Clean Watershed Campaign

Awaiting the promised interim dioxin number

In her May 26th letter to the community, EPA Administrator Jackson committed to establishing an interim cleanup number for dioxin in soils by the end of this year. This commitment was reiterated at the EPA’s June 17^th meeting, an October 20^th EPA meeting and again at the November 5^th meeting with the community held by EPA.

EPA acknowledged at the June 5 meeting that 1,000 ppt was outdated and lacked scientific credibility in 2009. It’s unfortunate that EPA did not assert this position back in 2004 when Dow Chemical and any number of local legislators (state and federal) were pushing the state to use this archaic number in lieu of the state’s 90 ppt number. The state’s 90 ppt although higher than other regions (exception MN) does utilize current science with the intention of protecting public health in vulnerable populations.

So here we are at the end of 2009 with every reason to believe the EPA will deliver on its promise to establish an interim number for dioxin in soils by year’s end. Administrator Jackson we await your decision.

Lisa Jackson May 2009