Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, September 3, 1994 TAG: 9409060024
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By CATHRYN McCUE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Parts of the 5 acres were contaminated with lead, most likely from lead-based paint, that had seeped into the ground and ground water over the years.
Now the Environmental Protection Agency is saying that wasn't good enough, and wants the Walnut Street site cleaned up soon, probably within a year.
"We were surprised about it," Cycle Systems General Manager Jim Conner said this week.
The problem was discovered when the EPA was called in to check about 20 riverfront properties in preparation for the city's flood-control project. The city and Army Corps of Engineers plan to dig along the banks and dredge the river bottom to widen and deepen the channel, reducing the chance of severe floods.
Cycle Systems had agreed to give some of its property, the strip along the river, to the city for the project. But the city doesn't want to take on any environmental liabilities at the site, or at any of the other 80 properties along the 10-mile section of river that flows through Roanoke.
So, to make sure, the EPA was called in late last year. Last month, the agency found hazardous wastes at Cycle Systems and Virginia Scrap Iron & Metal Co. that exceed Superfund levels and require speedy removal.
Another 12 sites, still publicly unidentified, had lesser problems that will require longer-term cleanup under the Superfund program.
These sites don't automatically get listed as Superfund sites, EPA spokesman Al Peterson said. That designation generally is reserved for sites that pose a clear public health threat, have astronomical pollution levels or are extremely complicated cleanup projects.
Still, the EPA involvement has complicated things for the city and for Cycle Systems.
"We don't know exactly where it is, other than just a little dot on a map," Conner said of the spots where the EPA said it found lead. "We're just kind of in the dark."
He said his recycling company plans to work with the EPA, and has a tentative agreement to do the cleanup work, depending on what's required.
Virginia Scrap Iron President Sam Golden did not return phone calls Friday. A city official has said the EPA likely will clean up that site and recover costs later.
A 1992 report by Dewberry & Davis, hired by the city to do an environmental assessment of the flood-control project area, found that most sites had some degree of contamination.
For Virginia Scrap, the report showed lead, barium and petroleum contamination in soil, and lead and cadmium in the ground water.
For Cycle Systems, the report showed petroleum, chromium, barium and lead contamination.
Conner said Cycle Systems paid about $45,000 to remove about 10 tractor-trailers full of dirt and haul it to South Carolina, because it was deemed hazardous waste and Virginia has no commercial hazardous-waste dumps.
Risk Science International, a Washington, D.C., firm hired by Cycle Systems, gave the property a clean bill of health and Cycle Systems bought it, Conner said.
Now Cycle Systems is trying to find out what happened, and the answer may lie in differences in how the EPA and Risk Science conducted their tests, and where specifically on the property they tested, Conner said.
The EPA's finding that perhaps 14 sites must be cleaned up may slow the flood-control project, which already is years behind schedule.
It's still unclear exactly how the Army Corps of Engineers and the EPA will determine how much needs to be cleaned up, and who will pay the costs.
by CNB