Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 15, 1995 TAG: 9503150030
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CATHRYN McCUE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
But this was no ordinary litter day at the river, with volunteers picking up cans, bottles and cigarette butts.
No, these were trained environmental technicians, decked out in rubber boots, gloves and white plastic ``moon suits'' secured with duct tape at the wrists and ankles. As one took pictures to document the procedure, the others scraped and dug up dirt and sealed it in plastic bags to be tested for lead contamination.
They'll continue the arduous process all week, sampling at least 54 spots around the property owned by Cycle Systems to determine exactly how wide and how deep the contamination is.
They also will take samples from the bank of the Roanoke River to make sure there's no threat to the stream.
``There's no reason to believe there's a widespread problem,'' said Jeff Dodd, on-scene coordinator with the federal Environmental Protection Agency. But the lead, a highly toxic metal, could pose a threat to workers, trespassers or fishermen, Dodd said, or it could be dislodged and washed downstream next time the river floods.
``You can see the garbage all the way up in the trees,'' he noted, pointing to where the last high water left plastic bags and other debris strung among the branches.
The cleanup also will mean the Army Corps of Engineers can come in and move ``clean dirt'' when it starts on the long-awaited flood-control project.
The Roanoke River's propensity for overflowing caused the contamination to be discovered in the first place.
The city wants to widen and deepen the channel to reduce flooding, but it doesn't want the liability of owning toxic hot spots. Several years ago, the city checked all riverfront properties for pollution. At the city's request, the EPA reviewed the initial environmental assessment.
Property owned by Cycle Systems and Virginia Scrap Iron & Metal showed lead levels above federal standards, up to five times higher. Both companies have agreed to pay for cleaning up their sites under consent agreements with the EPA, Dodd said.
Cycle Systems uses the property to dismantle railroad locomotives. The contamination has been traced to a paint-spraying company that previously owned the property, said Bren Huggins, a consultant with Environmental Resources Management Inc. in Roanoke, who is overseeing both sites. He doesn't know the source of lead at Virginia Scrap, although he said that only one spot, a pile of debris, tested high.
Charlie Williams, an environmental lawyer with Gentry, Locke, Rakes & Moore who represents Virginia Scrap, criticized the EPA's methods and its paperwork.
``The [consent order] is bigger than the site. If you spread it out, it would be bigger than the site,'' Williams said. ``They saw a pile of junk, they looked in there and literally picked up what looked to them like a paint chip.''
Huggins said the lead standard that triggered the cleanup - 1,000 parts per million - is based on a 1-in-1,000,000 chance that a child ingesting a teaspoon of dirt every day for years would develop cancer. Such a risk at these sites is ``incredibly remote,'' he said.
While Congress, the EPA and many states, including Virginia, are debating and reassessing pollution laws to make the cleanup requirements fit the risk, the existing rules still apply, Dodd said.
Both cleanups are fairly small projects and probably will take six to eight months, Huggins said.
In the meantime, Roanoke is reviewing the information on all the river properties one more time before acquiring the rights of way, said Jim Carper, Corps of Engineers project engineer. Once that starts, the corps will make sure the project's benefits equal or surpass the cost, dollar for dollar. If everything falls into place, the project will be done by 2000, Carper said.
by CNB