Published October 22, 2002 in the Midland (MI) Daily News

By Beth Medley Bellor

A meeting tonight about a Department of Environmental Quality licensure of The Dow Chemical Co.’s Michigan Operations already was going to be full of complexity and history.

Local environmentalists are tossing charges of collusion into the pot, but they may fall on deaf ears: The consent order under fire will not be on the table.

“The licensure will be discussed, but the consent order will not be discussed,” said Pat Spitzley, DEQ spokeswoman.

The 7 p.m. meeting at Midland High School was set to discuss a single, facilitywide license that has been negotiated on and off for about six years. At one time the DEQ planned to discuss a corrective action consent order as well, but it still is in negotiations and is not ready for public comment.

According to a press release dated today, “Government documents obtained by citizens in Saginaw County demonstrate that top management of the Michigan DEQ is working hand in glove with the Dow Chemical Company to craft an agreement relieving the company of costly dioxin cleanup requirements and exposing the public to dioxin contamination.”

Such an agreement would not be unprecedented. Consent orders signed in 1985 and 1997 absolved Dow of liability for past discharge of dioxins into the river in exchange for projects such as building a boat launch. When those consent orders have been raised at recent public meetings about dioxin contamination, state officials have noted it still may be possible to hold Dow liable under federal regulations.

The documents environmentalists provided –– Lone Tree Council’’s Michelle Hurd Riddick refused to identify the source –– include communications between the attorney general’’s office and the DEQ. A DEQ spokeswoman confirmed this morning the documents are genuine.

In an Oct. 3 memo to the DEQ, Michael Leffler of the attorney general’’s office says he has briefly reviewed a corrective action consent order involving Dow. “I must inform you that, even based on this cursory review, it is apparent the CACO, as drafted, is illegal and the DEQ lacks the authority to sign it.”

The memo mentions allowing a higher level of dioxin contamination for the City of Midland and charges the DEQ with trying to delegate elsewhere its duty to determine appropriate contaminant levels.

Dow’’s Jeff Feerer, environmental health and safety project leader, was aware of the documents as released but would not respond. “Certainly, the e-mails are attorney-client privileged … so I can’’t even comment on them.”

He did say the discussion between agency and attorneys was not unusual. “Consent orders, drafts are sent back and forth. Some consent orders never see the light of day.”

Feerer would speak only in the most general of terms about what the consent order is designed to address. The DEQ’’s generic criteria for residential cleanup for dioxin contamination is 90 parts per trillion. If site-specific data can be offered, he said, it is possible a site-specific criterion would be used instead for Midland.

This is the “dioxin zone” to which environmentalists refer. It might not happen. Regardless, the consent order negotiations will proceed independently of the licensure.

“There is really no timeline or process for a consent order,” Spitzley said. When one is ready, it will be put up for public comment and a public hearing can be requested.

Another meeting on the licensure is scheduled at 7 p.m. Oct. 29 at H.H. Dow High School. The public hearing is scheduled from 4 to 6 p.m. and again at 7 p.m. Nov. 7 at the Midland Center for the Arts.