operational memorandum, bulletin, interpretative statement, or form with instructions would be advisory only and could not be given the force and effect of law.
– Prohibit a rule from exceeding the rule-making delegation in its authorizing statute.
– Require an agency to consider exempting small business from a rule under certain
circumstances and expand the methods by which an agency must reduce the economic impact of a rule on small business.
– Revise a provision pertaining to a challenge to the validity or applicability of a rule.
– Allow a court to award up to 10 times the cost of any permit fees plus actual and reasonable costs for witness and attorney fees if the court determined a rule-processing violation had occurred.

The new law could benefit Dow Chemical, which is responsible for dioxin contamination in the city of Midland, the Tittabawassee and Saginaw Rivers and Saginaw Bay.

In 2009 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency took lead responsibility for enforcing clean up of the watershed section of the contaminated zone, leaving the state responsible for working with Dow on pollution in the city of Midland where dioxin pollution has settled over much of the city.

Under federal rules dioxin at levels of 1000 parts per trillion requires cleanup. State law requires clean up at 90 ppt. With pollution in Midland at around 300 ppt, the Senate law could allow Dow to avoid difficult and expensive cleanup of the city.

In an online discussion of the law, Lone Tree Council leader Michelle Hurd Riddick said that political leaders in Midland and Dow Chemical have long argued that the state should apply EPA’s 1,000 ppt standard for dioxin.

EPA has acknowledged that its 1,000 ppt cleanup level is outdated and the agency has promised to update dioxin cleanup requirements to comport with current scientific understandings of the chemical’s toxicity, she said. This process, however, has been stalled under pressure from the chemical industry.

Wetland permitting is another area in which state environmental rules are more stringent than federal rules.

In a 2003 presentation on the differences between state and federal wetland rules former Dept. of Environmental Quality Director Stephen Chester said that that approximately 930,000 acres or 17 percent of all state wetlands are “isolated” wetlands — those not adjacent to the Great Lakes or inland lakes or streams — that are not clearly protected under the federal Clean Water Act.

In 2008 the Michigan Farm Bureau adopted a resolution that criticized DEQ protocols and asked to be regulated under federal law which allows more agriculture in and around wetlands without permits.

Cranberry farmers have been particularly troubled by state wetland rules, the group said.

The Senate action will hamstring efforts to protect the Great Lakes, the Michigan Environmental Council said.

In 1976 Gov. William Milliken reduced the algae beds that were covering Lake Erie by issuing an administrative rule limiting phosphorus, the group said. Under the Senate law, the governor would be blocked from taking such action.

“Federal standards to protect water quality are designed to be a minimum standard below which states are not allowed to drop. They are not written by people who feel a stewardship responsibility over one of the world’s most important freshwater resource,” MEC policy director James Clift said Thursday.

“It seems inconceivable that politicians in the Great Lakes State believe Washington bureaucrats will protect the lakes better than those who live here,” Clift said. But that’s what they’ve said with today’s vote.”

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency plans to begin sampling Saginaw Township’s West Michigan Park next week to determine how much dioxin was deposited in the Tittabawassee floodplain during recent flooding.

Dioxin, a highly toxic and carcinogenic byproduct of combustion and chemical manufacturing, has spread from Dow Chemical’s Midland plant 52 miles downstream through the Tittabawassee and Saginaw Rivers and into Lake Huron. Flooding is known to have spread dangerous levels of dioxin laden sediments into the floodplain.

In 2009 EPA required Dow to pay to
remove 17,370 tons of dioxin contaminated soil from West Michigan park, 15 miles downstream from the company’s Midland plant.

The park had been identified by state officials as a top clean-up priority and designated “time critical” by the EPA after dioxin contamination at levels as high as 5,900 parts per trillion was found there. Federal law requires cleanup of contamination at 1,000 ppt.

“There is a plan in place that requires sampling in the park after flooding events to evaluate potential recontamination and the dioxin levels,“ EPA Project Manager Mary Logan said via e-mail. “Sampling is currently scheduled for early next week, conditions allowing. EPA’s Project Manager from our Saginaw office will provide oversight.”

In response to questions from the Sierra Club this week Logan said that EPA does not plan to issue advisories about the dangers of dioxin exposure in flooded areas along the Tittabawassee River and the Saginaw River.

Some residents are not satisfied with EPA’s response.

“Why can you not close that park as well as ALL others that have been inundated again and again,” said John Taylor, who lives along the Tittabawassee. “How much is Dow paying you to sit back and let us be poisoned to death?”

Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-MA) and 72 other members of Congress are asking the U.S. Environmental Agency to finish its long-delayed report on the toxicity of dioxin — a byproduct of combustion and of chemical manufacturing that has contaminated Michigan’s largest watershed.

“Almost 40 years ago we called a code red on Agent Orange and dioxin. Despite worldwide agreement about the toxicity of these chemicals and their persistence in the environment, EPA still has yet to release its findings on how dangerous these chemicals are to public health,” Rep. Markey said in a statement. “This much-needed assessment should not languish at the EPA as long as this dangerous chemical lasts in our food chain. The EPA should release its report without further delay.”

In an April 11 letter to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson the representatives asked the agency to provide a detailed timeline for finalizing and releasing the dioxin reassessment.

Dioxin is one of the most toxic substances known and causes immune system and reproductive problems at extremely small doses. It is also a known carcinogen.

Operations at Dow Chemical’s Midland complex have spread high levels of dioxin and other chemicals through the Tittabawassee and Saginaw Rivers and into Lake Huron’s Saginaw Bay and regular flooding has deposited dioxin-laden sediments at homes, schools, parks and farms throughout the floodplain.

In May 2009 newly-appointed U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Director Lisa Jackson called Dow Chemical’s contamination of the Saginaw River watershed a threat to public health and promised to kick start the agency’s long-delayed efforts to regulate dioxin.

The agency promised to finalize its reassessment of the toxicity of dioxin by the end of 2010 but missed that deadline amid pressure from the chemical industry.