*the most toxic form, 2,3,7,8 tetrachlorodibenzodioxin is a carcinogen associated with soft tissue sarcoma, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and chronic lymphatic leukemia. According to the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 4.8 million Vietnamese were exposed to Agent Orange and other defoliants (Purple, Pink and Green) resulting in more than 400,000 deaths, disabilities, and children with birth defects. Dow Company manufactured herbicides for use in Vietnam.
Monday, February 02, 2009
The Way Washington Works
Close readers of this cyberspace may recall an entry about the EPA administrator who lost her job because she had the temerity to insist that Dow Chemical Company clean up its dioxin pollution in Midland, Michigan {5/08/08}. The case has not simply disappeared into the ether, nor has the contaminated areas been cleared of the deadly poison*. A plume of the byproduct in Agent Orange--the herbicide used to destroy thousands of acres of forest during the Vietnam War--is still seeping into Lake Huron's Saginaw Bay. The highest levels of dioxin ever found in a U.S. river (Tittabawassee) were recorded thirty miles from Dow's chemical plant. The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality has issued advisories warning residents of contaminated fish, waterfowl, and game animals. During the Regime regulatory enforcement actions by EPA were often undertaken only with the consent of the violator. The Dow case is a casebook example. Negotiations between Dow and the government have been underway for more than a decade for private control of the stringent clean up process. The former administrator, Mary Gade, attempted to take concerted regulatory action. Gade said she was "extremely disappointed with the outcome" of negotiations to clean up the pollution because key issues paramount for protecting human health were left unresolved. EPA Region 5 terminated negotiations with Dow in January 2008. To counter the enforcement effort, Dow used its high level political connections at EPA. Eventually Gade was forced to resign as head of Region 5. The secret negotiations resumed on December 15, 2008 and are now coming to fruition with a consent agreement between Dow and the government. If an agreement is signed the agency may be contractually precluded from pursuing stronger remedies regardless of future environmental conditions. The state of Michigan will also be put in a difficult legal position if it attempts to require stronger measures. This abdication of regulatory enforcement duties by EPA comes despite 44's public statements in favor of "transparent" government and renewed efforts to protect the environment. How newly appointed officials at EPA will handle the negotiations scheduled to be concluded February 15th is unclear.