Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, December 9, 1994 TAG: 9412100037
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-19 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAVID M. POOLE AND CATHRYN McCUE STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
But the chairman of a legislative committee that has waited four years for the railroad to solve the problem warned that his patience is not inexhaustible.
"If we come back here next year and we really haven't seen any tangible results, I would be the first to recommend we enact legislation," said state Sen. Eliott Schewel, D-Lynchburg.
Norfolk Southern officials assured the panel that homeowners along its tracks should see a marked reduction in coal dust by next May.
J.W. "Bill" Fox Jr., a company vice president, said the railroad has spent $3 million on a dust suppression method for its rail cars and that coal producers have agreed to help implement it.
But several residents who live near the tracks or the ship terminal were skeptical that anything will change without state regulations and stiff fines for violations.
Tommy Bolling of Bedford County said nothing has changed in four years of legislative study. Coal trains still rumble past his house up to three times a day, leaving behind a cloud of black soot that covers his home, lawn, cars and anything left outside.
Bolling said the railroad will continue to "drag its feet" unless the General Assembly draws the line. "If you're going to cost them some money," Bolling said, "they're going to spend some money."
"It's time to put the burden on those who are responsible for the coal dust emissions," agreed Beverly Mann, who lives in a waterfront home a few miles north of the Norfolk terminal.
NS officials contend they can solve the problem with voluntary guidelines that allow the industry to avoid more expensive regulations.
Fox outlined voluntary steps he said would sharply reduce coal dust along the tracks. He said the biggest culprit is metallurgical coal, which makes up about 10 percent of coal shipped along Norfolk Southern lines.
In a joint effort with Consolidation Coal Co. in West Virginia, the railroad has developed a chemical "crusting" agent to seal in the dust. Consolidation has been using the sealant for several months, and another large producer of metallurgical coal, U.S. Mining Co. in West Virginia, has agreed to apply the chemical on its shipments.
"Once the application is made on theirs, I think we'll see substantive results," said W. Bruce Wingo, a Norfolk Southern vice president.
Railroad officials said other types of coal - which make up 90 percent of shipments - do not require the sealant because they do not create significant amounts of dust.
Tommy Hudson of the Virginia Coal Association said requiring the sealant on all coal shipments would run up the price of coal, hurt already ailing coal producers and put the Hampton Roads ports at a competitive disadvantage.
In Montgomery County, Marianna Fillmore said she has noticed a slight decrease in dust over the past year.
But she is not optimistic that NS will solve the problem on its own.
Fillmore said she had about 15 moderate to serious "blowouts." Each time, she called a toll-free hot line set up by NS to take dust complaints. Over the years, she has written letters, given testimony to Schewel's committee and spent countless hours filing claims with the railroad.
"You run out of time, you run out of energy," she said, explaining that she did not have time to travel nearly four hours for the Thursday hearing.
Fillmore said she can't understand why Norfolk Southern - which posted net profits of $491.7 million through this year's third quarter - could do no more to stop the dust.
``What could it hurt [for the company] to say, `Wow, look what we are doing to these people. It wouldn't cut into our profits that much to do something,''' she said. ``We're breathing this stuff. Are we all going to have some dread disease?''
The Fillmores aren't taking that chance. They're moving to another site along the New River - high on a ridge above the railroad tracks - chiefly to get away from the dust.
"You shrug your shoulders and sigh and scrub your deck furniture, and scrub your desk, and vacuum the inside of your car and wash your car - again."
by CNB