Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, November 12, 1994 TAG: 9411140076
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: CLIFTON FORGE LENGTH: Medium
Sen. Malfourd "Bo" Trumbo, R-Fincastle, said Thursday that he is exploring using the Clean Water Act to provide funds for cleaning up the defunct Kim-Stan landfill near Selma. A court order closed the landfill in 1990 for environmental violations. Cleaning it up could cost more than $10million.
Kim-Stan's owners were forced into bankruptcy soon after the landfill closed. Efforts in the past two years to get the General Assembly to approve state funds to pay for the cleanup have failed.
If the state is able to prove that Kim-Stan is in a watershed area that affects the Chesapeake Bay, the Clean Water Act can be tapped for funding.
Contaminated runoff leaks from the landfill daily and makes its way into the Jackson River, which is a tributary of the James River. The James runs into the Chesapeake Bay.
``The Environmental Protection Agency has encouraged the state to do our water-quality projects on a watershed basis,'' said Charlie Wade, a spokesman for the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation. ``What we're looking at with Kim-Stan is a little different or unique, but it might work.''
To get the federal funds for Kim-Stan, the state will have to refer to the section of the Clean Water Act that covers sediment pollution, nutrients and toxins, Wade said.
State tests have shown that runoff from Kim-Stan contains heavy metals and oxygen-depriving agents. The state blamed the landfill for a fish kill in a nearby pond in 1989.
The state's closure plan, prepared in 1992 by a private engineer, calls for a synthetic cap to be installed to seal the landfill from moisture. The plan includes wells for groundwater monitoring and measures to provide treatment of runoff. Wells and vents also would be installed to handle methane gas.
by CNB