Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 21, 1995 TAG: 9505200022
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: F1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CATHRYN MCCUE
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Pollution prevention, P, is coming on strong in corporate America, and CEOs and stockholders like what they're seeing on the bottom line.
On this subject, Virginia is doing its homework. Two years ago, the General Assembly passed the Pollution Prevention Act to encourage businesses in the state to reduce and eliminate waste at the source. Shortly after, the Department of Environmental Quality set up the Office of Pollution Prevention with six experts to help.
"Pollution prevention has been identified, both nationally and in Virginia, as the most effective way to protect the environment," office manager Sharon Baxter said in her first newsletter. "Companies can usually save money, too."
The old days of environmental protection focused on "command and control" - a regulatory web of permits and standards to catch pollution at the "end-of-the-pipe" or at the "top-of-the-stack." Thanks largely to those legal frameworks, rivers no longer catch fire, and most residents of factory towns breathe easier.
But now, more companies are looking for ways to beat future mandates by preventing pollution rather than capturing emissions or cleaning up after spills, says Chris Doss, DEQ's assistant director for policy and legislation.
"I call it regulation prevention," he says. "When industries find a way to do something cleanly, it takes it off our laps." In other words, it just may keep the lawmakers and bureaucrats at bay.
He likens pollution prevention to individual behavior, using the following analogy:
Jane Doe recycles her household trash - cans, glass and paper. But she doesn't soak the labels off her cans, or separate the glass according to color. When the trash gets to the local dump, workers there have to soak and separate, at taxpayer expense.
But, Doss says, if Jane Doe willingly did more on her end to prevent pollution, "it would save us having to come in with onerous mandates, check out the trash underneath the kitchen sink."
The agency has undertaken numerous programs to get the word out to industries and local governments - which often account for more pollution violations than industry, Doss says.
The Office of Pollution Prevention acts as a clearinghouse for information. It has held training workshops for environmental managers in other state agencies and university engineering departments.
The OPP also signed up with the federal Environmental Protection Agency's "Green Lights Program" to reduce air emissions by reducing energy consumption in state government by 25 percent by 1998.
Last year, three Southwest Virginia plants took OPP up on its offer to conduct confidential audits that would find ways to minimize the generation of hazardous wastes. For example, OPP suggested that one facility launder its cloth rags used for cleaning rather than throwing them out, at a potential savings of $52,000.
Other examples at the facility included recycling scrap paper (saving $28,000), decreasing hydraulic oil changes while following manufacturer's recommendations ($16,000), and adjusting the plating process ($17,000).
Over $100,000 saved. Not bad for some minor changes, and think of the environmental savings.
These are solutions that could be replicated by any number of businesses, which is what the agency looks for. It has temporarily suspended the audit program because of layoffs and staff buyouts in DEQ, Doss said. But it may get geared up again later this summer.
What does all this say to Jane Doe, or the operator of a dry cleaner, auto body shop or other small business in Western Virginia? How does a business owner start a pollution prevention program when she can't even keep up with environmental regulations?
Enter the A.L. Philpott Manufacturing Center in Martinsville
The center is designed to be to manufacturers what the agricultural extension service is for farmers. And it may be in line for about $422,000 in federal grant money to assist small businesses to be environmentally, and ergo, economically competitive.
"These days, if you're not environmentally conscious, you're not going to be able to hire good people. They don't want to work for you," said center director John Hudson.
With the grant money, and matching funds equaling $178,000 over three years, the center will provide information, and technical and financial assistance to small businesses, Hudson said. The grant is distributed by the National Institute of Standards and Technologies.
The center teamed up DEQ's Office of Pollution Prevention to apply for the grant, along with other public and private entities, and plans to integrate the OPP's environmental services and resources with the grant money.
But it's not a done deal yet, Doss said. Virginia is one of 11 finalists, out of a field of 26 applicants across the country. All 12 could get money, or just one - there's no telling, he said.
"We feel very confident there's no reason to assume this won't come through."
But federal grant money did come through earlier this year, to the Small Business Development Center in Richmond, which is partly funded by the Virginia Department of Economic Development.
The center received $149,000 this year from the U.S. Small Business Administration. With the money, center director Robert Smith expects to reach 20,000 small Virginia businesses with information on pollution prevention.
In addition, the center will focus on technical assistance for the textile and furniture industries - both key elements of Southwest Virginia's economy - auto repair shops, printing and publishing companies and machine shops. These sectors are predicted for significant growth in the future, so the potential for preventing pollution is high, Smith said.
For more information about the state's business development center, call (804) 371-8258. For information about the Philpott center, call (703) 666-8890. And to reach DEQ's Office of Pollution Prevention, call (804) 762-4384.
And remember, Doss says, pollution prevention begins at home: "You could cut down on Appalachian Power Co.'s and Virginia Power's pollution problem if you find a way to dry your hair with a towel rather than a blow dryer."
by CNB