THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, January 11, 1995 TAG: 9501110467
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY SCOTT HARPER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 67 lines
Some 240 experts, environmentalists and entrepreneurs crowded into a hotel ballroom Tuesday and began plotting how to clean up one of the most polluted rivers in the country.
Their recommendations for reversing centuries of abuse to the Elizabeth River were as diverse as the group. They ranged from the conservative (more public education, more business incentives) to the radical (a cap on new construction, the removal of all bulkheads).
There was even talk of electing a regional mayor to watch over the Elizabeth River watershed, a suggestion that brought the most applause and wry laughter from the group.
The conference was no joke, however.
All the suggestions now become fodder for special task forces, each composed of local residents from divergent backgrounds, who will meet for the next year before proposing a list of actions that private and public sectors hopefully will implement.
Organizers admit the process is painfully slow, and carries no real guarantee of success. But they believe that only through consensus-building and compromise can real progress be made.
``If you don't do it this way, you'll run into obstacles that won't get solved. You'll get bogged down, and then nothing will get done,'' said Ray Moses, the newly elected president of the Elizabeth River Project.
The project was launched in 1992. With help from federal, state and private donations, it aims to clean up the intensely industrialized waterway to the ``highest practical level,'' meaning to a degree that both business and environmental groups agree to.
Debora Martin, a senior planner for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, told the group that its efforts are being watched closely in Washington as a possible prototype for other community-based cleanup programs around the country.
``Don't underestimate your work here,'' she said. ``It's a model for people working together to meet real goals.''
They could not have selected a more difficult subject. The Elizabeth includes numerous toxic waste sites, fish with cancerous lesions and the highest levels of highly dangerous polyaromatic hydrocarbons, known as PAHs, in the world. PAHs are petroleum residues that are believed to originate with creosote used to preserve wood.
But, as Mike Kensler of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation said in quoting a senior scientist about the river, ``It's disgusting, but it's not dead.''
Some 80 local volunteers spent much of 1994 prioritizing the many ailments afflicting the Elizabeth. At the top of the list: sediment contamination, loss of habitat and micro-organisms, pollution from sewage plants and factories, and pollution from urban development and natural runoff.
In brainstorming for solutions, participants borrowed formulas from the past, such as increased public education and more scientific study.
They also added a dash of futuristic planning.
For example, one minigroup suggested that a new, barrier island of clean dredge wastes be created off the Virginia Beach coast. It would serve as an alternative to Craney Island, the massive and much maligned dredge-waste site at the mouth of the Elizabeth, and would offer erosion protection for the coast.
There was a recommendation to create an Elizabeth River cleanup fund, financed by a special tax or fee on people and businesses that utilize the waterway. by CNB