Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 1, 1995 TAG: 9502010063
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CATHRYN McCUE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
But Olin Corp., the company responsible for the waste, has a plan of its own that will be just as effective, the company says, and cost a fraction of what the federal government proposes.
Most folks in Saltville, a small town in west Smyth County, aren't exactly sure what to make of either proposal, the result of years of environmental sampling, computer modeling, technical analysis and other scientific drills.
``I couldn't make an honest opinion; I want to hear both sides,'' said Fred Dye, president of the community's Mountain Empire Environmental Team.
He and others will have that chance tonight during a public hearing at 7 in the auditorium of Northwood High School.
Saltville Mayor Frank ``T-Bone'' Lewis says this is the first sign of a major disagreement between the company and the EPA since a consent order was signed in 1988 to clean up the site, which is on the agency's Superfund list. The town has not taken a formal position on the cleanup, although Lewis expressed some concern with the EPA's plan.
``I hate to see money thrown away and not do any good, no matter whose money it is,'' he said. Most people he talks with don't think there's a health or environmental problem in town, he said.
Olin operated a massive chemical production plant along the North Fork of the Holston River in town for much of this century. Mercury, a poisonous heavy metal, was used beginning in the 1950s until 1972, when Olin shut down because of new environmental laws.
Mercury has been found at levels three times higher than the threshold for emergency removal. A ban on eating fish from the river remains in effect after 20 years.
Olin has spent about $20 million cleaning up the site and containing the pollution, including building a waste-water treatment plant that opened last year. The EPA says that may not be enough, that ``if left unremediated, the site could become more dangerous and the contaminants could spread.''
Tonight, several EPA representatives will explain the agency's plan to cap two old dumps with thick layers of clay, dirt and gravel to keep rainwater out of the mercury-tainted waste. That would cost $31 million.
The EPA also wants to dig up soil from Olin's former chlorine plant, now demolished, and burn the dirt in a large kiln, called a retort, to vaporize the mercury. A cooling system would condense the metal for recovery and recycling, and the dirt would be returned to the former plant site. This would cost $14 million.
``We were surprised,'' said Keith Roberts, an Olin environmental specialist in charge of the cleanup. The company and its hired consultants had conducted the studies, and with no objection from EPA, had dropped the retort facility, Roberts said.
Instead, Olin wants to build an improved cap on the site, on top of one it put there 12 years ago. River samples from below the plant site have not shown high levels of mercury since then, according to the company. The price for Olin's plan: $829,000.
Roberts said the EPA's plan for a 3- or 4-foot layer of clay and dirt on top of the two dumps would weigh too much and disturb the soft waste underneath. Olin wants to cap the dumps with a lightweight, though tough, sheet of plastic, topsoil and grass.
In an open letter last week, Olin asked for the townspeople's support and offered to mail letters from residents to the EPA.
``It really seems like now they're really trying to make some moves trying to clean it up,'' Dye said of the company. He, too, seemed skeptical of the plan to dig up dirt at the former chlorine plant, haul it one mile, burn it, and haul it back.
Two weeks ago, eight thick volumes of technical reports and alternative cleanup plans appeared at the Saltville library. ``It's been such a short time and a whole lot of literature,'' Dye said. He will ask the EPA to extend the public comment period, which runs out Feb. 17, for another 30 days.
The Mountain Empire Environmental Team also is considering applying for a $50,000 EPA grant to hire a consultant to help it digest the complex technical information.
by CNB