DEQ eyes plants to stabilize riverbanks

THE SAGINAW NEWS

Plans to clean up and contain dioxin along the Tittabawassee River include stabilizing areas of the riverbank in danger of falling into the water.

Plans to clean up the Saginaw River are less certain and may end up in court.

Al Taylor, a geology specialist with the state Department of Environmental Quality, reviewed plans for this year at a Wednesday quarterly dioxin meeting at the Horizons Conference Center on State in Saginaw Township.

One method includes planting vegetation to prevent the riverbanks from eroding.

Taylor showed an audience of about 80 people a diagram illustrating how erosion has shifted the course of the river several feet in various directions over the decades. He compared a 2004 map of the river system with a 1937 map to show the difference.

''We don't want these (contaminants) to move back into play,'' Taylor said.

He said crews continue to identify weak riverbanks that could host dioxin for decades.

A major source of dioxin, Midland-based Dow Chemical Co., filed a petition in February in Midland County Circuit Court saying the DEQ made an ''unprecedented'' amendment to the company's proposed dioxin testing plans along the Saginaw River and Bay.

Dow officials say the proposed cleanup would require the company to test an additional 300 square miles of soil beneath Lake Huron -- an initiative not included in the DEQ-issued operating license that Dow has worked under since 2003, Dow spokesman John C. Musser said.

DEQ officials contend the company isn't reading the map correctly and that Lake Huron isn't included in the plan.

Musser said both sides await a court date. He expects the next step will involve a court request to provide a briefing of the grievance.

''We definitely would like to get it resolved,'' Musser said.

Taylor, meanwhile, said the DEQ wants to continue monitoring a region near a dioxin ''hot spot'' adjacent to the Dow plant that investigators identified last year. Crews built a coffer dam around the spot to prevent contaminated sediment from escaping downstream as Dow-hired dredgers cleaned up.

Workers worked on and around an area containing dioxin at levels near 87,000 parts per trillion, found in soil 6 inches to 1 foot beneath the riverbed.

The job finished before the winter, but Taylor said he wants scientists to continue searching the region near the Dow complex for more contamination.

The next dioxin community meeting is schedu led for Thursday, Aug. 7, at the Horizons Conference Center. v

Justin Engel is a Saginaw News staff writer. You may reach him at

776-9691.