How much will Dow pay?
 By Tony Lascari, Midland Daily News
Published: Tuesday, April 8, 2008 11:24 AM EDT

A plan to determine ways to restore natural resources damaged by hazardous substances in local waterways was released Monday by state and federal agencies.

The Natural Resource Damage Assessment Plan for the Tittabawassee River system details activities of The Dow Chemical Co. that have led to degradation of the environment.

The plan suggests studies needed before options for restoration or financial recovery can be selected, including a determination of the economic damages resulting from fish consumption, wildlife consumption and soil contact advisories in the study area, which encompasses the Tittabawassee River, Saginaw River and a portion of the Saginaw Bay.

"The economic evaluations study is critical to understanding how important the losses have been to the public," said Lisa Williams, case manager with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

An oversight body of trustees intends to create a Restoration and Compensation Determination Plan that will list a number of alternatives for restoration, rehabilitation, replacement or acquisition of equivalent resources to make the public whole.

Dow spokesman John Musser said today the company still is reviewing the assessment plan.

"We've had quite a bit of dialogue with the trustees over the past year," he said, and the company is expected to provide a response, either directly to the trustees or through the public input process.

The trustees want additional studies on how pollutants currently are spreading in the environment and how they were spread in the past, as well as the current and past biological injuries caused by the released substances.

Williams said that issuing a wildlife consumption advisory is rare, and the trustees might need to conduct further studies into how that has impacted the public's use of the land.In September 2004, the Michigan Department of Community Health issued an advisory to not consume deer liver or turkey, and to limit consumption of deer muscle and squirrels, harvested in the floodplain downstream of Midland because of dioxin levels in the wild game.

The advisory was issued for areas adjacent to the Tittabawassee River from Midland to the confluence with the Saginaw River, but included a statement that the areas of concern could not be defined precisely due to the movement of animals.

The trustees include the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, Michigan Department of Natural Resources, Michigan Department of the Attorney General, Saginaw Chippewa Tribe, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Williams said the trustees will continue to coordinate with MDEQ and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as the agencies implement corrective actions and response activities related to dioxin and furan contamination in the waterways. The goal is to avoid duplication, reduce costs and achieve multiple objectives where practical.

If current work is done quickly and with less harm to the environment, it could decrease damages later assessed, Williams said.

"From the cleanup side, they care where it is now and what could happen in the future," she said. "Our job with the Natural Resource Damage Assessment Plan is to make the public whole over time, so we care what happened in the past."

A pre-assessment screening completed in November 2006 determined that a discharge or release of hazardous substances has occurred, natural resources have been or are likely to have been adversely affected, the quantity of the release is sufficient to potentially cause injury, data to perform an assessment are available or obtainable at a reasonable cost, and response actions do not or will not sufficiently remedy the injury to natural resources without further action.

The plan released Monday describes the history and present state of invertebrates, fish, birds and other wildlife. It also states that Dow has released "an extremely wide range of hazardous substances, many in very large quantities, into the environment for a period of over a century."

It states that many of these substances "are widely distributed in sediments and soils in the assessment area, and may accumulate in animals. They may further be re-released and transported as the sediments, soils, and biota move in the environment."

Hazardous substances either used or produced at Dow's Michigan Operations site in Midland in the past have been identified in the study area, including metals such as arsenic, lead, cadmium and mercury, and organic chemicals such as chlorobenzenes, organophosphorous compounds, phthalates, chlorostyrenes, chlorinated phenols, dioxins and furans.

The MDEQ will host a public meeting on the plan at 7 p.m. April 17 at the Best Western Valley Plaza Inn, 5221 Bay City Road in Midland.

Any comments received by the trustees, together with responses to those comments, will be included in the report of assessment. Comments may be submitted in writing to: Lisa Williams, Lead Administrative Trustee, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 2651 Coolidge Road, Suite 101, East Lansing, MI 48823.

Natural Resource Damage Assessment Plan for the Tittabawassee River

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For additional articles like this one, go to the Tittabawassee River Watch web site www.trwnews.net for complete coverage of the Tittabawassee River Dow Chemical dioxin contamination saga. . The Newspaper / Media page of our site contains an extensive archive of media articles dating back to January 2002. The source organization's web site link is listed to the right of the article, visit often for other news in our area. The Newspaper / Media page may be accessed by scrolling down to the bottom of the CONTENTS section and clicking on the Newspaper/Media link.