Clarkson Integrator

Issue date: 1/14/08 Section: Features

Media Credit: Eric Seals/MCT Greg, right, and Mary Whitney, pictured December 7, 2007, have lived off North River Road in Saginaw on about two acres of land for the past fifteen years. Their backyard is a park-like setting, which includes the Tittabawasee River behind them. Upstream about 20 miles is Dow Chemical in Midland, which has been releasing dioxin into the river and onto their land.

Mitch Larson got rid of the free-range chickens that once provided his family with fresh eggs.

Laura Burtt boards out her llamas and a horse, even though there's space for them on her land. Her partner, Russ Kubik, misses the strawberries and asparagus from two huge gardens the couple once tended.

Greg Whitney wears a mask and showers after he mows the lawn at what was supposed to be his dream house.

They all live along the Tittabawassee River, downstream from Dow Chemical Co.'s Midland plant. All have changed their lives in response to dioxin in the soil near their homes.

Now, they want the government to move them.

From about 1900 to 1970, the company released dioxin into the river. Dioxin with a chemical fingerprint matching that released from Dow was found in the river in 2001. These residents fear the contamination that floods from the river ever year. And they're fed up with slow progress to clean it up.

"We're looking into it," Environmental Protection Agency spokesman Mick Hans said.

In some instances, the EPA has bought out homeowners before a cleanup; in others, the agency has temporarily moved homeowners.

In 2005, Dow did minor cleanups of 300 properties that were considered most at risk for contamination because of flooding, putting new soil in flower beds, cleaning dust from inside homes and reseeding lawns. But many residents fear the problem returns with each flooding of the river.

Kathy Henry, who has lived on 3 acres bordering the Tittabawassee for 23 years, made the request late last month on residents' behalf.

"We've been frightened of our yards for five years," she said. "What they've done so far has been like a Band-Aid over a crack in a dam."

Continued...

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