Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 3, 1993 TAG: 9302030130
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: ROBERT FREIS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: FLOYD LENGTH: Medium
QUADREX UNDECIDED ON CHEMICALS TO BE RECYCLED AT PLANT
Quadrex Corp. says it is nearly finished removing about 350,000 gallons of chemical wastes from two plants it purchased a year ago.However, what happens next at these Floyd County facilities remains undecided, a spokesman said Tuesday.
Quadrex still plans to use the sites for chemical reprocessing and stands behind its pledge that those chemicals will be "non-hazardous," said Charles L. Scheer.
But the nature of those chemicals has not been determined.
Scheer said a marketing survey on what chemicals can be handled profitably at Floyd is still under way. He said the company will announce its intentions in about six weeks.
Quadrex and the two defunct chemical plants it purchased became the focus of local controversy last year as Floyd County labored to revise its solid waste ordinance.
Some viewed the Gainesville, Fla., company as a potential carpetbagging environmental despoiler and advocated strict local controls over its operations.
Others welcomed Quadrex as an industrial boon offering local jobs and generating tax revenue. They were concerned that the new ordinance would be too restrictive.
Scheer said Quadrex is not discouraged by the new ordinance, passed by the Floyd County Board of Supervisors several months ago.
"It's a good common ground," he said.
He said the company shares the community's concerns with environmental protection.
As evidence, Quadrex cites the "hundreds of thousands of dollars" it has spent to purchase and clean up the two Floyd plants.
A "whole range" of residual chemicals - some hazardous - were removed to be treated, recycled or disposed of at Quadrex facilities in Gainesville and Dayton, Ohio, Scheer said.
Originally, the company said it planned to re-process automotive and industrial lubricants and coolants in Floyd. However, Quadrex changed its mind, saying handling those substances would be unprofitable.
Some citizens, including members of the Floyd Environmental Action Team, said Quadrex's changing and unspecific intentions made them nervous.
They also expressed skepticism when Quadrex President Bob Foster promised that waste handling violations the company committed in 1989 in Tennessee wouldn't happen in Floyd County.