Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, July 31, 1990 TAG: 9007310023
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: FRITZ RITSCH SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES & WORLD-NEWS
DATELINE: FRIES LENGTH: Long
People in Fries had no idea what effluent would do to potential drinking water, but they suspected it wouldn't be good. Local money was soon exhausted from hiring a lawyer and a firm to prepare an environmental impact statement. Further research would have been far beyond their means.
Enter Virginia Tech.
Since 1985, the Tech Center for Environmental and Hazardous Material Study has been headquarters for the Virginia Student Environmental Health Project.
Virginia and West Virginia communities with environmental concerns apply to the project during the academic year. The program - funded by the Virginia Environmental Endowment - then hires students from colleges in the two Virginias to live in selected communities, do research and community organizing, and publish extensive reports.
This summer, the project has sent seven students to four Virginia locations.
David Hatfield, 20, a junior at Tech, and Teri Sue Wyker, 21, a senior at Old Dominion University, went to Fries.
The community provides them with housing, basic research facilities and local liaison people - Bill Baley and his wife, Betsy. In return, Hatfield and Wyker provide research and scientific expertise, training and community organizing - the kind of thing that would cost tens of thousands of dollars if a company did it.
Hatfield and Wyker have set up sampling sites along the river near the future discharge site, at the dam and at the auxiliary water supply reservoir.
They do background levels on bacteria and metals in the New River. Some of the work they do themselves in a makeshift lab surrounded by war memorabilia in the Baleys' basement. The rest is sent to the research labs at Tech for analysis.
"We take samples to determine how the levels change," said Hatfield.
He says much of their research is "future dependent." In fact, he and Wyker emphasize that only time will tell if any harm is done the river by Galax's effluent.
Part of project's mission is to train local residents to take samples themselves after the volunteers leave. Hatfield and Wyker have already trained many Fries residents to use a field kit to test the levels of certain metals in the river. By comparing the levels they find with the research of this summer and with local and federal ordinances, people can determine for themselves whether they have anything to worry about.
"People make up a lot to be worried about," Wyker said.
Many people are afraid that the effluent from Galax's industries will collect at Fries' dam and form "a big cesspool." This is unlikely, Wyker said, but "if you introduce anything into the river, it'll have an effect."
Linda Tawney, co-director of the program at Tech, says the students try to approach their research without prejudice. "They're not here to support somebody. They're here to find the facts."
Their neutrality has been hard for some people to understand. Fries residents asked them to carry signs during a picket, but Hatfield and Wyker had to decline politely.
Galax city officials were reticent about allowing the students to tour their sewage treatment plant when they discovered they were working in Fries. Fries has filed for an injunction to delay the opening of the new waste discharge site until more research can be done.
Wyker and Hatfield finally wrote a letter that was published in the Galax Gazette.
"Our attempts to obtain information for our research has been met with some reluctance because of the politics involved," the letter said in part. "Our purpose is not to point a finger at a `bad guy'."
Since writing the letter, the students have found their work easier. They have toured the city waste treatment plant and one industrial waste treatment facility. They anticipate no problems touring the other two factories that have treatment plants.
Hatfield admitted, however, that "we haven't really tried to tour the industries that have been cited" for violations. The ones with treatment facilities are "anxious to show off what they've done."
Wyker and Hatfield find the bulk of their time taken up by legal research. They learn what federal and local standards are for environmental protection and determine what legal actions citizens of Fries could take if they detect a violation. They make residents aware of agencies that can help them.
One thing they have learned, Wyker said, is that environmental issues are "1 percent science and 99 percent political."
Hatfield said it is "not environmentally realistic" to assume more effluent will pollute the river to a dangerous level. "That can't be determined," whereas if building treatment facilities is cost-prohibitive, as the factories argue, "we're talking about people's livelihood. They'd rather work and live with the doubt."
There is no easy answer, Hatfield said. "If there were, the politicians would have found it by now."
The people of Fries seem pleased with the students. "They're doing a fantastic job," said Arnold Philips, president of the Fries Civic League, which has spearheaded the town's environmental efforts.
Hatfield hopes to build on his training this summer. He plans to enter the Peace Corps eventually. Wyker intends to continue in environmental research.
Both are biology majors, though Tawney said the student health program accepts students even from non-science majors.
"The role of STEHP is not only to help the community with environmental issues but to help students with an interest in going into those fields," Tawney said.
by CNB