Barry Breen/DC/USEPAlUS To Bodine.susan@epa.

gov
01107/200810:02 AM cc Brigid Lowery/DC/USEPAlUS@EPA, Ellyn
Fine/DC/USEPAlUS@EPA
bcc
Subject Dow

This is from the weekend news clips -- not sure if you can access on blackberry. This is
the only in-depth article I spotted - I saw two others that summarized the press
releases (nothing in the clips so far from the Detroit Free Press).

Michigan DEQ is quoted in the article below.

Also, I have a copy of Dow's press release -- I'll give it to Brigid. Nothing else has come
across the fax yet, so far as I know.

EPA quits dioxin talks with Dow (MLive )

Posted by Barrie Barber I The Saginaw News January 04, 2008 22:30PM
Categories: Breaking News, Top Stories .
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has cut off cleanup talks with Dow Chemical
Co. over decades-old dioxin and furan contamination in the Tittabawassee River
system.
Neither the EPA nor Dow would release details about the impasse because of a
confidentiality agreement that covers the closed-door negotiations. The talks revolved
around a settlement to conduct a study and interim cleanup measures in the Saginaw
and Tittabawassee rivers, wetlands and Saginaw Bay.

"We're not walking away from cleaning up the river system," said EPA spokeswoman
Anne Rowan in Chicago. "We walked away from negotiations that we thought were not
fruitful."

The move apparently caught the Midland-based chemical giant off-guard.

"Fundamentally, we're very surprised and very disappointed that the (EPA) ... decided
to terminate the negotiations so abruptly," said Dow spokesman John C.. Musser.

The company was prepared to offer "immense" human and financial resources to start
a cleanup in compliance with EPA guidelines, Musser said. The EPA had set a 50-day
time line in October to submit a proposal. Dow submitted a plan Dec.10, and the EPA
extended talks 30 days. Musser said Dow planned to submit a revised proposal on the-
day the environmental agency cut off discussions.

"They were asking us to go beyond what we thought was reasonable, and we could not
with our earlier offers resolve that dispute," Musser said.

As part of a license renewal in 2003 for its 1,900-acre Midland operations, Dow agreed
to address historic off-site releases that originated from the facility, Musser said.

"The big picture is nothing changes in terms of our commitment to work collaboratively"
with EPA and the state Department of Environmental Quality, he said.

EPA will look at all of its options, Rowan said.

"It's premature for me to go into what our options are but it's safe to say we have a wide
array of them, and they are all on the table," she said.

The federal agency has ordered-Dow, for example, to clean up a concentrated pocket
of dioxin in the Saginaw River. The chemical giant finished sucking up contaminated
muck near Wickes Park this month. An EPA scientist has said the find measured 1.6
million parts per trillion, or 20 times higher than ever recorded in EPA archives. Musser
has dismissed the sample as an isolated spot.

The DEQ, meanwhile, will continue its talks with Dow, Robert McCann, an agency
spokesman, said Friday.

"There have been some sticking points, but I don't think we've reached an absolute
dead end in a road we're trying to go down," he said.

McCann said the state has worked with Dow the past few years to outline the extent of
contamination. For example, he said, sampling would continue in the Tittabawassee
and Saginaw rivers.

"Our talks have been making sure thafthat work is ultimately done correctly," he said.

Terry R. Miller, chairman of the Tri-Counties environmental activist group Lone Tree
Council, said he wasn't surprised the EPA broke off negotiations.

"We would like to see this get resolved, but we're se~ing essentially what the DEQ has
experienced with this company over the last five years," he said. "It really comes as no
surprise to us that there's an impasse because we know the experience, again, the
state has had with this company. It's really unfortunate."

State Rep. Kenneth B. Horn, a Frankenmuth Republican, blamed the EPA for not
accepting Dow's offer.

"Cutting off negotiations is never a wise way to solve a problem," he said. "These
people need to get serious and make something happen here in the Saginaw Valley
area."

Veronica Horn, executive vice president of the Saginaw Chamber of Commerce and
Horn's wife, said negotiators may need a cooling off period to overcome roadblocks.

"We all want to see a healthy river and a healthy economy so it's got to be a win-win for
both sides," she said. "We'll certainly be on the side of the EPA to come back to the
table."
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FOR DlMEDlATE RILEASE

Dew Fn!-tnted By EPA Decisioa

'1IDl..A..'-.-U M1- (Janary 4, 2M8) -The Dow Chemical Company today expressed
,.'
:r~ aod tfisat.,mad"W11 after l~aming that the Environmental Protection Agency, :,

;(egi.oa V A.dmiDisInJor has abruptly rerminatcd negotiations of an unprecedented Order

.:' ~ the hisIoric; finn aod dioxirJ situation in and along the Tittabawassee River,
':"~
Saginaw RivCl; aod the Saginaw Bay. Agreement on a plan going forward would
. ,

- ~ R'SUlIed in dm1MricI1ly spcedinl'. progress toward resolving the situation.

~ onxrrciding on EPA's decisiao, na"id Kepler, Dow's senior vice president said, "We

'amol qrwieuuw die R.ePc-a1 Admia.istrator's decision to terminate negotiations so

;~, "'e wereprcpared to comlurt immense human and fiIl3J1cial resources on early,
. :-mprcbeDSi~ aetioas, all in fullcoojpliancc with EPA guidance and regUlations. We
. I

~~ "~ Qade's dlaracterizatioD in EPA's press release, and arc frustrated

-:..M EPA chose to 1aJDiJYPe discussi(I~S the very day we had conunitted to submit a
·.i
., ~

:,:'i~ offu. This was a real opportunity to actually accelerate resolving the situation; , ("
',(',
'.,
:".. ::M -e"re &ced. widlMldiliooal barrl':rs and delays.'~

.~'low remains rommiaed to clearly C(.:nmw1icating and working with our community,

~ ?A.. ~b:bJgan ~ of Envin:nmental Quality (MDEQ) and other key

:-:~kIen in rhis process.

~ ~"Cd ~ from EPA ')0 October 10, 2007 that it had a lim~ted option to
. -:~ .ith me AI,eDcy on. 4scttlcment to conduct an'investigation, a study and