Dow Chemical Co. ranked second-largest toxic waste producer in the nation

[News]

A new report by the Environmental Protection Agency shows that Dow Chemical Company, based in Midland, Mich., produced more than 600 million pounds of toxic chemical waste in the reporting year 2010.

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[Claremont7]

Thats what they reported as their amount of waste. Could have been much more. The other chemical companies probably know how to hide things better .

[danthebuilder]

Thats what they reported as their amount of waste. Could have been much more. The other chemical companies probably know how to hide things better .

Dow is the #1 chemical company. EPA rules allow them to just give "estimates". No real reason for the others to hide when they can just lie and its perfectly legal. I would like to know. If there is something they could do for a couple billion dollars to drastically cut that number like in the same manner of the new coal plant regulations. I am a huge fan and I think everyone on this board should be too. This stuff ends up in the rivers & lakes. Those "eat X fish once a month" guidelines that everyone here ignores. These guidelines wouldn't exist. This is the kind of future I want for our kids & grand kids. I don't hug too many tree's but when it comes to this one issue. Everyone who enjoys the outdoors should be on the same page.

[Paulywood]

I work at Dow in Midland and to me that report is a little misleading unless you read it carefully. Almost all of the waste that is produced in Midland never leaves the site. It is burned in the rotary kiln incinerator with the only byproduct being water vapor. Anything that leaves the site is carefully monitored by the federal government. They have equipment built right into any plant that releases anything into the atmosphere and the information is sent straight to Lansing. They also have atmospheric monitoring in Midland and the surrounding communities. In my short time there I have seen a genuine commitment to not only properly dispose of any waste, but to reduce, re use and recycle in any way possible. The two easiest ways to get fired are violating safety standards and violating waste standards. I know that large companies in general get a bad name when it comes to polluting but with what we know now, there is very little pollution added to the environment by modern companies. Most of what we have to deal with is from the past when people were less knowledgable about the damage they were causing. Places like the Detroit and Saginaw Rivers are the cleanest they have been in a century. And I support any effort to make the environment cleaner, just use caution when you read reports like these. It is always better to get the information you need from unbiased sources and then make a decision independently. Just my $.02.