EPA HALTS RIVER CLEAN-UP TALKS WITH DOW CHEMICAL
01.8.08 - Leído 47 veces. Enviar esta notaThe Environmental Protection Agency said Friday it stopped settlement negotiations with Dow Chemical Co, saying the chemical company has not gone far enough in its clean-up plans for a Michigan river
NEW YORK, US; January 8, 2008.- The EPA’s region 5 office had previously extended negotiations that began in October in an attempt to reach a final agreement on the clean-up of cancer-causing dioxins from the Tittabawassee River system near Dow’s Midland, Michigan, headquarters.
“EPA is now reviewing its options for ensuring that dioxin contamination in the river system and the Midland area can be fully addressed,” Mary A. Gade, the regional administrator for the EPA, said in a statement.
Dow responded by saying it was frustrated and disappointed by the decision, noting that agreement on a plan would have resulted in speeding progress toward resolving the situation.
“We cannot understand the regional administrator’s decision to terminate negotiations so abruptly,” said David Kepler, Dow’s senior vice president.
“We were prepared to commit immense human and financial resources on early, comprehensive actions, all in full compliance with EPA guidance and regulations. We reject Administrator Gade’s characterization in EPA’s press release, and are frustrated that EPA chose to terminate discussions the very day we had committed to submit a follow-up offer.”
Dow said it remained committed to clearly communicating and working with the local community, the EPA, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality and other key stakeholders in the process.
The negotiations were aimed at reaching a settlement on conducting a study and the interim clean-up actions needed on the river as called for under federal “Superfund” rules.
The targeted area begins upstream of Dow’s 1,900-acre site on the river and extends downstream to the Saginaw River, its flood plains and Saginaw Bay in Lake Huron.
The EPA polluting dioxins and furans are the byproducts from production of chlorine-based products.
(Reuters)
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