Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 29, 1992 TAG: 9202290304
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By MARY BISHOP STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
POLLUTION SETTLEMENT FALLS APART
A month ago, the state's long air pollution battle with a Botetourt County company seemed on the way to being settled.Now state regulators and the Weblite Corp. are heading back to court.
Company officials have refused to sign a consent order to which they gave verbal agreement last month, said Beth Major, spokeswoman with the state Department of Air Pollution Control.
Weblite, a maker of aggregate material that other companies turn into concrete block, told the state after a court hearing last month that it would build a new smokestack, control dust and give the state a pile of pollution data it had demanded for years.
Weblite board Chairman Charles Fox III said the company backed off on the agreement when the state began to talk about taking action beyond what was addressed in the court order - including civil penalties.
Major said the court order was aimed at forcing Weblite to get the right permit, but described it as "only a small step in the total enforcement action." After the permit matter is resolved, she said, "then we can proceed with other issues in an orderly fashion."
She said that it was "clearly understood" in the state's meetings with Weblite that penalties would be dealt with eventually.
On April 1, the trial that was halted when the parties reached the agreement is scheduled to resume in Lexington before Circuit Judge George H. Honts III.
Virginia air regulators have accused Weblite of blowing dirty air from its stack for 20 years. An attorney for Weblite said in court last month that the plant - located in the village of Webster near Blue Ridge - has operated for years without the proper state air permit.
People who live near Weblite have complained for more than two decades of a sulfur-like smell, a low haze, and cinders and dust that sift into their homes.
Fox said Thursday that there is no evidence that stack emissions drift beyond company property and that the only dust is plain road dust. If there's something else in the air, he said, it must come from other sources. He has said all along that the state has unfairly targeted his company.