On behalf of the Lone Tree Council I would like to thank you for the EPA’s many efforts to address the myriad of issues associated with dioxin and its impacts on human health and quality of life. We understand that responding to the NAS, development of interim PRG’s and the cumbersome process of finalizing the Dioxin Reassessment are a monumental task. Those of us living in Dow Chemical’s horrific dioxin contamination here the Saginaw Bay Watershed of Michigan are hopeful the EPA remains steadfast in its resolve to address this pressing issue. Read more »
At the July 19th EPA public meeting, EPA was asked about the ongoing failure to place sediments traps in the river system to mitigate the migration of contaminated sediments to Saginaw Bay. EPA stated the delay is because the agency does not want to do it wrong. There is no doubt the sentiment is true even if it is a red herring.
EPA Superfund division took over on this site early this year but it is a disservice to many people to ignore the facts, issues and efforts of the past several years to make the traps a reality. EPA Superfund does not have a clean slate on which a new narrative can be written. The past several years matter. Significant time, taxpayer’s money, resources and effort have been expended on these traps. Had this issue been pursued on its merit, absent the politics, we would not be having this conversation today. Read more »
What if EPA held a public meeting and nobody came? It was close. The July 19th public meeting on SVSU was unprecedented. Not counting the Dow representatives, agency folks and the CAG, there were five members from the public in the audience. Not even the media showed up.
Granted there is a level dioxin fatigue on the part of the public: Years of starts and stops, progress then delays, too much information then a dearth, an alphabet soup of acronyms learned then replaced, regulatory relays—what’s the public to do? Read more »
Headline this past week in INSIDE EPA warns the release of the final dioxin reassessment in December of this year is not likely. In June of 2009, EPA headquarters visited Saginaw, Bay City and Midland to assure the community of EPA’s commitment to an interim number and after dozens of years, the release of the much debated, deliberated and argued, Dioxin Reassessment. Read more »
Last week the Community Advisory Group (CAG) traveled from Caldwell Boat Launch in Midland County down the Tittabawassee River to the Rust Street Launch, not far from Wicks Park, on the Saginaw River in the City of Saginaw. It was personally illuminating and fortifying. This river’s striking beauty (photo 471) belies its toxicity. Read more »
Dioxin—Yes it causes cancer and the chemical’s non-cancer effects are impacting people at lower levels. The draft dioxin reassessment is out as EPA promised but it’s just not good news for people living along the contaminated waters of the Tittabawassee and Saginaw Rivers. Cleanup needs to happen sooner rather than later. Read more »
Special thanks to Tracey Easthope and the folks at the Ecology Center in Ann Arbor for creating and sharing this video and to Dr Linda Birnbaum for agreeing to do it.
Although the interview was conducted in 2004 when Dr. Birnbaum was head of the EPA Division of Toxicology, we believe it continues to provide a useful and easy to understand summary of some of the available evidence against dioxin. We hope it will be a useful tool for citizens’ campaigns. The video was originally commissioned in 2004 by the Ecology Center of Ann Arbor and the Public Interest Research Group In Michigan.
Lone Tree Council will be submitting comments on the major modification of Dow’s RCRA license as it is incorporated into the Administrative Order on Consent signed by EPA, MDNRE and Dow. Read more »
