THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, July 24, 1995 TAG: 9507240047
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: NEWPORT NEWS LENGTH: Medium: 66 lines
Twenty years after state officials shut down a Hopewell chemical factory linked to what would become one of Virginia's worst environmental disasters, the pesticide known as Kepone retains its hold on the James River.
Most of the Kepone that was flushed into the James River 20 to 30 years ago is still there. It is also still found in fish in the river, though mostly at levels considered safe by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Yet the state Health Department still advises against eating large amounts of fish from the river.
After several workers became sick, the state closed the Hopewell factory on July 24, 1975. Less than five months later, officials also closed the James River to fishing.
Officials had learned that Kepone had routinely been flushed through Hopewell's sewage treatment plant.
In the years that followed the government spent millions testing people and the environment. And fishermen and the businesses that catered to them lost millions during the ban on fishing, which was not fully lifted until 1988.
The state Department of Environmental Quality still tests for Kepone. This year, DEQ will collect 288 fish from the river and measure the amount of Kepone in their flesh.
In 1981, the state stopped testing the water because Kepone levels had fallen so low. Last year, it stopped testing the river bottom after years of results showed the Kepone was not moving around, said Louis Seivard, manager of the monitoring program.
But the state continues to test fish. On average, the Kepone levels in James River fish have been below the government's safety level for years. But every now and then, DEQ finds a fish that nears or exceeds the limit.
The Kepone that made its way into the James was a powder. Because it did not easily dissolve in water, much of it settled into the sediment, where it is undetectable by sight or touch.
Like other pesticides of its kind, Kepone was designed to be very stable chemically. The Kepone in the James may break down into less harmful chemicals some day, but VIMS scientists don't expect that to happen soon.
In the meantime, the Kepone on the river bottom has gradually been covered by silt and sediment. The reason Kepone levels in fish have been steadily declining is that there is less of the insecticide in the water or on the river bottom for fish to absorb through their gills or ingest in food.
The risk that remains is that the buried Kepone will be stirred up again, either by a hurricane or by dredging. Avoiding Kepone is now an element of every dredging project between Hopewell and the bay.
In the late 1970s, the Environmental Protection Agency explored ways of ensuring that Kepone stayed out of the river's food chain. Ranging from massive dredging to covering the most seriously polluted sections of the river bottom with concrete, each strategy was very expensive, damaging to the environment or both, said Seivard, manager of the monitoring program.
State and federal officials decided to let nature take its course and wait until all the Kepone is buried by the sediment or breaks down. Until then, the state will continue to test the river's fish. MEMO: [For a related story, see page B5 of THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT for this
date.]
KEYWORDS: JAMES RIVER POLLUTION KEPONE by CNB