Dow's New Vow

By Wendy Cole

Dow Chemical has spent billions of dollars defending lawsuits derived from its production of dioxin, Agent Orange and other toxic substances. Now CEO Andrew Liveris is determined to turn the $46 billion conglomerate into a pre-eminent eco-friendly operation. TIME's WENDY COLE spoke with Liveris, 52, about going green, how the U.S.'s civil-justice system is dysfunctional and why he's not ready to buy a hybrid car yet.

You're eager to shed Dow's longtime image as an environmental pillager. How can you reclaim credibility?

A vocal minority believes that we're bad guys and all we do is pollute. That's totally inaccurate. Dow Chemical in the last two decades has been a leader in sustainability. I make the case that if Dow weren't around, clean water would be an impossibility. Our founder discovered a way to liberate chlorine from salt. Today a villager in Africa carries pots 12 hours a day to and from river streams to bring often contaminated water to her family. But she does not have access to chlorine. So how can we enable ways to give that village access to pure water?

Can you make money on such an initiative?

You make money with affordable technologies. We're making membrane systems that remove arsenic from river water. It's a new product, but I'm not just selling a membrane system--I'm making pure water. That means you don't have to walk 12 miles for water. You can get educated. Your children don't get sick. I want the whole corporation to be driven this way. It's embedded in our value proposition going forward.

Yet isn't Dow still dealing with litigation related to its use of dioxin?

The legacy issue of dioxin is 80 years old. Eighty years ago, standards were very different than those today. There were no notions of pollution. Smokestacks were everywhere. Look at the steel industry, the car industry. We had to be there to get to here--all of us as a society. There's a framework under which this can be remediated and repaired. We don't need anyone's involvement other than the people who've been trespassed on. The tort system in this country is broken when in class actions, such as the silicone-breast-implant issue, a small number of trial lawyers can come in and claim 40% of the take in cases often based on bad science. The winners are the trial lawyers.

You've pushed for energy reforms at a national level. Why hasn't there been meaningful legislative action so far?

I try hard not to comment on politicians. They come and they go. But I must say that the fact that a pragmatic energy policy has not materialized under this government is a disappointment.

Dow is an enormous energy user. Why hasn't the development of alternative sources become a priority?

There's a lot of noise about wind, solar and ethanol. We're working on these too, but they won't be ready to meet escalating global demands. Eighty percent of what we use today is fossil fuels; 80% of what we'll use 20 years from now is fossil fuels. The carbon molecule and combusting it is the only way we've figured out to economically move people and generate power. Diversity of supply is the answer. That means nuclear energy and investing in clean coal technology.

Have you personally sought out ways to conserve energy?

We've built a new home with what I call space management, so we don't heat or cool all the house at once. I want to buy a hybrid, but a U.S. company doesn't make one I want. I'm driving a GM car, so I've got lots of pressure on Mr. [Rick] Wagoner [GM's CEO] to develop a hybrid for me. For now, I'm driving a fuel-efficient Caddy.