ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, September 25, 1996 TAG: 9609250080
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
An environmental watchdog group says the James and Roanoke rivers were among the 10 most polluted rivers in Virginia during the five-year period 1990-1994.
The U.S. Public Interest Research Group held news conferences Monday in Richmond and Roanoke to draw attention to its report "Dishonorable Discharge: Toxic Pollution of Virginia Waters."
The report is part of the group's campaign to eliminate exemptions from federal reporting requirements for toxic releases. The group also wants the government to expand the list of toxic chemicals that industries must report when discharged into the land, air or water.
Based on reports required by the federal Community Right to Know Act, Virginia ranked 14th worst in the nation for the amount of toxic chemicals discharged into its rivers and streams in 1990-94, the group said.
Virginia businesses reported 10.1 million pounds of toxic discharges into waterways during the period. The research group said nearly 22 million pounds more were discharged through municipal sewage systems, based on an Environmental Protection Agency estimate.
The Virginia stream with the most toxicity during the period was Gravelly Run near Hopewell with 6.3 million pounds - a figure based solely on industry reports to the EPA. The James River was third with 566,512 pounds, and the Roanoke River 10th with 48,583 pounds.
Georgia-Pacific Corp.'s Big Island paper mill in Bedford County was the third-largest polluter of the James, discharging 57,199 pounds of toxic wastes into the river during the period, the research group report said. DuPont in Richmond was listed as the largest, discharging six times as much as the Big Island mill.
Westvaco Corp.'s paper mill at Covington was the state's largest source of toxins that may be linked to cancer or reproductive disorders, discharging 22,300 pounds into the Jackson River, the group said. That ranked the Jackson, a tributary of the James, as the river receiving the most cancer-causing chemicals of any in the state.
A Westvaco spokesman said the company, which has spent several million dollars on environmental improvements in recent years, would have no comment on the report until it had time to review it.
Kate Moore, a spokesman for the research group in Virginia, said that because of insufficient reporting requirements, 95 percent of chemical discharges are not tracked.
Many polluters, including sewage treatment plants, mines, incinerators and utilities, are exempt from the reporting law, Moore said. The group hopes that Congress will eliminate those exemptions and in its next session provide for better information on toxic releases.
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