
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, May 14, 1990                   TAG: 9005140304
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A3   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Short

WATER BOARD OKS RELAXED DIOXIN LEVEL

The state Water Control Board today adopted a standard for the toxic chemical dioxin in Virginia waters that is far less stringent than the level recommended by the Environmental Protection Agency.

The board accepted a recommendation by Richard N. Burton, the board's executive director, to maintain a maximum allowable level of dioxin of 1.2 parts per quadrillion, or ppq, tentatively set last year.

Burton called the figure "within the range of safety," although the EPA suggested a 0.013 ppq level.

He said the board must balance the financial costs of forcing the state's paper mills to meet a tough standard against the risk to human health from the chemical. He also said dioxin levels smaller than about 1 ppq cannot be measured, so a stricter standard could not be enforced.

The Environmental Defense Fund, which had asked the board to adopt the EPA level, said the board had ignored human health concerns to placate the paper mills.

Peter L. DeFur, a staff scientist for the fund's Virginia office, predicted the state standard would be rejected by the EPA, which allows states some latitude in setting water quality levels but also reviews their decisions.

Dioxin, which is suspected of causing cancer, is a byproduct of bleaching paperboard. The state's three bleached-board paper mills - Westvaco Corp. in Covington, Union Camp Corp. in Franklin and Chesapeake Corp. in West Point - supported the 1.2 ppq level.

by CNB