MIDLAND, Mich. (AP) -- Federal officials are giving the public an extra month to comment on a proposed deal with Dow Chemical Co. on designing a cleanup of dioxin contamination near its Midland plant.

The comment period began Oct. 19 and had been scheduled to end Nov. 17. But the Environmental Protection Agency said Monday it has been extended until Dec. 17.

The plan under consideration outlines the next steps in a Superfund evaluation of contamination in the Tittabawassee River, the Saginaw River and Saginaw Bay and their floodplains.

The area was polluted by dioxin emissions from the Dow plant for much of the 20th century.

A public meeting on the plan is scheduled for Nov. 5 at Saginaw Valley State University in Saginaw.