THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, November 28, 1994 TAG: 9411280068
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LINDA MCNATT, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ISLE OF WIGHT LENGTH: Long : 168 lines
To store or not to store gigantic mounds of coal in this rural, western Tidewater county is still the question.
Opponents, reacting to a recent ruling supporting the proposition, now hope their answer can be found in concerns about the drinking water of South Hampton Roads residents.
After years of negotiation, support for and protest against Norfolk Southern Corp.'s plan to build a coal storage facility near Windsor, the project took a key step forward Nov. 16 when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers gave it preliminary approval.
But a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency official said Friday that the agency is still considering the threat of water pollution and plans to announce its reaction to the corps' decision this week.
Opponents have seized on the EPA's concerns to bring South Hampton Roads' cities into the battle on their side.
Larry Post, a retired Navy commander, has been battling Norfolk Southern over its proposed coal storage facility near his home in Windsor for the last several years.
``If Norfolk Southern goes through with this coal storage facility in Windsor, I truly believe it will endanger the entire water supply for all of South Hampton Roads,'' he said last week. ``Everybody who lives in the area and cares about the quality of life here needs to get involved.''
The coal storage facility proposed in 1989 for 1,600 acres of rural timber and farmland has had its share of ups and downs.
At first, the excitement was over the economic boon it could mean for the county: more jobs, money to bring central sewerage to the county in western Hampton Roads, sound tax revenue.
But before long, environmentalists and many local residents were in an uproar over the location of the proposed facility: an area where wetlands abound, dotted with streams flowing to regional reservoirs.
On Nov. 16, after months of negotiation with several other government agencies, the Corps of Engineers granted the project preliminary approval.
Most agree this could be the final step toward actually building the facility on a site east of Windsor near Route 460. Ken Kimidy, a senior environmental scientist with the corps, said after the Nov. 16 announcement that the facility could receive final approval in 30 days. However, he expects the process to take somewhat longer.
The facility would be used to store western Virginia coal before it is shipped to Norfolk Southern's loading docks at Lamberts Point in Norfolk. Some officials have said the Windsor facility ultimately could handle 40 million tons of coal a year.
Before it can be built, however, both the EPA and the Interior Department must agree on environmental safeguards and wetlands restoration measures that Norfolk Southern has said would be part of the design.
``It's hard to say our concerns are resolved,'' however, said Carolyn Szumal, public affairs specialist with the EPA.
Throughout the approval process, she said, certain environmental concerns have remained unanswered.
In November, the EPA suggested a mitigation plan to somewhat make up for environmental damage that the agency believes the facility could cause.
The EPA wants Norfolk Southern to reforest 254 acres of farm fields, to include a ``no timbering'' clause in the agreement, to establish a permanent conservation easement and to restore 166 acres of wetlands in two targeted agricultural fields.
The EPA also wants to see vernal ponds, where woodland salamanders and frogs spawn, preserved. The EPA has suggested an interagency management and monitoring committee to provide long-term monitoring of the facility. The agency also wants a 20-year monitoring plan to check water quality, revegetation efforts and wildlife utilization. And the EPA wants a performance bond from the company to insure the success of its efforts.
``We still have some pretty strong objections to the way the draft came up,'' Szumal said. ``All of the issues keep resurfacing.''
Meanwhile, despite some lingering concerns county officials are celebrating the most recent decision. The facility has been approved by the county Board of Supervisors and the Windsor Town Council and is supported by the local Chamber of Commerce and a number of area businesses.
More coal is shipped through Hampton Roads than any other U.S. port - some 30 million short tons per year through Norfolk Southern's facility at Lamberts Point and some 20 million tons more through CSX Corp.'s facility in Newport News. If Norfolk Southern's proposed upgrading of Lamberts Point ever gets off the ground, the company will be able to export up to 70 million tons annually. The company expects to be moving 60 million tons a year before the end of the decade.
That much coal means big business for the area, and it could mean big business for Isle of Wight, a rural county searching for industrial tax revenue to support a growing population.
The corps' decision brings the coal facility at Windsor that much closer to reality.
``It's been a long time coming,'' said Connie Rhodes, director of the Isle of Wight/Smithfield Chamber of Commerce. ``The chamber supported it from the very beginning, which was rather unpopular at the time. But for our economic development initiative here in the county, it's wonderful. Just wonderful.''
Bobby Claud, a retired telephone company executive who is mayor of Windsor, the town of 1,200 that would be the facility's closest neighboring municipality, agreed that it is good news for the county.
``I'm very pleased it has progressed this far,'' he said. ``Norfolk Southern certainly has worked with all of the agencies, trying to comply with what they requested. I hope the approval process continues as rapidly as possible.''
The coal storage facility would mean more jobs and more industrial-based tax revenue for Isle of Wight, Claud said. And the company has offered the county $50,000 per year over 10 years to help pay the interest on a loan to bring Hampton Roads Sanitation District lines to the county's southern end.
Other county officials have joined the parade of supporters. Lynn Harris, director of industrial development, and Myles Standish, former county administrator who recently left his post to manage the city of Suffolk, are included in a list of supporters in the corps' preliminary decision.
Franklin City Manager John Jackson has written a letter in support of the project, the corps said, as have former Gov. Mills Godwin Jr.; Rolf Williams, president of the Hampton Roads Maritime Association; Harold Blythe, president of the Bank of Suffolk; and a host of executives from coal companies throughout the eastern United States.
Opponents and officials in neighboring cities, however, are concerned about possible contamination of water supplies by coal dust and runoff water from the facility.
And Standish, for one, could have a bit of a conflict on his hands now that he has left Isle of Wight and moved to Suffolk. Officials there voiced concern, soon after the project was proposed, over possible pollution of Suffolk's water supplies.
Portsmouth has said it will oppose the project unless Norfolk Southern guarantees that certain chemicals will be removed from water at the coal site before it is discharged into Eley Swamp. The swamp drains into Lake Cahoon, part of Portsmouth's drinking water supply.
Virginia Beach and Norfolk have voiced similar concerns because they also have reservoirs in western Hampton Roads near the facility site.
And if Virginia Beach's Lake Gaston pipeline project is ever completed, it would end just 30 yards or so from the storage site's boundary and then would flow into Eley Swamp.
The swamp flows directly into Lake Prince, which straddles the line between Isle of Wight and Suffolk and supplies water to Norfolk and Virginia Beach.
Norfolk Southern already has agreed to a plan to deal with any damage to Isle of Wight residents' water.
The company also plans to install monitoring wells on the storage site, where water would be used to spray the coal to help control dust.
And company officials have said they would find a way to remove hazardous materials from discharge water.
But for Windsor area residents like Post, who say they would be able to see the black mountains of coal from their homes, none of these assurances are enough.
Post says as many people oppose the project as support it in Isle of Wight.
A petition against the facility, bearing 1,800 signatures, was presented to the Corps of Engineers.
Among those who signed the petition was Arthur Whitener, a retiree from the Portsmouth Redevelopment and Housing Authority who owns a 156-acre farm in the area and who, like Post, has been active in the Citizens Against the Coal Storage Facility group.
Two other petition supporters were Mark and Linda Taylor, who bought their small home near Windsor in 1989, just after plans for the facility were announced.
``We like it here. It's quiet,'' Linda Taylor said recently, insisting she and her husband were unaware of the coal proposal when they bought the house. ``We really don't want to move. But our water supply is in danger.''
If that's so, it will be up to the EPA to confirm it. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by MICHAEL KESTNER
Mark and Linda Taylor, with son Sean and their dog, Ebony, pose near
the front-yard sign that expresses their opposition to the coal
storage facility proposed for Isle of Wight County.
Staff map
Proposed site of coal storage facilty
KEYWORDS: COAL STORAGE FACILTY by CNB