No WONDER MDEQ rules Michigan under the 'because we told you so' rule!!!

Their counterpart on the national level, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, operates in the same fashion! I just read this article by ACSH > Facts & Fears:"We Should Expect More from the EPA"

ACSH and another group jointly filed a petition calling on the EPA to eliminate "junk science" from the process by which it determines whether a substance is likely to cause cancer in humans. They petitioned that EPA eliminate guidelines wherein the EPA labels 'likely' human carcinogens based on results attained by feeding rodents enormous amounts of chemicals to induce cancer in the rodents.

When EPA finally responded to the groups they dodged the issue by '...claiming that their Risk Assessment Guidelines are not statements of scientific fact -- and thus not covered by the IQA -- but merely statements of EPA policy.'

Sounds a little like MDEQ's definition --- and then redefinition --- of 'facility', doesn't it?

Why the 'Fish Advisory'...

... because the bureaucrats are increasingly aware that living with dioxin in the environment does NOT make a significant difference in the bodies of human inhabitants! The fact is the ATSDR (Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry) has been conducting studies on individuals in Louisana for the past 6-7 years to discover if there is any significant difference in dioxins in the human body in people living in an industrial belt compared to others. They just published their results on March 15, 2006. They found NO SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE!!! Must be Louisianans get their food at supermarkets just like we do here in the mid-Michigan area along the Tittabawassee!

I'm sure the University of Michigan study will produce similar results. I'm sure Mr. Chester and his jolly band already have a pretty good idea of how that study will turn out. Read all about the Louisiana study here:

• Dioxin Blood Level Study Results Released - reported on KPLC TV – Lake Charles, LA
• Study shows Acadiana Dioxin levels normal; Calcasieu Parish residents had health concerns By PATRICK COURREGES, Acadiana bureau. Published: Mar 17, 2006
• Serum Dioxin Levels in Residents of Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana PDF file published by ATSDR March 15, 2006

Meanwhile, along the Tittabawassee..... the floods came... the floods stayed long enough to worry us a bit... the floods are receding... by tomorrow it will just be a dirty muddy mess along the floodplain. Although it reportedly crested at levels compared to March 2004, it did not come up as high downstream in Freeland, thank heaven. It actually didn't have me worried until Thursday when it peaked here.

I dutifully phoned AKT Peerless, the environmental company hired by Dow Chemical to do the temporary cleanups. The young lady came out and took photos of the flooded area, although it came up even more after she left. I don't think they'll clean up all the yard trash and miscellaneous other trash that landed in my backyard.

The paperwork handed to me by AKT Peerless representative highlighted they would clean mud off any paved surfaces... and would clean up any carpets, etc. that might have been muddied by flood waters. Shucks! I didn't have the lower half acre paved yet! I guess my family and I will have to clean it up ourselves just like we always have in past years!

Chemistry in Michigan...

Note to Ms. Jennifer Granholm and all of your enviro-extremist friends: Here is a bit of trivia I learned today at a website called americanchemistry.com: Michigan:

"27,738 jobs are directly created by the chemical industry in Michigan.
Chemical industry average wages in Michigan are $71,857 - 28.2% higher than other manufacturing wages in Michigan."

P.S. The river is still rising. Regulate dams instead of science.

Apparently the MDEQ thinks we 'river rats' along the Tittabawassee River floodplain are a bunch of Neanderthals!

Today I stray from my usual method of commenting about the DEQ/dioxin news. Below is a copy of the Saginaw News article published yesterday. My comments - in color and bold - are interspersed with the article - for reasons that are obvious as you read it.

Eating fish from river not healthy, DEQ says
Friday, March 10, 2006
JEREMIAH STETTLER
THE SAGINAW NEWS
State health officials say living and dining along the Tittabawassee River may increase a person's dioxin exposure up to 3,900 percent, a brochure mailed to about 500 riverside resident suggests. Wow! Talk about scare tactics… the MDEQ is now using the same type of exaggeration as their buddies in the eviro-extremist organizations!!!
The Department of Environmental Quality brochure, sent to property owners eligible for landscaping and house cleaning because of dioxin, paints a startling picture of what contamination a riverside resident might consume by eating sport fish and wild game from the floodplain.

By eating walleye for dinner one night and deer the next one time a month, a riverside resident would increase dioxin exposure 320 percent over what the average adult experiences, even if the person abided by every state precaution for avoiding contact with the soil, the brochure says.

Change that diet to one meal of catfish and another of deer, deer liver or wild turkey and the exposure rises 1,000 percent higher than that of the average adult, the document says.

The worse-case scenario is a person who eats seven meals of sport fish from the Tittabawassee River a month -- a diet that also would include bottom-feeders such catfish and carp -- and ignores all recommendations for avoiding dioxin. That person would increase exposure to the contaminant 3,900 percent. Oh yeah… us'ns livin' along the Tipadawas floodplain are all livin’ off the land… killin’ and eatin’ off the land – all the deer meat and fish we can kill – the big delicacies bein’ them thar carps ‘n catfish!!! The deer meats we like the best is livers ‘n all them inner organs… and ya know what? The specialty on our dinner plates is a good ol’ mess a’ squirrel brains ‘n eggs! …and a’course thet tar wild turkey is a reg’lar feature on our Sunday supper tables!

State officials say they are trying to spread facts, not fear, about a persistent pollutant that Dow Chemical Co. historically released.

"This isn't a scare tactic," said Robert McCann, spokesman for the DEQ. "What this is doing is presenting some scientific data in a real-world scenario so people can understand it."

Dow officials call the advisory a distortion of the facts -- an objection they raised before state regulators approved the document.
"We don't agree with everything in that brochure, least of all that graph as being a true depiction of the risks of living on the floodplain," said Dow spokesman John C. Musser.
Nevertheless, the chemical giant's operating license requires the company to distribute the brochure to properties with elevated dioxin levels.

Dow officials contend that riverside residents face no "imminent health threat." They argue further that the state's assumptions in developing its advisory -- such as the amount of dioxin absorbed into the blood when a person swallows soil -- are extreme. Man, yer right there, Dow-guys!!! We-uns eats thet dirt a lots ‘n we be's jist fine anyhow! We washes our hands in the river water whilst we’re out there catchin’ supper! Thirsty and we run outa beer er moonshine? We jist dip our jugs er bottles into the river and drink up a slug a that good ol’ fresh runnin’ water!

State officials stand behind the data. Toxicologists such as Linda Dykema, manager of the Toxicology and Response Section of the state Department of Community Health, say the numbers are based on hard science. While the brochure does not speak to health effects, Dykema said it is reasonable to assume that people with higher exposure have a greater likelihood of developing health problems. Hey Ms. Community Health lady!!! Have ya ever looked at health statistics fer us’ns along the Tipadawas???? ‘ceptin fer a few strangers who done moved in, bringin’ their sicknesses with ‘em, we ain’t as sickly as most city folk!

Studies have linked dioxin to reproduction problems, birth defects, diabetes and some forms of cancer in laboratory animals. Studies also link drugs ordered by are docters to some'a this here stuff too! Ya know... feed a rat er a mouse enough a anythin' an' he's gonna get some kinda sick! Same thing prob'ly happen ta us'ns if ya feed us enough a it... 'ceptin the Russian guy done got lotsa dioxin an' a bad dose a pimples! Does thet mean folks ain't reactin' the same way as rats 'n mice?

"We're trying to drive home the point that people should adhere to the fish advisory," Dykema said. "We hope to reach those people who are taking their catch home for dinner."
The state has advised anglers not to eat carp or catfish out of the Tittabawassee River and to limit their consumption of smallmouth bass, white bass and several other species because of dioxin contamination.

The brochure also encourages residents to abide by the state's recommendations for reducing dioxin exposure at home -- such as removing shoes before coming indoors, vacuuming frequently and washing hands and clothes after working outside.
Copies of document are available online at www.michigan.gov/deqdioxin. I dun went ta the link here and had a hecka ‘a time tryin’ ta find thet document yer talkin’ ‘bout. Thet deq website makes ya read all kindsa stuff in order ta find what yer really lookin’ fer!

Saginaw News: http://www.mlive.com/news/sanews/index.ssf?/base/news-18/1142000532175010.xml&coll=9

Well, taday the weather is jacket-y instead of many layers-y and I dun got a river in my backyard again. Guess I'll go fishin' & catch supper. Don't gotta go as far taday!

Addendum - Safe to eat MORE fish from Saginaw River...

State fishing advisory cloudy: Following excerpt from this article in today's Saginaw News - "Some of the latest data say it's OK to eat fish more often from some areas, such as small walleye in the Saginaw River. Other data add advisories, such as one for brown trout in Lake Michigan, said Kory J. Groetsch, a toxicologist with Community Health in Lansing who works on the guide when time allows. " Notice how things sound out of context? Enviro-extremists do it frequently! Just thought I'd share...

The Tittabawassee River will rise... the dioxin controversy will continue to flow...

...and I've been catching up on my reading. There really isn't much new going on along the river except:

• Snow is melting; it's melting fast. Ditches are filling up and runoff is headed toward the river. Weather people are predicting rain - lots of rain. Coupled with the runoff this would be enough to make the river rise even before the dams let loose - or perhaps the 'powers over our northern dams' are releasing water even as we speak. They should have done it as soon as there was water flowing... but no, they wait until it will cause a really significant flood downstream toward... well, that would be us - residents along the Tittabawassee River floodplain. In my experience living here, I can honestly say the flooding is a much bigger problem than 'historical dioxin' is.
• John Musser, the Dow employee who works with MDEQ employees, wrote a letter to the editor of Midland Daily News. He states that MDEQ & Dow have worked together and points out results to date... amounting to a great deal of time, manpower and dollars.
  It appears that Dow is interested in people and science, neither of which appears to be necessary components within the MDEQ bureaucracy, nor of concern to the enviro-extremists' queen of Michigan, Ms. Granholm. Dow is aware of the needs of the people living along the Tittabawassee River floodplain (owners of MDEQ-designated 'facilities') and owners of Midland properties, residential and otherwise, existing 'downwind' of Dow (labeled Priority 2(?), but NOT 'facilities' - yet.)
• Chief litigants in their consuming desire for big money from the chemical 'giant' added their own comment to Mr. Musser's letter. Following is directly as they wrote it:

  'Mr. Musser should check out today's Saginaw News editorial. You may be able to fool some of the people in Midland, but the rest of us aren't buying it. KATHY HENRY
  gary henry'

• The Saginaw News as an authority concerning science? ...and WHO does the lady think is being fooled? Here is the Saginaw News editorial they refer as the scientific dioxin authority; it is titled Dioxin cleanup plan falls short, published in SN March 7.
• Oh! Here is the original OurView from Midland Daily News that prompted Mr. Musser to send a letter to the editor... the title: Our View: Compromise will be in order. Actually I also commented on this one... right at the site - online Midland Daily News. For that reason I'm sharing my copy of the article... highlights and all. Just for emphasis, I repeat my main point here:

  '(we residents)...believe that most of the 'historical dioxin' has been redistributed and spread into such small amounts that it's foolish to be concerned dioxin is a problem ...(we) believe there would have been a 'historical problem' of disease if that 'historical dioxin' was a problem.
  
  The only problem we long term residents see is an interfering group of enviro-extremists with an agenda and an overly zealous bunch of bureaucrats.'

• I'm sharing my copy of this last article... from the Bay City Times, just because: Some not convinced it's a good place to spend a lot of time. This is about Tobico Marsh, where even MDEQ admits existence of lead and arsenic - alongside public trails - and yet they let it go by as a non-problem. It's all about, as the article says: '...harmful pollution from an old landfill that's been seeping into the wetlands... out to the Saginaw Bay.'

Did you miss the MDEQ/Dow Town Hall meeting on February 9?

So did I. Now's our chance to get caught up. We can watch the whole thing on MCTV-3. Here's the schedule:

• Tuesday, March 7 - 11:30pm
• Wednesday, March 8 - 12:00 Midnight (Thursday am)
• Friday, March 10 - 10:00pm
• Saturday, March 11 - 1:00pm
• Saturday, March 11 - 12:00 Midnight (Sunday am)
• Sunday, March 12 - 8:00am
• Sunday, March 12 - 8:00pm

Another Day... Another Roadblock to progress in the alleged dioxin problem along our Tittabawassee River floodplain.

I just left a response to another Our View on the editorial page of Midland Daily News. This article, published yesterday is titled Compromise will be in order. It's in reference to EPA's input about the inadequacy of Dow's workplan. Click it and read it... if you haven't already. Well, click it anyway so you can read my no-nonsense response!

You know, there's an old saying, 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it.' For some reason this saying doesn't appear to mean anything to bureaucrats and enviro-extremists who go around looking for things to complain about. I guess it must provide them with a feeling of job security. Is this Ms. Granholm's idea of creating jobs? This non-problem creates a lot of busy work where an actual PROBLEM is NOT IDENTIFIED.

Yes, you heard that right!!! If there was no pocket of disease along the Tittabawassee River floodplain back when dioxin allegedly flowed into the river uncontrolled way before brilliant Dow Chemical scientists found a way to measure teeny tiny minute amounts of the stuff, and there is no pocket of disease today now that even bureaucratic scientists (is that an oxymoron?) can find the stuff, then where is the problem? Wow! Ol' Sister Mary Whoever sure would be on my case for THAT sentence, wouldn't she?

Anyway folks, this is how we long-term residents in Freeland feel about the whole alleged dioxin problem. Nobody has proved it is a problem because nobody has looked at actual PEOPLE who live here. If longevity of residents with a history of ancestry right here in Freeland is an indicator, there is no problem. That's right folks. It ain't broke!!! Get the government out of our backyards. They are causing anxiety and problems where none existed before their interference.