Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 29, 1994 TAG: 9406290140
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By JAN VERTEFEUILLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Nine thousand tons of hazardous fly ash or dust sits in the landfill, and the Environmental Protection Agency has ruled that the county cannot contain the dust on site but must send it out of state to have it treated.
The Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to appropriate $1.5 million toward the cleanup. The county has decided to bring a lawsuit against eight companies suspected of using the landfill for toxic dumping back "to the front burner" to try to recoup some of the costs, County Attorney Paul Mahoney said at a news conference.
Roanoke Electric Steel, the only company voluntarily helping share the cost, has put up $4.25 million - or half the cost of the fly ash cleanup. The rest of the possible $16 million cleanup and closing of the landfill is being borne by county taxpayers while the lawsuit proceeds.
The county is negotiating with Horsehead Resource Development Corp. of Pennsylvania to take the dust. Horsehead is the only company that conducts the heavy-metals extraction process that the EPA is requiring.
Mahoney said the hope is that the cleanup will begin in the fall and end before bad weather sets in. The county had unsuccessfully sought to contain the dust on-site and encase it in concrete, which would have been $1.7 million cheaper, according to Roanoke Electric Steel, which would have used a ``trade secret'' method for the job.
The county has been negotiating with the EPA for several years on how best to clean the site.
``This has been a very painful process, a very educational process and a very expensive educational process,'' Mahoney said.
Some fly ash has migrated off the site and into a stream that is being cleaned up as well. A pond full of paint sludge also needed to be cleaned up.
``I think Roanoke County over the years has been environmentally responsible'' while also ``protecting the interests of Roanoke County taxpayers,'' said Supervisors chairman Lee Eddy.
In other actions, supervisors:
nRaised sewer rates by 14.5 percent effective July 1 and another 25 percent effective July 1 of next year. Sewer connection fees also will increase from $500 to $1,000 on Sept. 1 and to $1,500 next September.
nCreated a 10 percent monthly tax on cellular phone users with Roanoke County service addresses, which will be added to their bills by the phone companies. The tax only applies to charges under $30; monthly charges above that amount are exempt. The tax likely will go into effect in September, although cellular phone companies are having trouble separating out Roanoke County service addresses.
nDeclined to change county employees' adoption leave policy it restricted in May as part of a tightening of sick leave and time off. Supporters argued that the maternity leave policy discriminates against adoptive mothers, who now get only four weeks of leave - down from six weeks before the change in May. Birth mothers get up to 10 weeks. The all-male board voted 3-2 against reconsidering the policy, and Supervisor Fuzzy Minnix suggested the whole maternity leave policy be looked at to lower the amount of paid leave all mothers get.
by CNB