June 12, 2003

On June 12, 2003, the Department of Environmental Quality issued a hazardous waste facility operating license to The Dow Chemical Company, under Part 111, Hazardous Waste Management, of the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act, 1994 PA 451, as amended. The operating license allows Dow to continue operating its hazardous waste treatment, storage, and disposal facilities at 1000 East Main Street in Midland, Michigan. Regulation of the facility container storage, tank treatment and storage, surface impoundment treatment/storage/disposal, incineration, post-closure, and corrective action activities have been consolidated from three separate licenses and two federal permits to a single license.

The license includes enhanced environmental monitoring and specifies Dow’s off-site corrective action obligations. Under these obligations, Dow must address contamination of Midland area soils, Tittabawassee River sediments and flood plain, Saginaw River sediments and flood plain, and the Saginaw Bay.

“This license culminates months of collaborative work between the DEQ, Dow, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, local officials, and local environmental organizations to ensure that the interests of all parties have been served in protecting Michigan’s environment,” said DEQ Director Steven E. Chester. “This decision has been the subject of extensive interest in the Midland, Saginaw, and Bay County areas, and I am confident that the license we issued today will protect the environment and public health while meeting Dow’s operational needs.”

The hazardous waste license has been coordinated with other environmental regulations for the Dow facility and paves the way for Dow to meet an upcoming federal clean air deadline by bringing a new hazardous waste incinerator on line to replace two existing incinerators that are being closed. It was also issued in consideration of the need for ongoing work at Dow’s wastewater treatment facilities, including the removal of accumulated solids from the Tertiary Pond and maintenance activities for the secondary effluent pipeline.

The DEQ has prepared a Responsiveness Summary that describes the revisions they made as a result of comments on the draft license and provides the DEQ’s responses to comments that did not result in revisions.

Concurrent with issuance of the license, the DEQ has also issued a major operating license modification for Dow’s Salzburg Road Landfill, located at 2314 West Salzburg Road in Midland, Michigan. The major modification updates the list of acceptable waste types that can be managed at the Salzburg Road Landfill so it is consistent with the waste types that Dow will be allowed to manage under the license for the Midland Plant.

The final operating license, major modification, and Responsiveness Summary may be reviewed at the DEQ, Waste and Hazardous Materials Division, located on the Atrium North Level of Constitution Hall at 525 West Allegan Street in Lansing, Michigan (contact Ms. Cheryl Howe at 517 373 9881); at the DEQ, Saginaw Bay District Office, located at 503 North Euclid Avenue in Bay City, Michigan (contact Ms. Trisha Peters at 989-686-8025, Extension 8204); and at the Reference Desk of the Grace A. Dow Memorial Library, located at 1710 West St. Andrews in Midland, Michigan (989 837 3449). The operating license (without the extensive attachments), the major modification, and the Responsiveness Summary are also available for review on the DEQ Web site at: http://www.michigan.gov/deq (under “About DEQ,” click on “WASTE,” “Hazardous Waste,” “Hazardous Waste Management,” and “Dow Part 111 Operating License Information”).

Questions or comments concerning Dow’s hazardous waste operating license or major modification should be directed to Ms. Howe, Hazardous Waste Permits and Technical Support Unit, WHMD, at 517 373 9881 or howec@michigan.gov.

Editor’s note: DEQ news releases are available on the department’s Internet home page at www.michigan.gov/deq.

Revised June 12, 2003 by Pat Watson