SWAMP ALERT: Dow Chemical Lawyer Will Run EPA’s Superfund Toxic Cleanup Program

Senate just confirmed former Dow Chemical lawyer Peter Wright to run EPA’s Superfund toxic cleanup program. He once described himself in a court deposition as Dow’s “dioxin lawyer,” and his former lawyer is linked to hundreds of toxic sites nationwide.

Former Dow Chemical Co. managing counsel Peter C. Wright received the Senate’s approval July 11, 2019 to head the EPA’s Superfund and waste programs.... Following a 52-38 Senate vote.... He had been working at the EPA as special counsel in the administrator’s office while awaiting Senate confirmation.  Wright will also oversee the emergency response to chemical spills and other hazardous releases nationwide.

Wright failed to gain Senate approval in 2018 because of concerns.... about his defense of dioxins while he was at Dow. 

To be clear, Wright may be the foremost expert at AVOIDING cleanups that are deemed mandatory by OUR Environmental PROTECTION Agency to ensure a clean water supply.  Wright is uniquely "qualified" to let polluting corporations off the hook for critical, major cleanups of environmental disasters.  

He spent 19 years at Dow, one of the world’s largest chemical makers, and once described himself in a court deposition as “the company’s dioxin lawyer.” He was assigned to the Midland cleanup in 2003, and later became a lead negotiator in talks with the E.P.A. It was during his work on the cleanup that the agency criticized Dow for the cleanup delays, testing lapses and other missteps.

He spent more than a decade on one of the nation’s most extensive cleanups, one involving Dow Chemical’s sprawling headquarters in Midland, Mich.  But while he led Dow’s legal strategy there, the chemical giant was accused by regulators, and in one case a Dow engineer, of submitting disputed data, misrepresenting scientific evidence and delaying cleanup.

Dow, which merged with rival DuPont last year, is among the companies most affected by Superfund cleanups nationwide, E.P.A. data shows. The combined company is listed as potentially having responsibility in almost 14 percent of sites on the E.P.A.’s list of priority Superfund cleanups, or 171 locations nationwide.

Oh really?  His former employer for which he led the efforts to halt or delay clean-up will surely receive no favortism.... that is sarcasm folks.

The banks of the Tittabawassee River have been home to Dow for decades. Internal documents have suggested that Dow was aware of dioxin’s risks as early as the mid-1960s. In the 1980s, Dow pressured the E.P.A. to change a report that had linked dioxin contamination to Dow’s Midland complex.

There was disbelief among residents that a Dow lawyer who worked on the Midland cleanup was set to take over the Superfund program. “It’s nuts,” said Joel Tanner, a Saginaw resident who is a member of a community group set up by the E.P.A. that advises the cleanup. “Dow are the ones who fought it all the way.”

Yep, this is the swamp.  This is exactly what corruption looks like.

 

Sources: 

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/28/climate/dow-epa-superfund.html

https://news.bloombergenvironment.com/environment-and-energy/senate-confirms-ex-corporate-lawyer-to-head-epas-waste-programs

Date: 
Wednesday, July 17, 2019