Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, September 8, 1993 TAG: 9309080301
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
People who live near Shenandoah Avenue and 30th Street want the pollution declared a public nuisance, and have employed a seldom-used law against three industries they say are responsible.
After the residents filed a petition last week in Roanoke Circuit Court, Judge Diane Strickland appointed five citizens Tuesday afternoon to serve on the investigative body.
It was the first time in at least 15 years that a special grand jury was convened in Roanoke.
The panel heard testimony from several neighborhood residents as it began an investigation of Roanoke Electric Steel, Howard Brothers Inc. and Norfolk Southern Corp.
Residents say the three companies are responsible for an ash recycling process that causes huge clouds of dust - leaving their homes, cars and lawns coated with grime.
Howard Brothers has a contract to collect and recycle ash from furnaces at Roanoke Electric Steel. It then dumps the ash, or slag, on property owned by the railroad.
Officials with the state Department of Air Pollution Control have said they believe the hot furnace slag sometimes explodes when it is dumped into large piles, creating puffs of steam and dust. Clouds of dust containing metal fragments are then carried by wind into the neighborhood.
Andy Burford said it was so bad one day he thought a thunderstorm was brewing.
"The clouds of dust actually blacked out the sun and that ash was falling so heavy I thought it was raining," he said.
Burford, who said he finally moved out of the neighborhood because of the problems, was one of several residents to testify before the grand jury.
"They seemed genuinely concerned and interested," he said of the grand jury.
By law, special grand jury investigations are held in closed sessions. Roanoke Commonwealth's Attorney Donald Caldwell, who is assisting the panel, said it is scheduled to meet again Sept. 15.
The special grand jury will not have the power to decide if a public nuisance exists, but will recommend whether the residents are justified in taking further civil action.
Caldwell called it a "quasi-civil" proceeding. If the industries are found to have caused a public nuisance, they could be fined up to $5,000.
State law also allows that if a public nuisance is found to exist, the jury can order that "such nuisance be forthwith removed and abated."
John Lambert, a spokesman for Roanoke Electric Steel, said last week that the recycling operation is not on the company's property.
He said Roanoke Electric Steel has not been found in violation of any regulatory standards, although it has asked Howard Brothers in the past to review its procedure for handling the dust after complaints from residents.
A spokesman for Norfolk Southern, which is involved because it owns the property where the ash is recycled, has said the company is not aware of any complaints.
Howard Brothers officials have not been available for comment.
The special grand jury has the power to subpoena witnesses. "I anticipate they will want to hear from all the parties," Caldwell said.
Burford said residents have attempted to solve the problem through discussions with Roanoke Electric Steel and the other companies, but with little success.
"This will be a wake-up call for them," he said of the grand jury investigation.
Memo: ***CORRECTION***