The poison is in the dose...

..Is there a tonic in the toxin? Written by Nell Boyce and published in US News and World Report October 18, 2004 - I recommend you read it. You've heard it before. The Salk vaccine demolished polio; penicillin knocks out all sorts of infection. Acetylsalicylic Acid (aspirin) is good for all sorts of aches and pains. Several doses taken daily might possibly damage your stomach lining. Too much will kill you. Salt - a little replaces salts used during physical activity. It enhances flavor in foods. Too much will kill you. Water - we need it... too much? Yeah, you're right! ..and of course we can go on and on.

What is hormesis? Why should we know more about it? ...because the antithesis - the Precautionary Principle adhered to by extremists today would make it illegal to use those items mentioned in my lead paragraph; that's why! Hormesis, according to the CancerWeb online dictionary is 'An effect where a toxic substance acts like a stimulant in small doses, but it is an inhibitor in large doses. ' In plain English, a lot of it could possibly hurt or kill you; a little bit might be good for you. Jeepers! My mom used to say, 'Don't worry about it! You'll eat a bushel of dirt before you die.' Come on, don't tell me she was right again.

Tittabawassee Township Board Supports Legislation...

..to protect residents from a label that was never intended for use on residential property. Today's Saginaw News has an article - Township backs stiffer 'facility' label, written by Jeremiah Stettler that tells the story. Thank you board members!

When passed this legislation will protect all residential properties in the State of Michigan from being labeled facilities with no proof. If you want to retain the label on your property it is your decision, but for the majority of citizens who choose to be innocent until proven guilty, we will be protected from this atrocity.

Can you smell the Potpourri?...

..I read lots and sometimes save up items to share. Here are a few of the latest.

• ...I keep running into something written by a guy in Ann Arbor. His article is titled 'Dow Chemical Buys Silence in Michigan.' In case you've seen it too, I want to share what I blogged about it at Lies and Untruths. My title is A Well-Funded Environut... I won't bore you with any more details here; just go there and read it.
  
• Recently there was a letter to the editor of the Midland Daily News titled Why is the comparison needed?...written by Richard Maltboy. I have never seen such flawed logic anywhere. He wrote the letter criticizing Dr. Reitz' Forum article about the Dow/DEQ framework and a need to wait and consider results of the U of M study of effects of environmental dioxin on the human body. Here are direct quotes forming his opinion:
  • "...it is a fact that the Saginaw Valley has the highest concentration of dioxin in the state." Jeepers! Did this guy do his own independent study on the subject? Nobody else can make that claim. It appears to be an out and out LIE!
  • "...is believed by many that dioxin can cause cancer..."etc. This one is an assumption... a false one I might add.
  • "So why the need for a population comparison analysis?" one LIE and one ASSUMPTION equals a (false) CONCLUSION.
  It is a FACT that there are more oranges in Michigan than anywhere else. It is BELIEVED by many that oranges could cause cold sores. I say, ABOLISH oranges from the state of Michigan!!! Mr. Maltboy's letter of attack on Dr. Reitz' Forum article makes as much sense as my statement on oranges. No wonder mistruths keep surfacing. Enough scare-mongering Maltboy! Stick to what you do best - criticizing religous believers.
• This week attendees received notes from the first community focus group on dioxin. Here's the pdf file of those compiled notes - http://www.deq.state.mi.us/documents/deq-whm-dioxin-notes.pdf You might want to bookmark the following DEQ webpage where the other three will also be listed when they are published... http://www.michigan.gov/deq/0,1607,7-135-3307_29693_21234-115743--,00.html
• ...just read an article in the Detroit Free Press : Developer plans to build houses on disputed property I've not met Mr. Rapanos but I sure do respect his go-att-it-ude toward protecting his property... and doing what he wants with it!

You are invited to the big Freeland Walleye Festival and it's even bigger community-wide rummage sale.April 29-May 1, 2005

Of Sceptics and Accusations...

...Yesterday's Bay City Times proclaimed - Purchase proposal muddies the waters of dioxin debate. I was astounded by the tone of this article. I had not yet met Dr. Shaheen when I read about his offer to buy properties along the Tittabawassee River floodplain, but I heard his message - LOUD and CLEAR!!!This man is an astute businessman and would not make an offer such as he made 'on a whim.' Dr. Shaheen, like most of us along the floodplain, (and he DOES already own property on the floodplain) considers the actions, accusations and scare-tactics of local environmental extremists as nothing more than examples of Chicken Little screaming that the sky is falling. His offer is genuine. I have heard, but cannot verify, that approximately 40 pieces of riverfront property are being considered for purchase by Dr. Shaheen.

My friend Bill was so disturbed by the BCT article that he sent me the following comments:

"muddies the waters" and "public can't consider the buyout a serious offer" ?!?

Only people who do not respect and understand PRIVATE property rights and VOLUNTARY free enterprise would reach a "muddy" judgment of Dr. Shaheen's offer.

Dr. Shaheen and any prospective sellers owe NOTHING to the general public about their transactions. Dr. Shaheen has plenty of known credibility in following through on his entrepreneurial projects. That should be enough explanation for the general public. These are PRIVATE property transactions being considered, not PUBLIC ones.

The dioxin issue has our State imposing intrusive facility labels on private property and trying to enforce overreaching regulation with total disregard for the private OWNERS of the Health, Property and Quality of Life. The Dr. Shaheen offer is extraordinary, not because of his lack of explanation, but because our Saginaw Valley's vitality has been so under attack by the MDEQ that an offer like this gets made.

If anyone warrants pressure to explain their motives, it's the MDEQ and not Dr. Shaheen.

No Facility? Maybe...

.. It's looking good right now! We have legislators who realize how ludicrous it is to call a residential property a facility. Please take a minute to read today's Midland Daily News article - Dioxin facility public hearing likely, Moolenaar thinks. If you missed it, see what we had to say on this matter last Thursday.

...Of Scientists and Disgruntled Wannabe's...

..Seeking illumination in a cloudy landscape - is the headline for the Sunday April 17, 2005 forum, written by Midland's own esteemed Dr. Richard H. Reitz. In this article Dr. Reitz explains the Toxic Equivalent (TEQ) methodology now being used to explain the complicated manner in which dioxins are being measured, as dictated by the U.S. EPA. Please read Dr. Reitz' excellent article.

We all know dioxins are bad. The fact is that some dioxins are worse than others. By combining all the various types (or congeners) of dioxins, the government agency confounds the fact of dioxins in backyards along the Tittabawassee River floodplain. During some of the studies already done, it has been determined that the dioxins measured here are a vast array of congeners. By using the government method of measurement, the actual dangers in our area are most likely less than indicated.

Now... about this Linhard person, who wrote a reader opinion lambasting the Midland Daily News for 'favoring' readers who do not believe there is a problem caused by dioxins in our soil. He is a disgruntled ex-Dow employee. He has cobbled together a variety of information from the inception of The Dow Chemical Company and put it together in a website. Most of his stuff is historical, as he 'exposes' how Dow traditionally contaminated the local landscape. He is apparently unaware of the past 25-30 years of Dow's clean-up efforts and adherence to state and national standards. This week I received, in my snailmail box, a 'newsletter' from this person who is now located in North Carolina! I resent this intrusion and recommend that any and all of us receiving such garbage do not open it. Mark the thing 'Return to Sender' and put it back in your mailbox.

Where all the 'sick people' anyway?

We Get Comments...

The latest comment...

'what do you think of chester declining to say that dioxin is harmful, or a health concern? do you think the enviro folks are losing ground? seems like it. heck, look at the story on birnbaum that the sag news had. interested in your thoughts.'- anonymous lurker Apr 16

... pushed me right into the 'arms of the opposition' as my browser gravitated over to Gary Lone Tree's version of Dr. Birnbaum's presentation last week. Gary says Dr. Birnbaum was unaware of the Michigan Department of Community Health Study. I personally doubt that statement. The difference is that he does not know how to properly interpret the data. He bases all his 'science' on his statement... 'These are NOT "normal" ranges. Dioxin is a toxic contaminant, theoretically you should not have ANY in your body.' As a matter of fact most of his essay is critical of Dr. Birnbaum!

Dioxins and all the chemical cousins, furans, have always been around... as products of various types of combustion. This would include not only forest fires, home heating, backyard cleanup burning, but volcanic action and all matter of natural and unnatural disasters. We, the human element, obtain our dioxins through ingestion of animal products. Yes, other animals are not as discriminant in their food choices as the human animal. Dioxins are stored in their fat. Most of us are carnivorous so we eat other animals. The dioxins in their fat are absorbed into our fat. Dr. Birnbaum knows this. Apparently Lone Tree members do not.

Now onward to the Chester opinion, or lack thereof. I was not at the meeting to hear him in context. From the little I know of Steve Chester, he is dedicated to his environmental obligations as Director of MDEQ. At the same time, he undoubtedly has respect for Dr. Linda Birnbaum. She has traditionally leaned toward the extremist side of environmental opinion. She is however,first and formost a scientist. Science is her life. She will report what she sees and apparently, in her oversight role with the University of Michigan study comparing dioxin in the soil with dioxin in the body, she is seeing the reality of 'no significant difference' between dioxin in humans living in the Tittabawassee River floodplain and humans living in other parts of the country.

Do I think the enviro's are 'losing ground?' That's a tough one. It would appear they are losing credibility in the situation here on and near the floodplain. Of course they never had it with the real scientists living in the Midland area because these people are as renowned as Dr. Birnbaum. Their only 'fault' is their expertise is challenged by the public attitude about the undesirability of chemicals and the chemical industry in general. Most of this public opinion is based on the dogged efforts of local environmental extremists who have an axe to grind against The Dow Chemical Company. They have been using scare tactics ever since the creation of Lone Tree Council in the 1970's.

Environmental activism in general is fueled nationally and internationally by full-time businesses. The environment may be their name but money is their game. They are deeply entrenched in our society, knowing that all of us are interested in maintaining a clean and safe environment. At the national level, environmentalist businesses sponsor meetings and pep rallies urging the environmental extremist subculture forward. So, are the enviros losing ground? I hope they are on this issue. Most of us just want the whole thing to go away and hopefully the latest studies will prove what long-term residents already know... there is no imminent danger in the backyards of residents in the Tittabawassee River floodplain. Then maybe the local environutz will just leave us alone!!!

Was it a Threat?

...Do you know who the greeters were Thursday, April 13 at Swan Valley High School where Linda Birnbaum spoke? There was a guy wearing skull & crossbones T-shirt and a rather somber woman wearing a grey-striped dress (or blouse). Frank was talking with them as I headed toward the door that night so I spoke briefly with the woman before we left. She told me I should not 'brag about my good health in public.' It sounded like a threat to me.

Good gosh... why shouldn't I brag about my health? Some of us are genetically healthy; some aren't... and there are still more of the healthy variety... even (or should I say especially) in the Tittabawassee River floodplain.

Now to the real purpose of this blog...

• About 50 Dow retirees were told there will be No Answers Soon at a retiree meeting Thursday afternoon.
• The last of the four meetings for invited guests took place Thursday night in Bay City. Jeff Kart, environmental reporter for the Bay City Times reports: Call goes out for public input at dioxin meeting. Only 15 people showed up from the invitation list, which says something about how much the general population is really worried about the whole dioxin debacle... not much I think. However, according to the article, there were about 70 attendees in the audience! Lone Tree's Terry Miller talked Dow and DEQ into allowing questions from the general audience.
• TV12's Matt Franklin was there and you can see that report (for a limited time) HERE.
• One more item of interest, Ken Patrick reports in Paper Age, asking the question, 'Were we bamboozled by environmentalists?' Ya' gotta read it! It's just another example of environmentalists creating a pocket of unemployment with their special expertise in fear-mongering!
  
  Governor Granholm should pay attention to the economic damage caused by environmentalist extremists everywhere, since Michigan is running dead last as far as jobs are concerned. All the while she is running around passing out million dollar checks to 'improve' urban areas that just continue going downhill. Jennifer, it doesn't matter that you want to 'create' jobs yourself. You are killing more jobs than you could possibly create in Michigan. It's time to turn your eyes and ears from environmentalists and toward the real job-creating industries. Michigan already has too many on the payroll. But that's another story; another time and place.

Legislators Proposal: Residents are Innocent Until Proven Guilty...

...under a legislation proposed by our local elected State officials... or as The Saginaw News reports, Legislators seek tougher'facility' designations. The current Michigan DEQ administration declared all residents along the Tittabawassee River 100 year floodplain guilty of owning a facility... which is described as property filled with hazardous waste.

Russ Harding, former Director of DEQ, recently stated that the regulation, when written during his administration, was never intended to punish residents. It was intended to designate property where industries intentionally dumped hazardous waste. Congressman Moolenaar and Senator Goschka introduced the current legislation to correct the shortcoming in that bill.

This seems to be a problem for Michigan environmental groups, most of whom represent extreme viewpoints. For local environmental extremists like Gary Henry, who wrote another venomous letter to the editor of The Saginaw News (printed yesterday), this new legislation apparently presents a threat to their grand goal to 'get Dow' for whatever reason they have. The revised legislation would allow him and his friends to declare their backyards a 'facility' if they so desire.

Mr. Henry and his cohorts just learned from their revered Dr. Linda Birnbaum that the dioxin in their backyards probably has no effect on the amount of dioxin in their bodies. Dioxin does not easily absorb into the skin; dioxin disintegrates in sunlight; Dioxin in our bodies is almost entirely caused by the amount of animal fat in our diets, and is probably the same as in other people's bodies where there is no known reason to have dioxin in the soil.

MDEQ already has way too much control over our personal property in Michigan. They have already persecuted residents for making changes to their property... be it beach, dunes, farmland or, as in Freeland, our backyards. Nobody knows who is next. Changing the current legislation just might make it a bit tougher for them to go after your residence.

Jeremiah's 'Take' on the Birnbaum Visit...

...just showed up in The Saginaw News..Expert: Food likely dioxin source. I can't understand why Michelle and Terry didn't have more to say, but I have one more observation - this one by my better half. Frank says he noticed Terry Miller, urging me to 'hurry up' when it was my turn to address Dr. Birnbaum with my question. This action was only seen when I was there. Does this mean 'they' are afraid of whatever 'I' might say? Good gosh, I hope so! Don't worry, environutz, I handed Dr. Birnbaum a letter I wrote earlier yesterday just to make sure she got the 'whole story' according to Shirley.
Will get MDN version out later. I have to transer it to my domain in order to share with y'all.

Did Dr. Birnbaum Give a Speech Yesterday?...

...WNEM TV5 was there, but I saw little to nothing about this event on TV, touted so broadly and proudly ahead of time by the Lone Tree Council and their little tribe of fear-mongering extremists. I went to Gary Henry's website to see what he had to say... nothing! What went wrong? Now I'll have to wait for The Saginaw News and Midland Daily News to read all about it. I know they were there, too, and are less concerned if the meeting doesn't necessarily run according to Michelle and her trainer's plan.

I attended this event with my husband and would guess there were probably about 150 more or less in attendance. I'd guess approximately half of the audience were from the 'skull and crossbones set' and the other half believe in sound science. What I saw...

• no picket signs and only one of those 'classy' skull and crossbones t-shirts, worn by one of the greeters of all things!
• ...at least a dozen of the most brilliant scientists in the United States and beyond. Of course there were probably more, but those were all I could identify.
• ..a woman who sounded scared to death of dioxin, obviously influenced by the enviros.
• dioxin litigants and their sympathizers who were really upset with Dr. Birnbaum's answer to their questions about what kind of dioxin levels they should expect in their bodies because they live in the Tittabawassee River floodplain. Dr. B's answer was they should expect about the same as any population in the United States. Why? Because people everywhere get more dioxin from the food in their diets than they do from their surroundings.
• ...a couple of people who experienced cancer in loved ones. They insist that there is 'a lot of cancer' in the floodplain area. One lady said 'I don't care. I don't believe her.' Yes, it sure looks that way when it happens to you and I am sorry for your pain. The truth is, however, according to Dr. Birnbaum, that your chance of getting cancer is 1 in 3 in the general U.S. population. If you live where I do that chance is increased by one per one thousand.

More later... after I get to read the newspapers. You'll probably see them first.

Roaches or Pesticides...

...Something to ask Ms. Birnbaum this evening when she gives her speech at Swan Valley High School at 6:30 pm.

It's enough to cause anybody truly interested in the environment... and humanity... to climb the walls! The new EPA decided to do a study on children in Duval County in Florida... Jacksonville.. because Florida is one of a few states where pesticides are used indoors to rid homes of indoor pests. The study would last two years. Nothing would change in their lives or households... just continuing use of pesticides. The only difference would be testing the children for any ill effects. If ill effects were detected the EPA would notify parents and take remedial action. Imagine that! Why not observe effects of people already living in the environment EPA wants to study?

This study was cancelled - April 8, 2005. Statement by Stephen L. Johnson, Acting Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency


Along came national environmental extremist organizations and whammo! ... articles like this.....Acting EPA Chief Withdraws Controversial Pesticide Project

Gilbert Ross, M.D., ACSH, says it best in his editorial, Why Johnson Is Getting Stonewalled. Ross describes the stronghold taken, even at the national level, by environmental activists with a strong political agenda.

'The environmentalists' real gripe is somewhat less likely to be articulated in the media: these groups have fought against using human toxicity data tooth and nail because they know quite well that such data will show no evidence of harm to humans from the so-called "toxins" in our environment. Their dependence on the "Precautionary Principle," wherein a lack of data mandates excessive regulation out of "safety" concerns, would finally be shown to be misplaced.'

Another Sound Science Proponent...

... this one published in the Bay City Times Sunday. Read: Dioxin dragnet should look far and wide for culprits. The writer says, '... That larger search for dioxin culprits should be based on science. It should not simply end with those who have the deepest pockets.' Everything in this watershed leads to the Saginaw Bay. It's time to put the blame where it belongs and stop blaming Dow just because they have deep pockets.

and now The Saginaw News...

...okay, I just got around to reading the Friday & Saturday issues. Jeremiah's been busy with the dioxin fiasco again with yesterday's article... Tainted land salable - Entrepreneur: I will buy out willing sellers, followed up quickly with the Saturday morning edition and two more articles:

• Lawmakers: Floodplain designation improper - Hooray for our lawmakers. At least these people know who writes their paychecks. The MDEQ (whose paychecks are paid by residents also) has declared all residents along the Tittabawassee River floodplain guilty, with neither judge nor jury... and with no proof on an individual basis. We are all guilty of having tainted soil because of sporadic soil sampling in our neighborhood.
• ...and here is a follow-up to yesterday's article about Dr. Shaheen's offer to buy up all our property. Although the headline writer says, Some residents who live along river are skeptical of Shaheen's offer, Jeremiah interviewed a variety of residents with varying viewpoints about the offer. I must admit Dr. Shaheen presents a tantalizing offer. Hmmmmmm!

Still Hope for 'Facility' Label...

... along the Tittabawassee River floodplain. Today's Midland Daily News... Bill targets 'facility' labeling reports our legislators are still working on getting that tag removed from our residential properties.

Whenever the 'facility' label is brought up to Steve Chester and his crew, their mantra is... 'It can't be removed. We didn't label it that way. It just is.'

Kathie's article says, 'The law was put into place in the mid-1990s to stimulate brownfield development. Its purpose was to require the party responsible for contamination to take responsibility for it. That hasn't changed.' My backyard... tagged for brownfield development? Oh! Now I understand. Do you want it Ms. Rhetoric? Come and get it. You can have it if you meet Dr. Sam Shaheen's offer!

If such legislation passes, do you suppose Our Mission will be accomplished?

Potpourri Noontime Addendum...

Today at noon on TV5, the report on yesterday's dioxin meeting in Saginaw was presented by Alix Hayes... and her leash was looser than Sam Merrill's last night. It may have something to do with pressures and all that but Alix should always be the one to report the news she gathers so effectively.

Potpourri Friday.....

Well, well, well! So much for good TV reporting! The local CBS TV people were in last night's meeting. I saw their report myself, even though I was unable to be at the meeting. It was a delight to see my favorite long-term Freeland resident, Howard Vasold, was there and put in another important point about the whole frivolous dioxin fiasco. Howard said he was more concerned about automobile exhaust fumes than the dioxin in his property. Bravo Howard! You won't find this report on the internet though. TV5, true to their goal for sensationalism, only published the pics of their cameraman being disinvited from the Midland meeting.

Howard told me Michelle passed out a pile of paper complaining 'Dow and DEQ Reinventing the Public Participation Wheel'..... whatever!!! Basically she's whining because she thought her little group of troublemakers had an 'in' with Steve Chester and his version of MDEQ.

Speaking of 'disinviting' - there is a rumor that Michelle Redneck/Rhetoric, the self-purported queen of 'transparent' meetings, has been known to disinvite individuals from meetings.

Curious to know what priority one residential property looks like?...
Just for kicks, here's a picture of our March 8 flood last year, compliments of Michigan Department of Environmental Quality. Thank you Cheryl. (Since the Tittabawassee River crest is measured in Midland, the river actually continued to rise for two days after the 8th in Tittabawassee Township.) As you can see, the river covered more than half of our one acre property. This is an annual event, except September 1986 when we had 5 feet of river plus assorted river dwelling critters in our house. That's my friend Howard's property in the lower right corner. Click the photo to see it better.

We received our packet from AKTPeerless (the company contracted by Dow for remediation of priority one properties) this week. The packet included a 3-page letter and enough paper to choke an elephant... mostly repeats of paper we already received in mailings from MDEQ and/or Dow. We need to respond to AKTPeerless regardless of our decision regarding use of their services. I'm not concerned about dioxin but I am sick and tired of the annual floods, especially since the 1986 disaster. Do you think I should request they berm up our backyard property?

More on the April 6, 2005 MDEQ/Dow meeting in Midland... My friend, Bill Egerer presented an excellent case for the real stakeholders in the 'dioxin sandwich' along the banks of the Tittabawassee River. It is my privilege to share the letter Bill wrote to Steve Chester pointing out the Midland Matters position on this fiasco. Click to read Bill's letter.

Until next time... just remember..... 'My facility is 99.9999999% dioxin and other contaminants free!'

Dow, DEQ goal: Communicate openly...

..says Kathie in Midland Daily News and it looks like that will be it. Today's 6:00 news at TV5 announced they will be in the meeting room tonight. I'm glad I won't be there to see the interactions with TV cameras present. The last dioxin meeting I attended that allowed cameras was the U of M CAP meeting. It ended up being all about the environmental extremists, with one of them really grandstanding before he handed back the microphone and marched out of the meeting! Well, so much for effective meetings, eh?

'I know there's asparagus around here somewhere!'

Shirley's 'take' on the MDEQ/Dow meeting yesterday in Midland? Here is what I saw:

• No pickets! Did Ms. Rhetoric have other plans for the evening?
• Respectable news journalists were present, pen in hand.
• Local CBS cameraman made a fool of himself, obviously trying to prove why CBS is number 3 behind NBC and ABC.
• One of the invited guests stated that the general public is too dumb to be interested in the dioxin situation. Then she expanded on it, urged on by a fellow across the table from her. These two people kept feeding on each other's concept that we need their help because they are superior beings. (Did they think that was why they were invited?)
• The meeting was run more efficiently than the first one in which I was an invited guest. There was more time for input from the guests.
• Our friend Bill Egerer read a piece of his prepared statement to Mr. Chester. Bill mentioned the stakeholders should have three things...
  • a property tax statement(indicating property ownership in the area)...
  • a local health related card (indicating patronage in local health care facilities)...
  • and a library card (indicating local quality of life).
• Several very intelligent, well educated stakeholders in the audience with me... none of whom would even suggest that the general public is dumb! I was fortunate to talk with several gentlemen who know more about dioxin than any MDEQ scientist. Lookin' good, guys!... must be the hormesis effect of working with all that dioxin, eh?
• A half dozen or so environmental extremists sans signs.

I walked away with a new logo... but the picture is still in my head...'My facility is 99.9999999% dioxin and other contaminants free!' Can you say that about your property?

Dr. Reitz on Reality of MDEQ/Dow Framework...

Dr. Richard Reitz, toxicologist and dioxin expert, expressed his concerns about the framework in the April 3 Midland Daily News. Some of Dr. Reitz' concerns are:

"Throughout the agreement, MDEQ remains committed to a clean-up criterion of 90 ppt dioxin equivalents. Nowhere is there any discussion of relaxing the clean-up criterion to the ATSDR action level of 1,000 ppt dioxin equivalents."

"Priority 1 sites were selected because MDEQ presumed that they exceeded 1,000 ppt dioxin equivalents."

"...even just presumed to exceed the MDEQ residential direct contact criterion of 90 ppt will be designated a facility."

"My background as a scientist tells me that these insoluble, nonvolatile, tightly bound molecules cannot be as readily absorbed as MDEQ "guesstimates" suggest."

Dr. Reitz is representative of the many highly respected, world-reknowned scientists residing in Midland. If only the MDEQ had a few scientists of his caliber within their ranks, the hysteria of environmental extremist groups would not be tolerated. Perhaps it's time for Governor Granholm to replace a few political leaders of the agency with real scientists.

Another note of interest in Sunday's papers... the Saginaw News editorial supports dredging of the Saginaw River by the Army Corps of Engineers. It's about time logic and common sense enter into these pressing environmental and economic decisions...
River dredging: Time to move Sunday, April 03, 2005 Editorial.

Don't forget... today at 6:30 pm... Midland Holiday Inn..... MDEQ and Dow Chemical listen to Midland stakeholders concerns and ideas about the framework and beyond.

A big thank you to my friend, Ed Stroiwos, for your photos of the 1986 flood! You will find them HERE... and on our blogroll list.

About Lies and Untruths...

...I must share a recent reader's comment, posted on my March 30 blog entry. Thank you for sharing your opinion with us. Not only did you point out some of the latest lies being expressed by Lonetree and it's leaders, but visiting their site prompted me to view their 1986 flood pictures! If that flood was motivation for a few residents to sue Dow and get their panties in a bundle about dioxin, it shows what sorry little puppies the extremist version of environmentalists really are! My backyard looks like that every year... at the beginning stages of the spring thaw floods. 1986 gave us almost six feet of water in our house... complete with a few snakes and frogs!

About the liars... They complain that Jim Sygo was from the old Engler era. Well, duh! Wasn't the whole Michigan DEQ created by Engler? Looks to some of us like the governor, when she assigned the whole mess to Lt. Governor John Cherry to handle our dioxin mess, did the right thing. You don't try to reinvent the wheel when it's already three-quarters done! Steve Chester and his new group were undoubtedly chosen from a more extreme version of environmentalists and really were not open to anything Dow scientists had to say. The more involved they got the more futile the whole project became. The way our local extreme environmentalists have treated him recently, I believe the past two years have been a learning experience for Mr. Chester.

One of the biggest differences between the old DEQ and the new is something called The Precautionary Principle. What is that? Boiled down to simplistic terms, environmental extremists believe the average human cannot take care of her/himself. The ideal environment is one with no risk. Although the concept was growing for some time, having begun in Germany earlier, it all became a standard to live by when a group of academics got together in a fancy convention center called Wingspread. They put together a document referred to as the Wingspread Statement on the Precautionary Principle. This statement has become their gospel.

Now that I've shown you the extremist viewpoint, you must also read a bit of common sense, expressed in the following article published in July 2003... Challenging the precautionary principle - How has society come to be governed by the maxim 'better safe than sorry'? ...by Helene Guldberg.

Following quote is from the Wingspread Statement:

The principle of precautionary action has 4 parts:

1. People have a duty to take anticipatory action to prevent harm.
(As one participant at the Wingspread meeting summarized the essence
of the precautionary principle, "If you have reasonable suspicion that
something bad might be going to happen, you have an obligation to try
to stop it.")

2. The burden of proof of harmlessness of a new technology, process,
activity, or chemical lies with the proponents, not with the general
public.

3. Before using a new technology, process, or chemical, or starting
a new activity, people have an obligation to examine "a full range of
alternatives" including the alternative of doing nothing.

4. Decisions applying the precautionary principle must be "open,
informed, and democratic" and "must include affected parties.

Meanwhile... many, or even most, environmental groups gather together with others of their kind - like they did at Wingspread - and plan, or connive. Not only do they want to block new technology, they want to oppress technologies already developed. How do you feel about technology? Me? I prefer modern medicine, modern technology and all the wonderful stuff the real scientists create. Real scientists create; wannabe scientists destroy. Who do you believe?
Shucks folks... that Wingspread Statement created by all those 'brilliant' academics, was already done..... beginning back in 1811 in England by followers of Ned Lud, and the most recent infamous Luddite was know as the Unabomber!