Yesterday... 2:30 pm..... as we observed the county ditch out behind our property was pretty full. I casually commented that the river must be rising, since it looked like the water was flowing inward instead of out toward the river. Ice and snow still covered the field beyond our property, residual from the previous flood in January this year.This morning we shot more photos.
The ditch is just past the first tree line... Since our little boat is stored at the cottage up north, we couldn't go out to the same spot to photograph the ditch. You can see it though... out by the first bank of trees... with a mound of soil still exposed. Beyond that you can see the river bank just in front of the furthest line of trees. The river is still rising.
While on the subject of floods, if you have or know somebody who has photos of the 1986 flood, could you drop me an email and let me know. The only photos I've been able to find on the internet look like our backyard will probably look by tomorrow afternoon. During the 1986 Tittabawassee River flood we had no film in our camera and were unable to get out to buy some so we have no photos. I recently received an email request from a fellow in the U.S. Navy who was looking for photos of the 1986 Tittabawassee River flood. Since he was able to find Howard Vasold's photos he was hoping we might have pics from 1986 as well. He's been telling his buddies about the big flood and would love to show them photos.
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Check out the lies from the Lone Tree Council. They're saying the DEQ shouldn't speculate, but now they're saying Sygo is a crook? Without evidence? Hmm.
04/01/05 DEQ premature to accuse others besides Dow for Saginaw River/Bay dioxin
Lone Tree Council Press Release 3/31/05
DEQ Deputy Director says GM/City Data Unavailable to Support Dioxin in River
A Bay City Times story on March 27, 2005, has a local environmental group concerned that the state has muddied the water on sources of dioxin to the Saginaw River and Bay. The story, quoting Jim Sygo, deputy director of the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), said that Bay City’s Wastewater Treatment Plant and the General Motor’s Powertrain plant may share blame with the Dow Chemical Company for dioxin contamination in the lower Saginaw River and Bay.
Since that story, the Lone Tree Council has learned through an e-mail from Mr. Sygo that “the DEQ does not yet have data that demonstrates that the Bay City WWTP or the General Motors Corp plant in Bay City are in part responsible for the release of dioxin and/or furan to the Saginaw River.” Moreover, the process of collecting and analyzing samples to “fingerprint” their source has not been done. “That data has not been returned or analyzed yet,” wrote Mr. Sygo.
“We believe it is premature to name names other than Dow,” said Michelle Hurd Riddick from the watchdog group, Lone Tree Council. “People have read this story and concluded that Dow is no longer the responsible party for the lower Saginaw River – it has never been the practice of the DEQ to speculate without data in hand and Mr. Sygo has muddied the waters. What we do know is in June of 2003, the United States Environmental Protection Agency identified Dow Chemical as the responsible party for dioxin contamination in the Saginaw River and Bay.”
“Dow has done such an effective job deflecting responsibility for its dioxin cleanup,” said Terry Miller, Lone Tree Council chairman, “from denial, to greenwash, to behind closed door meetings with the state. For those reasons, every story must be fact-checked and challenged – this one doesn’t meet the fact test. Once again, it has allowed Dow to point a finger at someone else, as they did in 2003, blaming GM for dioxin in the Tittabawassee River.”
“At this point the DEQ is just speculating,” said Michelle Hurd Riddick. “We absolutely, positively know that Dow has contaminated the Tittabawassee and Upper Saginaw, and after four years not a bit of cleanup has taken place, we’re still talking – let’s not confuse the public, this story played right into the confusion Dow thrives on.”
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TRW note: Mr. Sygo is a carryover from the infamous Engler/Harding DEQ. Like an old movie, his recent, irresponsible actions play like the character in a script for a deep cover mole promoting the agenda of Dow and it's former DEQ regime. Sygo is well versed in media relations, he knew exactly what he was doing when he made the comments to the Times. Who is he really working for? Maybe someone ought to investigate recent deposits to his bank accounts. A retraction of his statements and a public apology to GM and Bay City are in order.
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