U.S. EPA announced a settlement with Dow Chemical Co. that requires the company to clean up dioxin contamination in the Riverside Boulevard neighborhood of Saginaw, Mich. Construction work in this neighborhood on the Lower Tittabawassee River is expected to begin in late July and continue through the fall. According to EPA, data shows unacceptably high levels of dioxin contamination in yards, the unpaved Riverside Boulevard roadway and in the interior of some homes.
The settlement agreement, called an administrative order on consent, requires Dow Chemical to: excavate contaminated residential yards, then backfilling with clean soil; decontaminated the interior of homes; and cleanup unpaved surfaces on Riverside Boulevard.Dow's Midland facility is a 1,900-acre chemical manufacturing plant. Dioxins and furans are byproducts from the manufacture of chlorine-based products. Past waste disposal practices, emissions and incineration at Dow have resulted in on- and off-site dioxin and furan contamination.
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