THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, June 8, 1995 TAG: 9506080012
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Short : 35 lines
Federal intervention in Virginia affairs usually is unwelcome, but not when the state abdicates its responsibility to protect the environment - especially the beloved Chesapeake Bay.
Last week the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality was prepared to issue a water-pollution permit to Newport News Shipbuilding that contained no numerical limits on the use of a highly toxic boat paint. The Environmental Protection Agency said stop.
The paint is tributyltin, or TBT, a tin-based antifoulant that keeps barnacles from collecting on ship hulls. As staff writer Scott Harper has reported, studies have shown it damages various shellfish and fish. Workers and divers have complained it burns their skin and causes nausea.
``We want some time to gather more information . . . about what this could mean to water quality and marine life in Virginia,'' said Bob Koroncai, EPA's permit chief for the mid-Atlantic region.
TBT remains banned in Virginia on boats shorter than 82 feet, but the state appeared to be scrapping restrictions on longer boats.
The state Water Control Board set a one-part-per-trillion TBT standard for state waterways in 1988. State officials now say shipyard limits based on that standard are too low to monitor and enforce. If so, get new numerical standards, but don't say anything goes. by CNB