Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, May 17, 1994 TAG: 9405170141
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By CATHRYN McCUE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Bob Saunders, compliance officer with the Department of Environmental Quality's Roanoke air region, said two inspectors looked over the company's new pollution control process Monday.
"They were real impressed with it," Saunders said. "From what I hear, it's so wet it's not going to have any problem up on the hill."
Roanoke Electric finished work last week on a building adjacent to its furnaces. Inside are two huge pits lined with concrete and steel, said Bill Warwick, company vice president of environmental affairs.
Hot slag is dumped into the pits and sprayed with waste water from the manufacturing process over a period of 24 hours.
The steam is sucked into a "scrubber" that traps the particles, Warwick said. All that comes out of the stack is water vapor, he said.
The water is reused, Warwich said. "It's a good environmental practice."
Although the process seems to eliminate dust problems, Saunders said the agency still wants Howard Brothers Inc., which recycles Roanoke Electric's slag, to construct a containment building at its nearby facility.
For years, residents of the Signal Hill community have complained that grit and grime from Howard Bros. operations covered their homes, yards and cars. Huge clouds of dust, sometimes 300 feet high, often would billow into the air when the slag was dumped onto the ground at Howard Bros.
The residents filed a petition last September that resulted in a special grand jury investigation. Shortly after, Howard Bros. and Roanoke Electric undertook the construction projects.
by CNB