Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, September 15, 1995 TAG: 9509150055
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Vinton officials are concerned about the use of fly ash as fill material for a commercial building project on Virginia 24 in Roanoke County, Town Manager Clay Goodman said Thursday. The project is close to three town water wells.
The contractor doing the fill work has given the town permission to take samples of the fly ash, which was produced in the stacks of Appalachian Power Co.'s coal-fired generating plant at Glen Lyn in Giles County. The samples will help the town track any ground-water contamination from the site, Goodman said.
After they were satisfied that the ash posed no threat, Roanoke County officials approved site plans for the two-acre project last year. Jerry Fairchild, a Vinton businessman who owns the property, plans to build a convenience store with gas pumps, a florist shop and a fast-food restaurant there and to pave the parking lot.
The paved parking lot will help keep water out of the fill and protect Vinton's wells, said Arnold Covey, director of inspections and engineering for Roanoke County.
The ash has been tested to make sure it doesn't contain high levels of heavy metals and is environmentally safe for use as fill material, Covey said. The contractor certifies that the ash is safe, he said.
In February, state regulations were changed to allow the use of fly ash as fill material under parking lots or other paved areas. Previously, it had been allowed as fill only under buildings. The regulations require that the ash be kept 100 feet from any well, but a state permit is not required to use the ash.
Kate Glass, an inspector with the state Department of Environmental Quality, said she has fielded several calls from people worried that the ash will contaminate the town's wells, the closest of which is about 300 feet away, behind the Lynn Haven Baptist Church.
The town raised its concerns with the county in December, Goodman said. After a large drain pipe at the site moved following heavy rains in late June, the town asked the county to take another look at the project, he said.
A subsequent engineering study, conducted at the county's request, concluded that ground water was not likely to rise any higher than 10 feet below the bottom of the fill area.
American Electric Power Co. of Columbus, Ohio, the parent of Apco, hired JTM Industries of Kennesaw, Ga., to do the fill work, according to Guy Ceremeli of AEP's environmental services department. After an earthen berm was built to contain the ash, the first load was dumped on the site Sept. 5.
The project, which is next to the eastbound lanes of Virginia 24 just east of Wolf Creek and the Vinton town limits, now looks like a deep, dry pond. The fly ash going into the hole is dark gray and has the consistency of talcum powder.
The 45,000 tons of ash will come from a landfill Apco has operated at its Glen Lyn plant since the early 1970s, Ceremeli said. It's primarily an aluminum and silica material, almost like glass, with some trace metals in it, he said.
Because of a change in its landfill design and permit at Glen Lyn, AEP would have to excavate and move the material if it were not being used for the Roanoke County project, Ceremeli said. Besides hiring JTM to do the fill work, AEP gave Fairchild the ash and helped pay for the cost of transporting it to his property.
AEP has sent ash to other fill sites in Ohio and West Virginia, but this is the first project in Virginia since the regulations changed, Ceremeli said. He said AEP reviewed the plans for the project because one problem site could hurt the company's reputation. AEP was confident in the ability of the contractor to do the job properly, he said.
JTM, the contractor, has been in the ash business since the 1950s, said Danny Gray, president of the company's engineering subsidiary and a native of Stewartsville. It was through Gray that Fairchild learned of the possibility of using the ash as a fill material.
Ash also is used as a substitute for cement in making concrete, Gray said. Its components are inert and very similar to those found in natural soils, he said.
According to the Edison Electric Institute, U.S. power plants produce about 90 million tons of byproducts from burning fossil fuels each year, most of it fly ash. Coal contains on average of 10 percent ash, and about one-fourth of the ash produced today is recycled, the institute said.
In 1988, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency concluded in a report to Congress that byproducts of coal combustion, such as fly ash, are not hazardous and do not have to be managed as hazardous waste.
AEP, which generates most of its power from burning coal, has been a pioneer in the recycling of coal ash. The company has a unit dedicated to the marketing and disposal of the ash, Ceremeli said. Finding other uses for the ash helps save AEP ratepayers money and extends the life of the company's landfills, he said.
AEP plans to continue making the ash from Glen Lyn available for structural fill, he said.
by CNB