Looks Like Another Busy Summer in the Tittabawassee River Floodplain...

..Points of Interest This Week:

• U of M Community Update: U-M dioxin results rolling out, but only to property owners is the Midland Daily News version. I was unable to attend that meeting but some of my friends were there. Here's what Bill Egerer had to say about it...
  
  

  Science prevails in media reporting of U of M meeting last week. Dr. Garabrant conducted another community information meeting in Freeland last Thursday evening. The topic was the release of individual test results for soil samples.
  
  Copy of the letter template discussed at the meeting is available at: http://www.sph.umich.edu/dioxin/Results%20Letter%20-%20soil.pdf
  
  For a variety of reasons, the attendance was very low, but Eldon Graham and Norm Skelly were scientists in the audience keeping tabs on the reports. Media from several newspapers, radio and 2 TV stations attended. In fact, if one takes the whole room attendance and subtract the U of M team; the CAP members and the media, the remaining folks averaged about 1 scientist for every 5 lay people.
  
  Media seemed craving for something of “sizzle”, but the meeting content, Q&A and atmosphere were pretty “matter of fact”. Following the meeting, Len/Cheryl were greeting Eldon and Norm. Media wanted a story from the community and was drawn to our small discussion circle. Norm and Len were interviewed and covered in the Fox66 10PM news segment with good quotes. The radio, newspaper and other outlets either reported basic facts, Dr. G’s quotes or carried nothing.
  
  This is a win; no emotional hype, Dr. G got his message out and the media actually talked to a scientist!!
  
  Granted, our opponents were noticeable MIA as they and MDEQ “boycott” giving the Exposure Study any attention; not wanting to acknowledge it’s importance to the public policy debate.
  
  So THANKS to Eldon and Norm for attending and helping to get science in the spotlight.

• There was an editorial in The Saginaw News, by Russ Harding. I missed it then but caught it at mackinaw.org. In case you missed it too, here it is... Dioxin Agreement Needs Sound Science and Protection for Property Owners - Thank you for your continuing support, sir!
• DEQ Community Advisory Panel Meeting on June 28, 2005... I received this information in email yesterday from Cheryl Howe, MDEQ. Read the full invitation here. Put this date on your calendars. These CAP meetings were begun as a way for 'the community' to communicate with the MDEQ. Unfortunately, at that time, 'the community' consisted of Lone Tree Council and assorted hand-picked residents... all indoctrinated by and/or in agreement with... the environmental extremist, pseudo-scientific viewpoints. It's time to have a few residents and resident scientists attending these meetings.
• Coincidentally, I read in the Midland Daily News yesterday that the Lone Tree Council has scheduled the next in their series of lectures. Read the Midland Daily News...Viable solutions for rivers is topic of next Lone Tree Council speaker series for more details. This meeting is scheduled for Wednesday June 22nd 2005 at 6:30 pm in the Lecture Theatre, Delta College Campus. Park on the east side of the building J wing. We need a strong turnout for this meeting also. The speaker, like Linda Birnbaum, is an EPA employee. With all due respect, I do not criticize the intelligence of these U.S. government employees, but it is important for you to know there has been controversy as to reliability of their data.
  
  The U.S. Chamber of Commerce recently reopened a previous complaint about this unreliability. Read: Chamber Renews Call for EPA to Correct Database Errors
• A bit of Personal Stuff: Power Outage in Freeland - Some of today's blog was 'ready to go' yesterday afternoon. Unfortunately, due to summertime weather patterns, we had no power for awhile so I took advantage of the downtime and joined the husband in a bit of errand-running.
  
  Apparently I have critics. Good! That lends authenticity in my humble opinion. Just an FYI - this ol' brawd has been around long enough that I don't have to rely on anybody for my information or opinions. For example,
  • even though I know a member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, I did not receive the information about that article from him.
  • I received the email about the June 28 meeting directly from Cheryl Howe. Thank you, Cheryl.
  • I am funded by nobody except my puny pension and a tiny amount from a lifetime of paying into Social Security.. and that's the way I prefer it.
  ...and one last word or two. Our intelligence is a genetic gift. It has no geography or social status. All the education and training in the world is only as good as the common sense we use along with that intelligence.