Clean Watershed Campaign

Should it take generations?

Should It Take Generations?
Dave Dempsey

The first time I heard of dioxins, and Dow Chemical’s relationship to them, was 1983. The President of the United States was first-term Ronald Reagan, Michael Jackson’s Thriller was about to become a big hit, and the Internet was yet to touch anyone’s life.

And we’re not much farther along in getting Dow to face its responsibilities for chemical cleanup in Michigan than we were then. It’s remarkable – and appalling.

The New York Times was just one of the national media outlets that came to Midland and reported on the nationally significant story in March 1983.  “Recently, after national attention focused on dioxin contamination at Times Beach, Mo., environmentalists renewed charges that Midland has been similarly tainted. As a result, the Environmental Protection Agency announced that it would conduct a complete analysis of the presence of dioxins in Midland. But, in the meantime, some Midlanders wonder if their health is being quietly poisoned while others, denying that a problem exists, complain that the town is being unfairly depicted as an environmental disaster area.”

Sound familiar?  It should. Then, as now, a sharp divide existed between those who feared for their health and those who feared for Dow Chemical Company’s health. What was different was this:  an almost fearless regional administrator at U.S. EPA in Chicago, Valdas Adamkas, refused to cover up the problem. His defiance of higher-ups at EPA in Washington blew the lid off a problem the Reagan Administration and Dow wanted to obscure. In the end, the controversy led to the sacking of the head of the EPA and a top deputy.

In the Adamkas tradition, EPA regional administrator Mary Gade got tough with Dow in 2008, fast-tracking some dioxin cleanup and putting an end to the endless and fruitless talks with the company. For her efforts, the White House fired Gade. And the talks resumed.

The Obama Administration has yet to appoint a regional administrator, so it’s not clear what policy they’ll adopt on Dow – although the new EPA head, Lisa Jackson, has promised an inclusive and swift process to determine how much and how Dow will clean up its mess.

Unfortunately, those concerned about the mess created by Dow have to look to the federal government because state government has proven itself almost incapable of dealing with Dow – unless you count endless meetings as action. This is not meant to slight the professional work of many Michigan Department of Quality staff who continue to work hard to evaluate and advocate internally for cleanup. Rather, it is a statement about DEQ top brass and a Governor and Lieutenant Governor fearful of offending a major corporation.

What distinguishes Dow’s contamination legacy from those of other corporations besides the company’s intransigence is its sheer scope. Running downstream 52 miles from its Midland complex to the mouth of the Saginaw River, and then into Saginaw Bay and Lake Huron, the dioxin contamination is one of the biggest messes in America. It would be one of the largest Superfund sites in the nation if it were properly diagnosed and treated by government.

It’s time to call an end to the process and get on with the cleanup. As always, it will be citizens who lead government to do what’s necessary. Thanks to some brave stalwarts in the Saginaw Bay watershed, that cleanup – and protection of the health of many families – is almost within reach. For the sake of our children and grandchildren, let us hope that 26 years marks the end, not the beginning of talking. And the beginning of a long-overdue restoration of the watershed and protection of its human and wildlife inhabitants.

Dave Dempsey is a former environmental advisor to Governor James Blanchard, a policy advisor at the nonprofit Michigan Environmental Council, and the author of five books. A native of Michigan, he now lives in Minnesota.