TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — The new head of the Environmental Protection Agency has put talks with Dow Chemical Co. on hold over how to clean up dioxin contamination along 50 miles of rivers and floodplains in Michigan.
EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson announced the delay last week in a letter to environmental activists who have accused Dow of moving too slowly to restore the polluted stretch of Lake Huron's Saginaw Bay watershed.
Jackson said a team of high-ranking officials from her office would meet shortly with activist groups as well as representatives of Dow and the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality.
In the meantime, a new round of negotiations begun in December as the Bush administration was winding down now is on hold.
A Dow spokeswoman said Monday the company is ready to resume talks any time.
