Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 21, 1995 TAG: 9503210095
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RON BROWN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLUE RIDGE LENGTH: Medium
A state contract, valued at $88,974, has been offered to the Robert Clear Coal Corp. of Tennessee for the first phase of the cleanup.
Part of the cost will be paid by the forfeiture of $10,880 that Weblite paid to a state-controlled performance bond program. The state can place liens on the property to collect the balance.
No one from Weblite could be reached for comment Monday.
Weblite, which closed in November 1992, was located on a 48-acre site in the Blue Ridge section of Botetourt County.
The two-phase project, designed to clean up remnants of a shale mining operation that provided raw materials for making concrete block, will include grading the land and attempting to restore vegetation.
The first phase, which the state hopes will be completed by June 1, will be concentrated in the mining pit. The second will deal with the area around plant buildings.
The entire project will affect 30 of the site's 48 acres, said Mike Abbott, public relations coordinator for the department.
The Weblite site and its former operation had been a source of irritation to its neighbors when it closed under pressure from the Virginia Department of Air Pollution Control. For nearly two decades, state inspectors received a stream of complaints about the plant, its smoke and the gritty dust that sifted into surrounding homes.
The state cleanup plan calls for moving all waste coal used in the block-making process away from areas that would allow it to drain into adjacent streams. The waste coal then can be hauled off and the site graded and seeded.
Bill Loope, who represents the area on the Board of Supervisors, was happy to hear that the site would be cleaned up.
"I'm glad they're forcing a cleanup," he said. "It certainly can't hurt."
A spokesman for the Blue Ridge Concerned Citizens, which formed recently to fight a proposal by Branch Highways Inc. to build an asphalt plant on the site, had a similar response.
"We think it's great," said Steve Rossi, the spokesman. "We are very appreciative for the state doing it."
Last week, Branch said the site was only one of six it was considering. Ralph Shivers, the company's president, said he would prefer to locate the plant in Roanoke.
Memo: ***CORRECTION***