It's been a busy past two weeks for the dioxin issue...

...and quite informative! Yesterday, local papers reported results of the University of Michigan study of a comparison of dioxins in the human blood with dioxins in their physical environment. Since all had the same info, I'm sharing here the one from Midland Daily News titled Dioxin in Midlanders' blood - even though it relates to the whole study. Here also is today's article in The Saginaw News, written by a new young intern reporter, Vince Bond Jr: What does it all mean?

Gotta tell you - I want to share what I saw at this meeting but this is undoubtedly one of my busiest Wednesdays in a long time! Attended business all morning and I'm trying to get this in before a mid-afternoon appointment. This evening - another commitment... so I guess you'll just have to wait until tomorrow. Meanwhile, I'd like to share the handouts from last night. You can find them all by going to the U/M Dioxin website.

...and just because I already saved this collection of local articles for those who do not read every page of every local newspaper, here is a variety of viewpoints for last week. In case you don't have time to read them all, you must read this one, published 8/6/2006 in the Midland Daily News - This article was actually written by enviro-extremist Terry Miller, with comment by Kathy Henry, to whom Yours Truly left a comment. In light of the general attitude of the majority of residents along the Tittabawassee and latest information from Dr. Garabrant's 2-year study, do they not appear quite foolish?: Forum: Looking for more than words; it's time for action

Published 8/11/2006 - Saginaw News article about the MDEQ/Dow quarterly informational meeting to the public last week at Horizons. - First soil sampling segment complete

...and these two, published 8/10/2006 in the Midland Daily News - Contaminated sediment won't be removed yet

The way the river moves: Dow is working to find out

Published 7/27/2006, this article covers Dow projects to clean up water around the world... even developing technology for third world countries without electricity. -
Dow re-energizes clean water efforts - Midland Daily News.

Ooooops!

Midland Daily News - Dioxin meeting Wednesday ... and guess who made promises to be someplace else that day? Ah well, maybe I can stop in before it's over. I'm hoping we will be well represented without me there anyway.

I can predict this: The whole Lone Tree gang will be there enmasse and vocal! They seem to get all the attention they want by both Dow & MDEQ whenever any of them wants to speak - so I just won't have to listen to them, will I?

Please be there - 6:30 - 9:00 pm. I'll be there in time to take roll before the meeting is over.

Speaking of Lone Tree and attention - just read this article, published in Midland Daily News yesterday: Looking for more than words; it's time for action - a forum article written by none other than the long winded enviro-wacko Terry Miller.

Update... sort of.

Been doing loads of reading... just not taking time for the commentary, but what I heard on the news this morning... just gotta share! I haven't read it anywhere yet but the local NBC TV news people reported that Ms. Granholm, our current governor, attended a public function featuring... tah dah!!!... Michael Moore! Good heavens! Even more fodder for getting her out of office!

Here's my collection of current reading... comments graciously accepted:
========================================
Chemical & Engineering News: Latest News - EPA's Dioxin Review Is Criticized: "EPA's Dioxin Review Is Criticized
National Research Council report says agency may have overstated cancer risks
Bette Hileman"

Dioxin risk appears to depend on methodology
By Elizabeth Weise, USA TODAY
Updated 7/11/2006 9:51 PM ET

...this will not change:

Federal dioxin review flows downriver to Saginaw, Bay City

http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2006/711/1

Dioxin Less Dangerous?By Erik StokstadScienceNOW Daily News11 July 2006
'Low doses of dioxin may not be as carcinogenic as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) states in its draft risk assessment, according to a panel of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS).'

Panel Says Dioxin May Pose Less of a Risk By BLOOMBERG NEWSPublished: July 12, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/12/health/12brfs-005.html

========================================

Dioxin analysis results/exposure estimates -- Updated June 2006

Science academy joining dioxin debate
Thursday, June 22, 2006
JEREMIAH STETTLER
THE SAGINAW NEWS

Dioxin bill passes in House; effect uncertain
Kathie Marchlewski, Midland Daily News
06/22/2006

Major excavation of contaminated dirt clearing way for new Midland stadium
Thursday, June 22, 2006
By JEFF KART
TIMES WRITER

===================================================
Will a Dioxin Panel Bring Down EPA's "House of Carcinogens"?
By Gilbert Ross, M.D.

Call Off the Dioxin Dogs
By Michael Fumento

========================================
Midland Daily News - Dow re-energizes clean water efforts

Midland Daily News - Dioxin, EPA and science: When will they meet?

Dioxin, EPA and science: When will they meet?:
Michael Gough, Midland Daily News
07/23/2006"

Michael Gough is a fellow at the George Marshall Institute. A former director of science and risk studies at the Cato Institute, he is an expert on environmental policy and risk assessment. He was a senior associate at the congressional Office of Technology Assessment and previously taught microbiology at Baylor College of Medicine and SUNY-Stony Brook. He is the author of Dioxin, Agent Orange (1986) and the coeditor of Silencing Science (1999), Readings in Risk (1990) and The Alchemy of Policy Making: Political Manipulation of Science (2003). His more than 40 publications on public policy have centered on cancer risk assessment and policy and on dioxin risks.

Reader comment provided by A North Carolina resident and disgruntled former Dow employee.

I won't say 'I told you so' but...

..have you seen our local newspapers today? We haven't read it enough to speak volumes about it yet but it appears that complaints by environmental extremists have been exaggerated more than just a little bit.

Academy review 'like the Supreme Court' (Saginaw News)

River remains toxic, but not quite as
bad (Saginaw News)

National Academy of Science review of dioxin due
today (Midland Daily News)

Example of premature gobble-dee-gook: Tracey Easthope, who buddies up with MDEQ folks, some of the local environutz, and also has the ear of Ms. Granholm, had a comment already. She '... sees nothing ground-breaking.' Local econut, Terry Miller says, 'The review is yet another piece of science strengthening the call for cleanup of the riverbanks and riverbeds downstream from Midland.'

Strange they should feel that way since this results of this peer group review indicate TCDD is '... about 40 percent less toxic than believed during its 1998 analysis.'

Find out for yourself what the Academy says at national-academies.org. There you can read the news release, the full report or a brief version, or if you wish, you can listen to the briefing. Thank you Kathie Marchlewski, for pointing us in this direction with your Midland Daily News article.

...and later this evening I found this little gem: Asbestos and dioxin and enviros. Oh, my! It's just a little blog... go ahead and read it!

'Sound Science' Bill...

Read it here first: Midland Daily News says:Moolenaar's dioxin bill passed by committee. Even the DEQ likes this one so what will the enviro-extremists not like about it?

...and in case you haven't heard about the U.S. Supreme Court (in)decision on the Rapanos wetlands federal case, here it is: High court muddies wetlands rules

I'm sure you're all aware of the giant weeds along the Saginaw Bay shoreline. These monsters are called phragmites and they were in the news last week. Shoreline residents worry that phragmite problem poses fire hazard

Michigan seeks beach agreement: Compromise would involve property owners, environmentalists.

DEQ claims to be 'doing something about...' this problem but hey, folks! We put my little boat in the water last week and all I saw up and down the shoreline was those nasty, six to seven foot tall weeds! Just in case you wonder what they look like, I'm sharing (again) a photo I took in February 2005 at the Bay City State Park. Somebody saw this pic on my computer monitor and asked me where I found the old 'muddy road' in that picture. Imagine his shock and dismay when I told him it was the State Park and the 'road' was actually a trail for snowmobiles to get out on the bay ice!

Precautionary Principle dictates...

..if gigantic amounts of anything causes cancer in rats or mice, it will cause cancer in humans!

You Dirty Rats! (from TCSDaily.com Europe) May 30, 2006 By Dr. Elizabeth Whelan.

Aspartame -- those little blue packets with the trade name NutraSweet -- cause cancer! It was official! Not so fast. Earlier this month, the European equivalent of the FDA said, "Never mind"...

Read what Dr. Whelan had to say at...
http://www.acsh.org/healthissues/newsID.1339/healthissue_detail.asp

Mega amounts of dioxin only caused a bad case of pimples to our friend Yuschenko, so what do you suppose the decision should be concerning teeny tiny super-microscopic amounts of dioxin in soil? Duh!

All you really need to know about dioxin in Midland and the Tittabawassee River floodplain...

..is right here in the Midland Daily News online!!! The Dioxin archive contains articles from December 9, 2004 - Dioxin research meeting tonight to February 24, 2006 - DEQ agrees with EPA dioxin plan concerns. No, it's not all the MDN articles but if you're a late-comer and want to know what all the fuss is about, this is a great opportunity to catch up on the facts.

From time to time the lonetree gang has criticized MDN - accusing them of reporting bias in favor of Dow Chemical. If you read these articles you will clearly see that is not the case.

On another matter, 'anonymous' left the following comment after reading the letter to editor of the Saginaw News:

'what does this hugh guy know? please. the people at the deq have degrees. they work with legit scientists from universities and the federal government. i wouldn't trust dow chemical to give me correct driving directions. and the line 'watch the pistons' is so ridiculous. i'm sure you and this guy think global warming needs more study, too.'

This comment is an example of the mentality of the average lonetree council member/supporter. Who lies, 'anonymous'? I'll tell you! I have been present when lies were told by Steve Chester (the MDEQ director), a physician from Saginaw who happens to be a lonetree council supporter, and assorted others from your 'experts'! When brought to their attention they refer to these lies as 'lapses of memory' or 'interpretation of meaning'. The dioxin archive clearly shows a relatively fair and balanced collection of articles. I'm not so sure you'll find this sort of honesty in any of the enviro-extremist papers or websites!

On the subject of global warming, I suggest you read State of Fear by Michael Chrichton. It's a novel based on fact... and unlike your enviro-extremist friends, Chrichton even provides references to where he attained the facts he uses in the novel.

Letter to Editor in yesterday's Saginaw News...

...wasn't included in the online MLive edition so I scanned it for you. Titled 'Minimal Risk' - I couldn't have said it better myself!!! Thank you Mr. Fitch... sounds like you've met some of the Lonetree gang and their merry band of MDEQ 'experts'.

BTW - perhaps this is just another of Ms. Granholm's attempts to 'create jobs' - as I observed a couple of DPW workers slaving in the hot sun to clean off the 'dioxin-laden soil' from the dock at Freeland's Festival Park the other day. Seems more like 'make work' than it does 'job creation.'

Property Owners and MDEQ...

..and wetlands, 'the law' and money!
DEQ director gets earful on wetlands
You've seen MDEQ in the sand dunes, on the beaches, our rivers... and in all of these cases, our personal, private property! Our taxes put paychecks in their pockets but Michigan Department of Environmental Quality continues to persecute the homeowners... this time in the Sault Ste. Marie area way way up north! You can bet your booties Mr. Chester sings all the way to the bank with our hard-earned dollars as he grins at the homeowner and says... “The law does not prohibit building in wetland areas.” adding his agency issues permits on 90 percent of the requests. “If we can avoid wetland loss, that is our mission. If it's not feasible, then we need to minimize the impact to protect as much as possible while meeting the needs of the land owner.”

potpourri - lots of potpourri....

Wednesday, May 10 – Meeting at Horizons – MDEQ/Dow to inform public of current status.
Kathie Marchlewski reported it in Midland Daily News. I don’t really have time to tell you my personal impressions overall but can tell you this: The enviro-extremist groups are becoming increasingly agitated with ‘progress’ because they don’t really want progress. They want Dow to ‘fix’ something that ‘ain’t broke.’ They demanded a great deal of the public comment time at this May 10 meeting. About every third time one of them spoke yet again… I insisted on getting my 2 cents worth in…

The environutz do not care about facts. They are all wrapped up in ‘what-if’s’ and ‘could-be’s.’ They are more concerned about possibilities – not probabilities!

http://www.ourmidland.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=16621734&BRD=2289&PAG=461&dept_id=472542&rfi=6 Soil tests to begin this summer; dioxin resolution planned for 2017 Kathie Marchlewski, Midland Daily News 05/11/2006

While Dow will be out conducting testing this spring, summer and fall, the sampling program is a preliminary one. Samples will be used for a bioavailability study Dow expects to complete in 2010. From 2009 to 2013, the company is proposing a human health risk assessment and from 2012 to 2014, another round of soil sampling. The work plans suggest that potential remedies would be explored and selected in 2015, with a two-year implementation ending in 2017.

Dow spokesman John Musser. "The things we learn could shorten the cycle -- or make it longer.
---------------------------------------------------------- http://www.mlive.com/news/bctimes/index.ssf?/base/news-7/1147274135295910.xml&coll=4 Dredging spoils site may not be water tight after all. Wednesday, May 10, 2006 By JEREMIAH STETTLER

State regulators alerted Saginaw County and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in December that the 281-acre disposal site - once presumed to have a thick, impermeable clay bottom - is spotted with sand ''lenses,''

Saginaw County has proposed improvements to the disposal site that should make it water tight.
----------------------------------------------------------http://salascove.com/dioxin2/060513_sn_downumbers.pdf

May 13, 2006

DEQ bases their assumptions and decisions on their ‘fact’ that Tittabawassee River properties contain 1,000 ppt of dioxin. Dow spokesman says all assumptions are exaggerated and averages equal more like half that amount…Above and beyond all that MDEQ assumes we who live here eat lots of bottom-eating fish, turkey skin and deer liver!!! Ugh!
----------------------------------------------------------
May 12, 2006

http://salascove.com/dioxin2/060512_sn_geomorph.pdf

Ann Arbor Technical Services, experts in this technology labeled as ‘geomorphology. Will study and determine deposition and erosion patterns along the Tittabawassee River.

Geomorphology is the interdisciplinary and systematic study of landforms and their landscapes as well as the earth surface processes that create and change them.
One definition can be found here at: http://www.geomorph.org/

----------------------------------------------------------
May 14, 2006

http://salascove.com/dioxin2/060514_dfp_sos.pdf

In case you don’t fully realize the reason we protest about the ‘facility’ tag in our backyards… the ‘Save Our Shoreline’ group has the same problem. That problem is the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality. The MDEQ has invaded our residential properties and keeps proposing and getting legislation passed to give them more and more control over our homes!
----------------------------------------------------------
May 13, 06
http://salascove.com/dioxin2/060513_mdn_env_encouraged.pdf

Dow spokesman, John Musser responded to the many demanding questions by Miller & Rhidick that Dow might clean up any hotspots they might find during the soil testing processes.

Just a note: I just read an email, written by the Henry’s (primary litigants in the wannabe class action suit against Dow Chemical) indicating that they are very unhappy about the situation… to the extent they propose voting against their environmentally too-friendly governor, Jennifer Granholm!!! No I wasn’t hacking their private email – don’t even know how! It’s available for anybody to read at http://www.great-lakes.net/lists/enviro-mich/last30days/msg19089.html

----------------------------------------------------------
May 16, 06

http://english.pravda.ru/society/stories/16-05-2006/80375-dioxin-0
Many foodstuffs pose serious health hazard because of dioxin that burnt Yushchenko's face. I haven’t read this article yet but saved it here for reading later.
###

I've got lots to say...

...saved a flock of articles and will share what I saw (and did) at the last MDEQ/Dow townhall meeting. I just need a block of time... and that might happen Tuesday. Stop by tomorrow afternoon for a great big ol' update. ;-)

About that MDEQ/Dow meeting...

..I guess I didn't read the email very well. It didn't include the time. Here it is straight from DEQ's website.

'The Department of Environmental Quality and The Dow Chemical Company will be holding the next quarterly Midland/Saginaw/Bay City (Tri-Cities) Dioxin Community Meeting on Wednesday, May 10, 2006, at the Horizon’s Conference Center, 6200 State Street, Saginaw. The meeting is open to the public and will run from 6:30 to 9:00 p.m. Staff from the DEQ, Department of Community Health, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Dow, and their consultants, will be available one-half hour before and after the meeting for individual discussion with the public.'

Aspartame Safety Confirmed—Again

By Ruth Kava, Ph.D., R.D. - Darn!!! and just when I've stocked up on that new no-calorie sugar product!

...why should this fact be related to parts per trillion of dioxin? Well duh! Where's the big epidemic of dioxin-related illness along the Tittabawassee River floodplain... or the Saginaw River... or even in the city of Midland?

Speaking of dioxin in our backyards... in case you're interested, here's a missive from MDEQ:

Announcement of May 10 DEQ/Dow Tri-Cities Dioxin Community Meeting
May 5, 2006

The Department of Environmental Quality and The Dow Chemical Company are hosting the next quarterly Midland/Saginaw/Bay City (Tri-Cities) Dioxin Community Meeting on Wednesday, May 10, 2006, at the Horizons Conference Center, 6200 State Street, Saginaw. This meeting is open to the public. The press release and agenda for the meeting are available at:

http://www.michigan.gov/deq/0,1607,7-135--142116--,00.html
and

http://www.deq.state.mi.us/documents/deq-whm-05-10-06CommunityMeetingAgenda.pdf

Supporting materials to be discussed at the meeting are available at the following locations:

http://www.michigan.gov/deq/0,1607,7-135-3304_21234-115743--,00.html
and

http://www.michigan.gov/deq/0,1607,7-135-3312_4118_4240-53424--,00.html

This meeting has also been announced in the local newspapers. Please share this notice with others who might be interested in attending this meeting. If you should have any questions, please contact me.


Cheryl Howe
Environmental Engineering Specialist
Hazardous Waste Management Unit
Hazardous Waste Section
517-373-9881/517-373-4797 Fax

Waste and Hazardous Materials Division Michigan Department of Environmental Quality P.O. Box 30241, Lansing, MI 48909-7741

What Do Beaches Have in Common with our Dioxin/Facility Problem?

This photo shows the 'beach' at Bay City State Park... February 2005. I'm guessing the big red pole was put there to show snowmobilers where they could find a trail out to the Saginaw Bay. All of that standing vegetation covers what I would guess should be the beach.


Summertime 2004 - I was just really becoming immersed in the dioxin controversy along the Tittabawassee River floodplain. Having tolerated floods in my backyard for the past 45 years, I never thought of our annual cleanup efforts as being hazardous to our health. Frank & I took a photo break with a visit to the Bay City waterfront and Bay City State Park. What we saw was desolate as you will see in my little online photo album titled 'Beach' - be sure to read the accompanying commentary... it tells a sad story.


Incidentally... on our way back to the truck I photographed this sign. I guess if I was a 'real' photographer I would have photographed the trash lying about the base of this sign... but my disgust would not allow that artistic endeavor. There at the base, as if to make a statement, was a beer bottle along with a wine cooler bottle, cigarette butts and what appeared to be a used condom! I guess it only accentuated the photos I actually took - of Mother Nature's trash - those undesirable weeds that get deposited along the shoreline where the MDEQ no longer allows us to clean up our beaches.

There was a meeting yesterday evening... in Bay City... the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality was there to tell property owners along the shoreline what they can and cannot do on their own residential properties. MDEQ has already invaded our property along the river... testing a few isolated areas and then telling all of us that our property was contaminated and therefore named each and every property along the Tittabawassee River floodplain a 'facility.'

While our President encourages us to own our own homes... to own our own businesses, the Michigan bureaucracy is doing their utmost to take away individual property rights. In mid-2004 Steve Chester, director of MDEQ, told TRVoice and Midland Matters that we must change the legislation in order to remove the label 'facility' from our private property.

We did that!!! HB-4617/SB-390 (the Homeowner's Fairness Act) was passed by the House of Representatives. It was passed by the Senate. The bill went to Jenny Granholm's desk. She listened to the buzzing in her ears from a small group of enviro-wackos, including Stevey Chester. She went against the wishes of the majority of Michigan voters and vetoed HB-4617/SB-390! Right now there are three separate bills running through the House & the Senate... meant to protect homeowners from bureaucrats invading our residential properties. A few environutz oppose these bills as well.

What can we do? We can contact our Michigan lawmakers and tell them we support their efforts. We can contact Ms. Granholm and tell her we support legislation to protect homeowners from the MDEQ and their ilk.

Find your Senator

Find your Representative

Contact Jennifer Granholm, current governor of Michigan

What I saw at the MDEQ meeting in Bay City last night:

• Hundreds of angry homeowners who are being told they need to get permission to mow their yards from bureaucrats who have never seen their property .
• Hundreds of angry homeowners who do not want to tolerate the stink from decaying vegetation if they do not mow their yards.
• Hundreds of angry homeowners who resent a bureaucratic agency of the Michigan state government telling them what they can and cannot do in their own residential property.
• Hundreds of angry homeowners just like you and me!
• I learned about a dedicated organization that truly cares about Michigan beaches... S.O.S. (Save Our Shoreline). You don't have to own private beachfront property to be a member... just join. Help these folks save our beautiful (and formerly beautiful) Michigan beaches!
• I heard that MDEQ claims there are only two beaches in Michigan!!!! Then I heard the MDEQ definition of a beach. It fit none of these definitions I found on the internet.
• Today I found this MDEQ list of Michigan beaches - which contradicts the statement by MDEQ individuals mentioned above.

If you are interested in listening to more MDEQ drivel, there is another 'town hall' dioxin meeting scheduled for next week, Thursday, May 10.

...and just an interesting data point: Ms. Granholm has just announced her plans for a third trip to Japan in order to create jobs in Michigan. This plan after the announcement that the Michigan jobless rate increased by two more points in March - up to 6.8%!!! How many more trips can she squeeze in while she's still traveling on taxpayer money?

Like Fishing? We have GREAT Weather for it in Freeland this Weekend!

This weekend is an angler's delight: and you can read all about it in The Midland Daily News! The sun's shining... the sales are on all over town... and there's all kinds of food and fun for the family!

I heard that you can find some pretty good hotdogs and cookies at Leaman's Green Applebarn! Stop by and try them. We had the peanut butter cookies and they're great! While you're out, do a bit of rummaging... bargains abound. You might even find a treasure or two.

Dioxin legislation opposed...

According to this Midland Daily News article, the key litigants in the dioxin lawsuit are opposed to the new legislation proposed by state Senators Mike Goschka and Tony Stamas, and state Representative John Moolenaar. Of course they are! They want to spend the rest of their lives waiting for money to fall off the Dow Chemical money tree.

These are the same people, along with the ragtag lonetree gang, that Ms. Granholm, current governor of Michigan, listened to and insisted on gratifying by her veto of Senate Bill 390 - the homeowners' fairness bill. These are the same people who brought disrespect and the trashy label ('facility') to our home town with their unproven accusations about extremely minute amounts of dioxin that could possibly - not probably - be in our back yards.

These are the same people who put up skull & crossbones signs in their yards telling the world their property is worthless and then complained because they 'can't sell it'!!! These are the same people who want to drag all of us living along the Tittabawassee River floodplain into their petty, greedy little war against Dow.

This weekend, April 28 - 30, 2006, the friendly little town of Freeland will be hosting the Walleye Festival. If you're not a fisherman there will be loads of other activities - including a township-wide rummage sale. You can hardly drive down some of the streets for the traffic and crowds, so even if you don't want to join the fishing contest, join the crowd! Come on over to Freeland. Stop in at some of the rummage sales and other activities. Meet our real residents and find out why so many people actually want to live in our town!!!

Redneck gets another petition going...

You'd think even the MDEQ bureaucrats would get tired of her ranting after a while, wouldn't you?

I just read an article in the Saginaw News - Groups seek dioxin tests downstream - and another in the Bay City Times - Concerned citizens fishing for help from Feds. It seems the Lone Tree Council has gathered up a few fishermen, residents and enviro-wackos from the Bay City area to petition the ATSDR (Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry) to conduct a 'health consultation' to evaluate health impacts of eating fish from the Saginaw River. Is this another attempt at 'reinventing the wheel' or is Michelle Hard-Redneck just trying to scare another group of residents?

Hmmm - let's get this straight now.

First Ms. Heard-Rhetoric wanted to get lifetime health surveillance for litigants living along Tittabawassee River floodplain. What happened? Michigan Supreme Court said no to their class action status.

Herd-Retorik also wants class action for litigants along Tittabawassee River floodplain to make Dow pay them an overblown amount of money for their property. This case is currently sitting in wait in the Michigan Court system.

Meanwhile, Dr. Sam Shaheen, a prominent local physician and developer, has bought at least six properties along the river for a total of more than $800,000, and says he actually bought more than that... this in a time when house sales are DOWN across the nation! See Doctor follows through on offer to buy Tittabawassee River land.

Hurd-Rednek would really really like to make Dow Chemical do all sorts of expensive remediation and clean up along the Tittabawassee River floodplain quickly - before results of various tests (U of M dioxin in soil vs. dioxin in humans in area and assorted wildlife tests by MSU) are reported. Actually, based on her continual comments about the company, she would like to chase Dow Chemical right out of Michigan. After all, her group, the Lonetree Council, was created primarily to 'get Dow' - back in the 1970's.

She seems to think she knows more about dioxins than the scientists in Midland who worked with dioxins most of their lives and developed the means by which dioxins can be measured in tiny quantitites. She seems to think she knows more than Dr. Neill Varner, medical director for the Saginaw County Health Department, who is also quoted in the Saginaw News article. Dr. Varner was learning everything he could about dioxins back in the 1960's when Ms. Riddick was still just a tadpole in her local nursing school pond.

According to the Saginaw News she said 'Contamination now threatens anglers and subsistence fishermen who rely on the river for food. This God-given source of protein (fish) should be accessible to everyone.'

Is that a stretch... or what? We know dioxins do not float around in water... they are deposited in soil and in fat. I guess that means pretty much only bottom-feeders will carry any levels of dioxins in them. That would be primarily catfish, bullheads and carp. Take my word for it...

• Freshwater catfish aren't all that tasty (there's sort of a 'dirt' flavor in them). I've actually eaten them when friends caught them in the harbor.
• Bullheads have to be skinned and I don't know any fishermen who bother doing that.
• ...and carp? - Ever since I was a child nobody wanted to eat those. That was back when you could see human feces floating in the Saginaw River... and anyway, they are a really fatty fish! yuck!

For your convenience I've combined both of today's news articles and you can find them here in .PDF form.

Still hope for all of us who own a 'facility' along the Tittabawassee River floodplain?

Maybe... Today the Midland Daily News published an article: Lawmakers propose trio of bills to deal with dioxin issue. If you missed it, read all about it now. Sounds like there are three separate bills currently going through Michigan Congress, in various states of completion.

I sure hope Ms. Granholm signs this time. It just seems unAmerican for the State of Michigan to say my property is a 'facility' without confirming it is contaminated, don't you think?

Local boy stirs dioxin brew...

Midland Daily News - News - 04/09/2006 published a biased opinion titled - Governor should hold fast in her decision to clean up dioxin. It was written by a local Freeland boy known by many of us (probably most) as the guy who is against 'it' if mainstream U.S.A. is for 'it'! Should we be surprised it took him three months to construct a biased response to the letter we wrote to Ms. Granholm and published in MDN 01/22/2006?

Which reminds me: Don't forget Thursday, April 13, 2006 - Ecological Risk Assessment and the Tittabawassee River, Why, How, and Who Cares? This is first in a series of presentations by a group of dedicated graduate students from Michigan State University about their wildlife studies along the Tittabawassee River floodplain. All presentations will be held at the Chippewa Nature Center in Midland. See this PDF file for details.