Midland Daily News - Main Section - 09/1512007 - City, EPA strike deal Page 1 0[2

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09115/2007

City, EPA strike deal

By Tony Lascari

Specific sites involved in dioxin sampling in Midland will not Advertisement

be revealed - for now.
City of Midland officials traveled to Chicago Thursday to meet
with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 5 officials to
sort out how to keep the EPA abreast of sampling without going
against a pledge to respect the privacy of property owners who
volunteered for the sampling program under the assumption of
anonymity.
In a news release Friday, the EPA stated that it now will
require specific relevant information about sampling protocol and
spatial distribution of data points. It won't, however, require the
identification of specific property locations or property owners.
"Ultimately, EPA's interest in this sampling information is to
assure that the health of Midland's residents is protected," EPA
Superfund Division Associate Director Ralph Dollhopf said in a
news release. "At the same time, EPA respects that the city must
balance its concern regarding the health of its citizens with its
commitment to protect their privacy. Having sampling details that
we think the city can provide without revealing property owner
identity will help EPA confidently evaluate the results of recent
soil studies."
Midland City Manager Jon Lynch said it was clear the EPA is interested in making sure the analysis of samples was
properly done. He said EPA officials recognize the value of protecting property owners, and that's a positive point. But the
agency wants to reserve its right to acquire any information it deems necessary in the future.
Lynch said the EPA requested a list of information it wants from the city. The city will discuss - with The Dow Chemical
Co. and the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, which have partnered in the sampling process - what
information is available and should be released.
"I think that we currently characterize it as positive, but we still need to dig into this list and see if ultimately what they're
asking for would violate the anonymity of the property owners in the city of Midland," Lynch said of the process so far.
According to the EPA, the sampling analysis information is necessary so it has a complete and current picture of dioxin in
the city. The data is needed to assess any potential current risk posed by dioxin in the city, EPA says.
The agency's information request is part of a larger investigation of dioxin contamination in the Midland area. The EPA
issued two requests in mid-August to Dow seeking information about its dioxin sampling at its facility and elsewhere. The
agency also is seeking data on numerous other hazardous waste materials produced at Dow's Michigan Operations plant in
Midland.
A deadline for the City of Midland to respond to the new request for information, developed in Thursday's meeting, has
been set for Sept. 21. If the information is to be released, the EPA would like the requested sampling station map by Sept. 25
and all other information within 30 days of the deadline.
Dollhopf of the EPA said the meeting with city officials was productive. .
"I think that our meeting Thursday resulted in both parties' recognition and acknowledgement that our objectives are
compatible," he said. "We are on the road to working this out."
Dow began cleaning up three dioxin hot spots in the Tittabawasee River this summer. Dow and the EPA expect the work
to be completed by the end of the year.
The Dow facility is a I,900-acre chemical manufacturing plant in Midland. Dioxins and furans were byproducts from the
manufacture of chlorine-based products. Past waste disposal practices, fugitive emissions and incineration at Dow have
resulted in on- and off-site dioxin and furan contamination.

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EPA threatens public's trust

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

IT LOOKS LIKE MIDLAND city officials are in the dioxin driver's seat. For now, anyway.

Last week the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency told the city to hand over all dioxin sampling data
Midland took within its city limits in 2006 and 2007. The EPA says the data will help it figure out just how
bad any dioxin contamination is in each particular parcel.

The city is holding off on releasing the information. Why? Because the EPA is playing let's break a deal.

Last fall, Dow Chemical Co., the state Department of Environmental Quality and the EPA started a detailed
soil study mostly to the north and east of Dow's plant to determine contamination levels of Dow-related
substances -- dioxin in particular. They took 145 samples.

Combustion or other industrial processes create dioxins, some of which have links to cancer. Dow has
admitted its Midland complex polluted the Tittabawassee River floodplain with dioxins many years ago.

"It appears that the data is obscured by an unusual double blind system that the EPA has been unable to
obtain voluntarily from the city of Midland," said EPA Region 5 Superfund Division Director Richard Karl.
'The city holds the key to the data, and we're requiring them to provide it."

It's odd that Karl used the words "it appears." Before the testing in the Midland area ever started, Dow, the
DEQ, the EPA and the city agreed to put the individual dioxin samples into larger and larger groups,
thereby masking each specific property's identity.

They did this certainly to protect the property values of the parcels, but mostly just to get the residents to
participate in the study. Some would say that's a contract. The EPA could've objected then, but it didn't.

Also part of the plan was to make public any results that exceeded the EPA's danger level where health or
environmental risks may exist that call for cleanup. None did.

Midland's reluctance to release the sample data before it strikes any deal to make it public is
understandable, not only from the standpoint of maintaining credibility with its citizens, but also their trust.
And, it's a lead-pipe cinch someone will sue the city for breach of contract over private property rights if any
of the contract stipulations aren't adhered to.

Thursday, Midland officials and their lawyers will go to Chicago to talk with EPA honchos, presumably to
work out some sort of compromise. If the EPA can provide a significant, compelling reason for Midland to
unblind the data right away, then by all means the city should do so. Health issues should trump money
issues.

But if EPA officials are merely playing power politics, then Midland is well within its rights to take the matter
to court.

©2007 Saginaw News

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Everything Michigan

EPA strikes deal with Midland over dioxin testing data

9/15/2007, 3:05 p.m. ET
The Associated Press

MIDLAND, Mich. (AP) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the city of Midland have a deal
over dioxin testing.

The federal agency had asked city for all dioxin sampling data taken within the community from the start of
last year to give a more complete picture of Dow Chemical's dioxin contamination in the area.

The EPA now says it will require specific information about sampling protocol and distribution of data. But
the Midland Daily News reports it won't require the identification of specific property locations or property
owners.

Midland is about 100 miles northwest of Detroit.

Information from: Midland Daily News, http://www.ourmidland.com

Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

© 2007 Michigan Live. All Rights Reserved.

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