Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 7, 1991 TAG: 9102070091
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARY BISHOP STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
The department's Valley of Virginia office in Roanoke wrote Weblite Corp. of Blue Ridge in December that it suspected the plant's stack emits high levels of sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, particulate matter, volatile organic compounds, nitrogen oxides, fluorides, hydrogen fluoride and sulfuric-acid mist.
Regulators charged that Weblite failed three years ago to gain approval for a machine that bakes more than twice the amount of clay, slate and coal than is allowed under a state permit granted years ago.
The state also alleges that the 40-year-old company lacks adequate pollution controls and that its visible emissions and "fugitive" dust exceed state standards. A Weblite consultant estimated that pollution controls to bring the plant into compliance with state law could cost more than $1 million.
In a process called "sintering," Weblite burns, crushes and prepares clumps of porous material called "aggregate" that other companies turn into lightweight block and that golf courses use as "top dressing" on greens. Slate is mined at the plant site in Webster, a village near the community of Blue Ridge about a mile from the Blue Ridge Parkway.
State records show that there have been complaints about dust from the plant since May 1971 and that the state has documented air pollution violations since 1972.
Last May, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency placed Weblite on its list of "significant violators" of federal environmental laws. The EPA is awaiting completion of the state case before possibly getting directly involved.
Donn W. Branch, a member of Weblite's board of directors and former president of the company's previous owner and next-door neighbor, Webster Brick Co., said the state's allegations are not true. He directed all questions to Charles D. Fox III, a Roanoke lawyer and chairman of Weblite's board.
Fox said in a telephone interview that the state has offered "no factual basis" for its accusations. "As far as we're concerned, they're unsupported claims," he said.
Fox said Weblite applied three years ago for a permit for the new sintering machine it now uses. Don Shepherd, regional director of the Department of Air Pollution Control, said a no permit was granted because Weblite would not furnish data on emissions.
Fox said it could cost "hundreds of thousands of dollars" to collect data to prove that the company complies with state pollution laws.
He said the department has refused to meet with him. Shepherd said there have been several meetings, but additional ones have been delayed because Weblite has yet to furnish long-sought environmental information.
Fox complained that the state has not given him data. Shepherd said the state has invited Fox to inspect its records. "We've told him that our files are open," he said.
Fox said he was "not at liberty" to identify the current owners of Weblite. Fox said he was not among Weblite's stockholders.
In a December letter to state regulators, Fox said he and Branch "became connected" with Weblite in August 1988. That was about the time Webster Brick was purchased by General Shale Products Corp. of Johnson City, Tenn. Branch has an office at a company called Webster of Virginia in downtown Roanoke.
A consultants' report done for Weblite last summer said the company has 40 employees.
Fox said that when he and Branch became officers of Weblite in 1989 they had no indication the state was concerned about air pollution there.
People living near Weblite say they have complained for years about dust and cinders from Weblite.
Josephine and Gene Noojin, a retired couple, said they fought the airborne debris at their home just over a hill from Weblite until they got fed up 18 months ago and moved about 1 1/2 miles away.
"We lost the paint job on a new Cadillac," Josephine Noojin said. Cinders burned holes in the paint down to the metal, she said, so they repainted the 1977 car and gave it to their daughter.
The Noojins first complained to state authorities and former Rep. Caldwell Butler more than 12 years ago. A July 1978 letter from Shepherd's predecessor, former regional director M.S. Williams, said his staff found no air pollution violations at Weblite and could not determine what caused the "alleged damage" to the Noojins' car.
Thermal-pane windows could not keep dust out of their former home, Josephine Noojin said. "You have to put a mask on to clean out your gutters" at the house, which is now rented to another family, she said.
She and other neighbors have a long list of complaints: a strong sulfur-like odor, a haze that hangs sometimes at ground level and makes it dangerous to cross the railroad track to get home, persistent respiratory problems, a yellow dust that covers the ground and their shoes, and a film that forms on the water of a local swimming pool and seems to be destroying its liner.
"Everybody is sick off and on all the time," Josephine Noojin said of Webster residents, many of whom are her relatives.
Don Shepherd, the state regulator, said sulfur fumes at Weblite cause "a burning sensation in your lungs."
Sulfur dioxide is a known lung irritant and a major contributor to acid rain, he said, and carbon monoxide is known to reduce the ability of a person's blood to absorb oxygen.
Nancy Crowder, a niece of the Noojins who lives close to Weblite, said her laundry often is specked when she takes it off the clothesline. She hangs out a light-colored towel first to test the air.
Fox, the Weblite chairman, said there's no proof that dust comes from his company and not from nearby roads and other sources, such as General Shale, which is across Virginia 738 from Weblite.
Shepherd said, however, that his inspectors have seen the dust at Weblite. "It's pretty obvious where it's coming from," he said.
The state's case is based partly on computer modeling that predicted high levels of sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide and other pollutants at Weblite. Fox said the modeling assumes that winds at Weblite are similar to those at the Roanoke Regional Airport, and he's not sure that's true.
Shepherd said the state's modeling used data gathered by a Weblite consultant. Scientists consider such modeling to be an accurate predictor, he said.
Much of what billows from Weblite's stack is steam, Fox said. Shepherd said the steam dissipates near the stack and a blue haze of other emissions has been seen trailing higher into the air.
Robert W. Saunders, manager of field work in the regional air pollution office, wrote Fox on Jan. 4 that the department will meet with Weblite officials as soon as they respond in writing to the charges and propose corrective steps.
Saunders has asked for verification that Weblite has reduced the feed rate on its sintering machine and for information on pollution-control equipment it has added or plans to add. Saunders said the information is past due.
Shepherd said he knew of no other air pollution charges in his region - which stretches from Harrisonburg to Pulaski - that have been on the books so long without the state and company settling their dispute. Shepherd has been regional director for 11 years.
Unless Weblite provides a detailed response to the charges, Shepherd said, he will ask the state Board of Air Pollution Control to hold a formal hearing. Such a hearing could be held as early as April.
If the board orders Weblite to cooperate and Weblite still fails to answer the charges, Shepherd said the department will sue. He said it would be the first time his office has taken a company to court.
Weblite faces fines of up to $25,000 for each day since the state issued its first notice of violation in 1987. That could total more than $25 million, but Shepherd said such a fine would be unreasonable. He said the state concluded that fines first calculated at $500,000 to $1 million might be too high.
If there are dangerous levels of pollution at Weblite, Fox said, he has told the state he wants to meet with them to talk about it. "Or," he said he wants to tell them, "do you want us to spend all our company assets litigating?"
The state would prefer to negotiate a settlement than take Weblite to court, Saunders wrote Fox last month, but he said the state "may have little choice" unless Weblite responds.
by CNB