ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, May 23, 1996 TAG: 9605230092
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: Associated Press
The State Water Control Board on Wednesday approved a new water-discharge permit for Newport News Shipbuilding, contingent on approval by the Environmental Protection Agency.
The permit written by the Department of Environmental Quality allows the shipyard to monitor discharges for eight toxic metals for two years, relieving the shipyard of a required toxic management program. If problems are found, the state could then impose the more stringent program, which would monitor 129 chemicals.
``With the additional requirements imposed on us by the permit, we fully expect prompt EPA approval,'' shipyard spokeswoman Jerri Dickseski said.
Environmental groups contend the permit will allow more toxic pollution into the James River and Chesapeake Bay.
``The true bottom-line losers are the citizens of Virginia and the state's resources,'' Kim Coble, senior scientist with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, said after the water board's decision.
Scott Flanigan, a former environmental engineer with DEQ who helped draft the original permit proposal, said at Wednesday's hearing that he opposed relaxing testing requirements.
``There's a high potential for toxicity to reach organisms,'' he said. ``The values that Newport News Shipbuilding reported on its application more than exceed the potential for toxicity.''
The permit also requires the shipyard to meet a 50 parts-per-trillion limit for TBT, or tributyltin, a tin-based additive used in hull paint to ward off barnacles. Shipyard officials are to take TBT samples each time it is used.
TBT reduces navigational drag and maintenance costs. But when it's sandblasted off ship hulls or leaches off, it increases water toxicity and can injure shellfish and fish.
Shipyard and DEQ officials have said that the TBT limit places an economic burden on the state's shipyards that no other state imposes. Newport News Shipbuilding uses TBT on a small number of commercial jobs each year.
The shipyard, Virginia's largest private employer, has been operating without a permit since 1991. The delay, the DEQ says, was caused in part by constantly changing regulations.
LENGTH: Short : 48 linesby CNB