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

DATE: THURSDAY, July 12, 1990                   TAG: 9007120592
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-6   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

DIOXIN WATER LEVEL RULE IS CHALLENGED

The Environmental Defense Fund and three members living on the James River downstream from Westvaco Corp.'s Covington paper mill have sued the state Water Control Board to block its new rule on the amount of dioxin allowed in state waters.

The national environmental organization's Richmond office, along with Juan Ramirez, Dr. Benjamin H. Rice and Joseph W. Lawler, asked Richmond Circuit Court to force the board to reconsider the 1.2-parts-per-quadrillion standard adopted in May. The plaintiffs favor the more stringent federal guideline of 0.013 ppq.

The suit, filed last week, claimed the board shirked its duty to protect human and aquatic life when it approved the dioxin level urged by Westvaco and two other Virginia paper mills.

The toxic chemical is a byproduct of paper-bleaching. Union Camp Corp. at Franklin recently announced that a new process may eliminate dioxin in waste water. Paper mill executives have reported they already have reduced dioxin to a level undetectable by available test equipment.

by CNB