THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, March 26, 1995 TAG: 9503260180
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium: 56 lines
Proponents of relaxed environmental regulations on businesses say a drop in the amount of toxic chemicals discharged by Virginia factories shows that companies will reduce pollution on their own.
But some environmental activists say the statistics touted by state officials and business leaders are misleading.
Toxic chemicals discharged by Virginia factories dropped 56 percent between 1987 and 1993, state officials say.
The drop in reported discharges reflects a continuing state and national trend.
``The strong downward trend shows Virginia businesses are serious about reducing their chemical releases,'' said Peter W. Schmidt, director of the state Department of Environmental Quality.
``The numbers continue to show the wisdom of a policy for voluntary pollution prevention,'' said Carol C. Wampler, vice president and general counsel for the Virginia Manufacturers Association.
Under a 1986 federal law, manufacturers are required to disclose the amounts of about 330 toxic chemicals they discharge. Virginia industries released 85.2 million pounds of toxic pollutants in 1993, according to the reports.
Patricia A. Jackson, executive director of the James River Association, an environmental group, said the 330 chemicals are an insignificant portion of all the chemicals industries use.
``There are several thousand chemicals in use or in our environment every day,'' she said.
Virginia ranked 13th among the states for toxic discharges in 1993, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, which audits some factories to ensure that their toxic discharge reports are accurate. The 1993 figures are the most recent available.
A company's toxic releases can decline for a number of reasons, including a change to nontoxic materials, said Cathy L. Harris, who tracks the figures for the state environmental department.
But a company's reported discharges can go down because it switched to other toxic chemicals that do not have to be reported, Harris said.
She also said that some chemicals have been added and some deleted from the list of those that must be reported, which makes year-to-year comparisons difficult.
Harris added that while not perfect, the toxic-chemical reports give people a good snapshot of some of the pollutants around them.
Among the 330 toxic substances on the list include metals such as lead and copper, solvents such as acetone and other pollutants such as cyanide and ammonia. by CNB