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NEWS
Thursday, June 28, 2018
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
City faces legal costs for
Gelman dioxane plume
Contract with law
firm now $445,000
By RACHEL CUNNINGHAM
Summer Daily News Editor
Ann Arbor City Council will
see an increase in legal costs
regarding clean-up efforts of
the 1,4 dioxane plume con-
taminating the area’s ground-
water.
1,4 dioxane is a carcinogen-
ic organic compound used in
many industrial settings. The
plume was discovered after
inspections revealed years of
improper wastewater dispos-
al by Gelman Sciences Inc.,
an Ann Arbor-based manu-
facturing company. There are
fears that the plume could
spread to the Huron River and
Barton Pond, two main water
sources for the city.
The
city
approved
an
$150,000 increase to its con-
tract with Bodman PLC, a
Detroit-based law firm, in the
fight against Gelman to clean
up the plume.
Councilmember Jack Eaton,
D-Ward 4, feels the council’s
involvement in the manner
helps residents understand
the precedence and severity
of the issue.
“The important part of the
state litigation that we’re now
a party to is that it provides
public information about the
spread of the plume and how
contaminated water is as it
spreads underneath the (sur-
face),” Eaton said. “We will
be at the table and able to get
a voice about the decimating
that kind of information.”
Councilmember
Chip
Smith, D-Ward 5, feels that
added expenses will also be
more efficient than relying
on the federal government to
help.
“It’s an expensive legal
cost but I think the cost of
not doing anything is so much
greater,” Smith said. “The
EPA is not going to come in
and help us. To put our faith
in the EPA of Scott Pruitt is
wholly ignorant.”
According to Eaton, state
regulations have only allowed
for mitigation by the state
instead of more stringent
intervention and clean up.
Standards on healthy dioxane
levels in residential drink-
ing water were also outdated
when previous water testing
took place, therefore allow-
ing unsafe water to be used
in residential homes. The
governor’s office lowered the
acceptable standards from 85
parts per billion to 7.2 parts
per billion in 2016.
Eaton says are residents
do not believe the city has
addressed the plume ade-
quately.
“I think the residents of
Ann Arbor are concerned that
we haven’t done enough over
the years,” Eaton said. “This
has gone on for decades. The
state has been really cevile
[COPY: servile?] in its efforts
to address this and the city
hasn’t been a party to this and
hasn’t aggressively pursued
any action against the com-
pany.”
The city wants the company
to be held fully responsible for
the costs and clean-up efforts.
The
U.S.
Environmental
Protection Agency initially
held off on designating the
plume as a federal Superfund
site, but has been working
with city and state officials
to resolve the issue. This
came after an area petition
by Ann Arbor Township, Scio
Township and the Sierra Club
Huron Valley Group was sent
to the EPA to designate the
site as a Superfund zone. The
city of Ann Arbor did not join
this petition.
“As the largest municipal-
ity in the area affected by
the plume, it just seems like
we would take a leadership
role and we didn’t,” Eaton
said. “Nonetheless, the EPA
is now monitoring the litiga-
tion between the state and
the polluter and we hope that
in some point in time they
become convinced that they
should be ordering actual
cleanup.”
The Daily sits down with candidate
for governer Shri Thanedar
By GRACE KAY
Summer Managing News Editor
By RACHEL CUNNINGHAM
Summer Daily News Editor
Editor’s Note: The Michigan
Daily does not officially endorse
Shri Thanedar for governor. The
Daily continues to reach out to
other gubernatorial candidates for
comments and interviews.
The Michigan Daily recently
met with gubernatorial candi-
date Shri Thanedar to discuss his
platform and goals for Michigan
if elected governor. An Indian-
born entrepreneur, Thanedar is
running against former state Sen.
Gretchen Whitmer and Univer-
sity alum Abdul El-Sayed for the
Democratic candidacy. The pri-
mary election is set to take place
Aug. 7.
Thanedar says he is unlike any
other candidate running for gov-
ernor in Michigan. He doesn’t
come from a family of wealth and
opulence, and he doesn’t look or
talk like any of the other candi-
dates. He is an entrepreneur who
came to the United States with
$16 in his pocket and eventually
worked to build a multimillion
dollar business.
Ultimately, Thanedar argues
his knowledge, work ethic and
life experiences make him the
candidate Michigan needs.
“I look different. I don’t look
like the past governors. I’m an
immigrant,” Thanedar said. “I
think I’m the only immigrant
that’s running for governor. I
speak differently more than
most people in Michigan. But my
point is that say four years from
now I write my State of the State
address and I’m talking about
taking our education to the next
level, fixing the roads and we
are approaching near the Top 10
… would it matter where I was
born? Would it matter in what
accent I said those words? That’s
what I want Michiganders to
remember when they go to vote
on Aug. 7. Any Democrat that is
‘good enough’ isn’t good enough.”
Thanedar runs a progressive
platform
If elected as the governor of
Michigan, Thanedar plans to
make education his top priority.
“I want to be known as the
education governor Michigan
never had because education is
important to me,” Thanedar said.
“These are not just talking points,
I draw them from my experiences
of life. So when I talk about edu-
cation and why education needs
to be improved, education was
the ladder for me to pull myself
out of poverty.
Thanedar
also
plans
to
increase the minimum wage, cre-
ate a skilled work force and mod-
ify the tax structure.
“One of the more unusual fea-
tures of my tax structure is that
I will have any family that makes
$50,000 or less state income
tax exempt; they will not pay
income tax,” Thanedar said when
explaining key changes he would
implement as governor. “I will
raise the minimum wage to $15
and tie it to inflation.”
Working with Republicans at
the state level
Thanedar says when it comes
to working with people who
share different viewpoints and
perspectives, he is open to new
ideas and willing to work with
those he may not always agree
with.
“Somebody who has complete-
ly opposite views from me, we
start talking and I’m open to new
ideas, that’s who I am,” Thane-
dar said. “I have very thick skin.
I don’t ever tweet at 3 A.M. in the
morning. I can listen to differ-
ent viewpoints. I have run small
businesses. I have dealt with
teams; I’ve worked with teams.
I’m used to this kind of openness
and bouncing off things and look-
ing at both sides of the issue, so I
think I’d work well.”
Thanedar believes with his
experience as a business owner
he could work well with mem-
bers of the Republican party at
the state level.
“I think they would respect me
because I’m not just talking when
I talk about business, when I talk
about finance, when I talk about
jobs,” Thanedar said. “I’ve come
from experience and I think I
will get the respect that the other
candidates may not get because
I’m an entrepreneur, I’m a busi-
ness person. When I talk about
finance I understand finance. It’s
not something I memorized from
somewhere.”
Setting himself apart from the
other Democratic candidates
Thanedar explains the role
of governor is about much more
than giving poetic speeches.
Read more at MichiganDaily.com
Democratic candidate details campaign platform, experience
Read more at MichiganDaily.com
MAX KUANG / DAILY