Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 17, 1990 TAG: 9006170265
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: D1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: MADELYN ROSENBERG NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: PULASKI LENGTH: Long
An inspector visited the site of the old Allied Chemical Plant on Friday afternoon to check on the construction of a pipeline that would keep runoff from draining onto chemical piles and into the water, said Charles Stitzer, an enforcement specialist with the board.
"We're relatively satisfied that everything's being done on that site in the short term that can possibly be done," he said.
Metals, including iron, copper, lead and selenium, have leached from the site into the creek, turning the water a rusty red. The red color, which follows the flow of the creek into Claytor Lake, has worried some residents here and angered others over the past few months.
Some of the runoff was stopped a week ago when owners of the Pulaski Mall responded to a court order and constructed a pipeline and drainage ditch to keep rainwater from traveling across their property and onto Downtown East's property - and the chemical piles.
Downtown East is responsible for continuing the diversion.
In the end, Stitzer said, a 300- to 400-foot pipeline will snake around the Allied property and an eroded landfill of heavy metals known to officials as "the little Grand Canyon."
"The water that comes out will be clean," Stitzer said. "This will take care of a large percentage of contamination to the creek."
But rainwater that falls directly onto the eroded area still will pollute the creek - at least until the Department of Waste Management approves a plan to stop it. That plan may include covering the area with a clay cap, said Jamie Walters, the department's community relations officer.
Walters said officials will know how to proceed after samples from the site are analyzed by the Environmental Protection Agency. Results are expected early next month.
Allied is not involved in the cleanup so far, but Walters has said the company may become involved later, depending on EPA's findings.
Meanwhile, if Downtown East continues its efforts to stop the pollution, a hearing scheduled for June 25 before the Control Board's directors may be called off, Stitzer said.
"The consulting firm said everything is lined up and construction is under way," Stitzer said. "Their goal is to finish up before the board meeting."
The firm expects construction to be complete by Thursday. The Water Control Board will decide whether to hold the hearing by the middle of next week.
Downtown East originally had been asked to stop the runoff by April 30. The Water Control Board set the June hearing when no progress had been made by that date.
"They [Downtown East] missed the first deadline, so I can't say I'm 100 percent happy," Stitzer said. "But they're making progress."
Stopping the runoff could cost Downtown East a minimum of about $50,000, said Bill Aden, an engineer with Draper Aden Associates, the consulting firm hired to come up with a soil erosion and sediment control plan.
That price could go up depending on the type of waste found at the site and how that waste is handled.
Several agencies, including the Water Control Board and the Department of Waste Management, have reviewed the control plan, which was submitted at the end of May.
"Parts were accepted and parts were turned down," Stitzer said. "The Department of Waste Management is still trying to characterize the waste and you have to deal with different types of waste differently."
Downtown East bought the Allied site after the plant, which manufactured iron sulfide, was closed in 1976. The partnership also bought land on both sides of Virginia 99 that once belonged to the chemical company, according to records filed with the Commissioner of Revenue.
"It wasn't hardly anything before," Daniel Rooker, one of the eight limited partners in Downtown East, said recently. "Now there are two shopping centers, a furniture store and a number of other businesses. There was nothing there before except for Allied."
Rooker, a retired newspaper publisher, said that as a limited partner, he doesn't do much more for Downtown East than read the annual reports.
"It's like if you buy a share of stock in a company," he said. "You have nothing to say about how it operates."
Alex Harman, a retired state Supreme Court judge, also is a limited partner.
"I'm simply an investor," he said Friday. "That [the plant site] was just part of the property we purchased."
H.W. Huff, owner of Huff Petroleum Co. in Pulaski, is general partner in Downtown East and holds a 12 percent interest in the partnership, while the limited partners hold 11 percent, according to the record of partnership.
Huff has said several times that the pollution would be handled responsibly. He did not return phone calls Friday.
Former Del. Bob Dobyns, another limited partner, had few comments recently when asked about Peak Creek.
"I believe something will be done," he said. "I don't think anybody wants to let it go. . . . I don't believe it's appropriate for me to comment."
Other members of the partnership include: Dr. William McGuire, a urologist; Jimmy Lark, who runs an insurance agency; Odell Mayberry, a retired car dealer; Jack White, a local property manager; and Issy Lepchitz, president of Felix Department Store.
by CNB