
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, September 25, 1993                   TAG: 9309250130
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

SENATE PANEL OKS FUNDS TO CONTINUE RIVER TESTS

The Appropriations Committee of the U.S. Senate has approved $900,000 for the Roanoke River flood-reduction project so that environmental tests of property along the river can continue.

The funds were contained in President Clinton's budget, which was submitted to Congress earlier this year.

Sen. John Warner, R-Va., said Friday the funding legislation will now go to the full Senate for action.

The money will pay for tests at sites where preliminary investigations showed the soil might be contaminated with chromium, lead, silver, zinc or other metals likely to be found in an industrial corridor.

At low levels, these materials are not dangerous, but they can cause health problems at high levels, city officials said. They can be uncovered when the river's channel is widened to prevent flooding.

State and city officials are establishing the levels of toxic or hazardous materials that will be used to determine whether the sites will have to be cleaned up.

Depending on the pollution level, the city and Army Corps of Engineers will decide whether to clean up some areas or redesign the project to avoid them.

Assuming that state agencies approve the city's proposals for hazardous and toxic materials, construction could begin in 1995 and be completed by 1998.

by CNB