A housewife, a nurse and a history professor.
The EPA and Dow have negotiated — are you ready – an Administrative Order on Consent (AOC). This is the blueprint for a Tittabawassee and Saginaw rivers and bay cleanup, minus the method of cleanup AND the number to which Dow has to reduce its dioxin footprint, for example, Michigan’s 90 ppt (rather high) or 5 ppt, closer to background.
Dow has signed the AOC, but not the EPA. As promised, in its effort to be transparent, the EPA has provided 30 days of public comments from the community. The Lone Tree Council has requested for the community and been granted by EPA, an additional 30 days to do a better job. This document is huge, both in volume and impact; the parties had better have it correct.
A technical expert has been retained via an EPA contract to help us interpret and comment on the AOC – again, that is to make sure the public is not getting a pig in a poke. We have obtained an excellent expert, a nationally recognized scientist, Peter deFur. Dr deFur has over thirty years’ experience providing technical services regarding the cleanup of contaminated sites to community organizations across the country, from Washington State to North Carolina. In 2000, he was selected as the co-chair for the Peer Review of the EPA Dioxin Reassessment, striving to work with various stakeholders to set a standard that is protective of human health and the environment. (SEE: DR. PETER deFUR PRESS RELEASE). Any wonder Dow’s surrogates are upset?
Also, I have been meeting with the steering committee, selected by the EPA, to review applicants for the Community Advisory Group (CAG). This is the group that ostensibly will follow the cleanup, and (according to the EPA contracted facilitator, Doug Sarno) achieve a better cleanup. According to the theory (and some past practice) a cross section of community stakeholders, reaching consensus, can push the process.
I was uncomfortable with the make-up of the five member steering committee, however — two neutral parties, two Dow defenders, and me. I requested, and the parties agreed to, another participant of my choice. He was Peter Bagley, a UAW attorney who has been a supporter but not an activist within Lone Tree Council. We debated, argued, were calmed down, cut and pasted, from the 43 applicants to the CAG. After about six arduous hours over two days we selected 23 members of the CAG –to be announced soon.
Then on November 5th, at Saginaw Valley State University (SVSU), the EPA held its Public Hearing on the AOC.
For those that didn’t attend, what might you expect?
If you predicted some angry comments directed at Dow for eight years of foot-dragging non-action or maybe a list of improvements for the AOC, you would be wrong.
The hottest topic was– the Lone Tree Council — Michelle Hurd Riddick and myself in particular. In many ways, the 150 people in attendance reflected a rich tableau of why Dow has been able to successfully avoid its thirty-year-old dioxin problem.
Tittabawassee Township supervisor, Rick Hayes, accused “a history professor a nurse and housewife” of causing all the problems (Michelle raised her hand to point out that, yes, she was a housewife, but she was also a nurse). This is the same supervisor who created and sells his unique hat bearing the logo “Dioxin My Ass”. Saginaw County’s Jim Koski also took the boorish opportunity to ask how “ a housewife” could possibly be permitted to insist that EPA look at drinking water in the bay. Kathy Henry of Tittabawassee River Watch was admonished for efforts to get drinking water tested in the bay. As most of you know, Bay City’s drinking water intake is very near where the Saginaw River’s dioxin contaminated sediments enters the Bay and it is near the Kearn Weadock ash landfill that is leaching into the bay.
The CEO of Bay, Saginaw and Midland County’s Convention and Visitors Bureau, Annette Rummel, read into the record a letter she sent to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson complaining of Lone Tree Council’s acquisition of Dr deFur, arguing that “…facet groups within our community do not represent the community at large.” Her various organizations expressed frustration that the CAG wasn’t the recipient of EPA largess (She neglected to mention that her organizations support the pact; the CAG won’t even be seated until December; she took no initiative to contact the EPA until she learned that we got the grant; and the technical adviser IS for the whole community. Ms Rummell can and should access Dr. deFur) In March 2009 when river residents and the environmental community met with EPA HQ, in particular Bob Sussman, chief legal council to EPA Administrator Jackson, we asked for and were promised we would get technical assistance. In that March meeting was Clean Water Action, Sierra Club, Michigan Environmental Council, Ecology Center and residents from Tittabawassee River Watch. Clean Water Action and Sierra club have a huge membership here in the Saginaw Bay Watershed and attended the meeting representing their members. We appreciate the Jackson EPA keeping their promise to the river residents, community and the environmental community by giving us the technical support
A property-rights activist, Leonard Heinzman, who lives on the Tittabawassee River, launched into a laundry-list of instances of “favoritism” shown by EPA towards Lone Tree Council, specifically reading into the record Peter Bagley’s participation on the CAG steering committee, the 30 day extension and our EPA grant to hire Dr. deFur – the Lone Tree Council was “self-aggrandizing”. (He neglected to mention that Mr. Bagley’s addition required the approval of the other members, the 30 day extension would have been granted to anyone requesting it, and his group never bothered to go after technical assistance because it’s more concerned about the label of “facility” on their properties than the pollution on it). If as Mr. Heinzman suggest, that Lone Tree Council controlled the DEQ and EPA, you can bet this cleanup would be much further advanced than it is to date. Seems like a great deal of power for a “facet group”.
An SVSU professor, Eldon Graham, said he was a member of “area professionals” who would welcome an EPA grant to hire someone with “no preconceived biases” (Talk about too little, too late –after eight years of Lone Tree using the Freedom of Information Act to break the story of high contamination levels, the cover-up by then director of the DEQ, and seven years of pursuing a credible cleanup; with volunteers who work full time, on the point of a cleanup, suddenly a group of local academics is interested in getting involved – go figure)
A physician and real estate developer, Sam Shaheen, spoke of treating patients for decades and never finding a single dioxin-related problem, expressing concern that his dozen river properties might be damaged by cleanup demands (He neglected to tell the public that dioxin is insidious and masks its presence in soft-tissue sarcomas, reproductive failures, diabetes and other illness wherein causation is difficult to prove; and for a health professional, there is also something repulsive about his concern for property values over the health of both the citizens of the area and its resources).
To their credit, Laura Burtt, and other victims of the contamination on the river, publicly welcomed the support of an expert looking over the agreement. Dr. deFur provided a fact sheet, and made a brief statement of his role, and some initial concerns that he identified and will be looking at for in the AOC. But the general feeling was — sign this damn thing and let the rumpus be over.
The EPA seemed to get it. Its professional staff gave a brief description of the agreement, its strengths and limitations, then listened respectfully, and made serious attempts to respond to questions. Most were going back to Chicago.
If we do not continue to remain vigilant the consequences are more dioxin flowing out to the bay, more floodplain contaminated, and Dow continuing its relatively unblemished record of avoiding accountability. There will be many more meetings as this long process unfolds, and we will need the community to step up and express their support for not just an expeditious but also a comprehensive and good cleanup of our rivers and bay.
Terry Miller
Lone Tree Council
