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By James Prichard

ASSOCIATED PRESS

12:12 p.m. March 23, 2007

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The chairman and chief executive officer of Dow Chemical Co. received compensation for 2006 that the company valued at $11.9 million, according to a regulatory filing Friday.

The executive, Andrew Liveris, received a salary of $1.4 million, non-equity incentive plan compensation of $2.2 million, and other compensation of $132,033 that included use of company aircraft and financial planning services, according to a proxy statement the world's second-largest chemical company filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Dow's board of directors requires Liveris to utilize company aircraft for personal use "for the purposes of security and immediate availability," the document said. The company valued his personal use of its aircraft at $71,500.

Liveris also received stock and option awards with an estimated value of $8.1 million on the days they were granted.

The Associated Press calculates total compensation based on salary, bonus, incentives, perks, above-market returns on deferred compensation and the estimated value of stock options and awards granted during the year. The calculations don't include changes in the present value of pension benefits or the value of stock and option awards granted in prior years, so the total differs from the figure that Midland-based Dow reported to the SEC.

According to the proxy, Liveris also had $2.8 million in stock awards vest in 2006.

The proxy statement came in advance of the company's annual shareholders meeting, which will take place May 10 at the Midland Center for the Arts in Midland. Owners of Dow stock will elect directors and vote on four proposals submitted by fellow shareholders.

A University of Michigan report released in August found that residents living near the Dow plant in Midland had more dioxin in their blood than people living in a comparable area farther away. But pollution from the plant was just one reason for the discrepancy, and a minor factor among many that determined the dioxin levels in people examined, the report said.

Dow acknowledges having polluted the Tittabawassee River flood plain through the disposal of dioxins for many years. It funded the $15 million, three-year study as it negotiates with the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality over a cleanup plan.

The company, however, wasn't involved in the study's planning or execution, the university said.

Dioxins are a family of chemicals produced by combustion or other industrial processes. Some dioxins have been linked to cancer.

The Midland Daily News reported Thursday that recent testing for dioxin pollution in soil samples taken from within the city exceeded the state's allowable level in many places, although results came in as Dow expected.

In 2006, Dow reported that its net income was down nearly 18 percent from the previous year, to $3.72 billion from $4.52 billion. The company reported sales last year of $49.1 billion, up 6 percent from 2005's record $46.3 billion.