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

DATE: TUESDAY, February 28, 1995                   TAG: 9502280082
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: CATHRYN McCUE
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

POLLUTION HEARING SCHEDULED

An environmental group says the state plans to issue water pollution discharge permits for three Western Virginia facilities that fall short of ensuring water quality in the Roanoke and James rivers.

At the group's request, the Department of Environmental Quality has scheduled a public hearing tonight on all three permits. An informal session begins at 6:30 at the Bedford County Administration Building in Bedford, followed by the public hearing at 7.

Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, or PEER, challenged the three draft permits last year, along with a dozen others around the state. The group represents department whistle-blowers who say the permits violate state and federal law by allowing too much organic material, fecal coliform, chlorine and other compounds in the discharges.

The permits are for waste-water treatment systems for:

Bowers Commercial Development, a proposed business complex in Blue Ridge in Botetourt County, which would discharge 5,000 gallons a day to Glade Creek, which flows into the Roanoke River.

Thousand Trails Campground in Campbell County, which would discharge 35,900 gallons a day to Mollys Creek, another tributary of the Roanoke.

Huntingwood Apartments in Boonesboro in Bedford County, which would discharge 35,000 gallons a day to a tributary of the James.

The Department of Environmental Quality says its standards will protect the environment and human health. The federal Environmental Protection Agency recently approved two other permits that PEER had challenged.

by CNB