Dow disappointed by EPA talks shutdown

04 January 2008 23:38  [Source: ICIS news]

WASHINGTON (ICIS news)--Dow Chemical said on Friday it was surprised and disappointed by the decision by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to break off river remediation talks with the company.

 

Dow spokesman John Musser said the agency’s decision to halt talks with the company over remediation of the Tittabawassee River “was a big surprise to us, and we’re frustrated and disappointed by EPA’s action”.

 

In its announcement terminating the talks earlier on Friday, the agency said that Dow’s offer of a remediation package for a 50-mile stretch of the Tittabawassee River downstream from the company’s Midland, Michigan, production complex “does not go far enough”.

 

Agency spokesman Ralph Dollhopf said EPA “simply will not accept any deal that is not comprehensive” and that Dow’s last offer left “paramount issues for protecting human health and the environment unresolved”.

 

The agency said it is examining other options available under the law to pursuing cleanup of the Tittabawassee, with one agency spokesman suggesting that litigation is possible.

 

Musser said that Dow officials were preparing a follow-up proposal for the agency when they got word that EPA had broken off talks.

 

“We understood that we had until January 9 to continue making proposals, but that apparently is not the case,” Musser said.

 

He also said that “We reject the characterisation in EPA’s press release as to the substantive nature of our offer”.

 

“It is a comprehensive offer and in accord with EPA guidance and regulations and represents an immense human and financial commitment by Dow for early and comprehensive action” to clean up the river, Musser said.

 

Neither Dow nor EPA would say what specifically triggered the agency’s walkout, citing a confidentiality agreement governing the negotiations.

 

Musser would say only that “EPA wanted us to do things that we weren’t willing to do”.

 

Launched early last year, the discussions were aimed at a plan in which Dow would have an environmental analysis done on the river system and design a programme to remediate areas where contamination was found. While the talks were under way, Dow completed remediation work on four so-called “hot spots” along the river where concentrations of contamination were found.

 

Musser said that Dow will continue to work with the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, which has direct management of the river remediation effort under EPA oversight.

 

“We were hopeful that we would be in a position to have a comprehensive agreement reached within the next couple of years, but EPA’s decision to break off talks is a setback,” Musser said.

By: Joe Kamalick
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