Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, November 13, 1995 TAG: 9511140016
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CATHRYN MCCUE
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The House proposal to cut the Environmental Protection Agency's budget would halve the number of environmental inspections and enforcement actions in the state. It would also limit money for municipal drinking water facilities and wastewater treatment plants.
The bill is still in conference committee with House and Senate negotiators. As passed by the House, it would cut:
Federal inspections and enforcement actions in Virginia by 50 percent. Two years ago, the EPA and state inspected 1,430 facilities, and took 95 enforcement actions. The EPA says cuts in the inspection/enforcement program would also affect the 17 federal facilities in Virginia, such as the Radford Army Ammunition Plant.
$17.5 million in low-interest loans to help Virginia localities upgrade facilities to provide safe drinking water.
$7.5 million to treat wastewater pollution; the EPA says the cuts will mean raw sewage ``will pour into local waters, reaching beaches, from outdated treatment systems at 155 locations around Virginia.''
36 percent for hazardous waste cleanups. The EPA says cleanups at Superfund sites in Saltville at the former Olin Chemical Corp., the Dixie Caverns landfill in Roanoke County and other sites around Virginia would be stalled or suspended.
Gorillas vs. guerrillas
For the 12 years leading up to 1994, there were no recorded cases of poachers slaughtering the highland gorillas that live in the mountains bordering Rwanda, Zaire and Uganda in central Africa. It's a testament to the work of scientists and conservationists like Jane Goodall and the late Dian Fossey - two names that have come to be synonomous with these mysterious, fascinating, endangered creatures.
Add Craig Sholley to the list. Sholley has been in and out of Africa for 20 years studying the gorillas and working with African governments to preserve their mountain habitat. There are an estimated 600 individuals left out there, the only place in the world the highland gorillas live. (There are none in captivity. Gorillas in zoos are lowland gorillas, a more common species.)
Sholley packed the house at the Science Museum of Western Virginia planetarium last week with his slide show and talk. He told of how the bloody civil war in Rwanda over the past five years ravaged the country and the people - but miraculously, only two gorillas were killed as a direct result of the fighting. But in Uganda and Zaire, seven gorillas have fallen to poachers' snares - an effort to undermine the lucrative eco-tourism industry.
``It's a crazy situation when wildlife becomes a political tool,'' Sholley said. Still, the three countries are pursuing gorilla conservation and tourism, for the welfare of the beasts is intertwined with that of the people, he said.
Anyone interested in journeying to Africa to see the gorillas and other wildlife can call Sholley at (301) 854-3096. A two-week excursion runs about $5,000.
If you can't go yourself, maybe you'd be interested in helping seven high school students from Prince Edward County make the trip to Africa. Since they were in fifth grade, the students have gone ape over primates. Calling themselves the African Primate Environmental Studies Group (APES), the students are on a first-name basis with Goodall, have attended primate conferences in the U.S., and raised money for primate research.
They have been invited to the Gombe Research Center in Tanzania, where they will work with local children to develop a sanctuary for orphaned chimpanzees. They are also working with Longwood College students on an English-Swahili coloring book to distribute in Tanzania during their three-week trip this December.
Tax-deductible donations may be made to Prince Edward County Middle School APES Program at Route 5, Box 680, Farmville, VA, 23901. Call Catherine Cottrell at (804) 392-9594 for more information.
News of views
Blue Ridge Parkway's chief of resource planning, Gary Johnson, is scheduled to speak Nov. 16 at 7:30 p.m. at the Science Musuem of Western Virginia. Johnson will discuss the impact of road construction, how private development affects views along the national scenic highway, and other issues. The talk is sponsored by the Blue Ridge Environmental Network, composed of 90 groups in Western Virginia.
by CNB