THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, December 28, 1995 TAG: 9512280315
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY SCOTT HARPER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 88 lines
In a case recalling the infamous New York garbage barge without a home, a local salvage yard is finding no takers for 23,000 pounds of old military chemicals that city officials say must go.
``I wish I'd never seen that stuff,'' laments William Register, owner of W.O. Register, the salvage business that once again finds hundreds of drums of hazardous materials on its front door.
Just last week, Register thought he had a solution. After being ordered to safely dispose of the military paints, thinners, epoxy and other noxious compounds by Jan. 13, or face prosecution, Register contacted a Hampton paint company, which agreed to buy the materials.
But upon learning of the deal, the city of Hampton checked state and local building codes and discovered that the paint company, too, was not equipped to handle so many potentially flammable liquids.
``We looked at their documents and told them to send it back,'' said Capt. Lee Webb, hazardous materials officer for the Hampton Fire Department.
So crews reloaded their cargo and drove back to W.O. Register, a small salvage yard and warehouse in the shadow of the Campostella Bridge, at 411 Avory Ave.
The scene was reminiscent of the lonely New York garbage barge that made international headlines in the late 1980s after being rejected at port after port on the East Coast.
``It's awfully discouraging, so discouraging that I missed Christmas,'' Register said Wednesday, noting that he paid for the truck trips and unloadings in Hampton and Norfolk, yet still is without a solution.
``I'm from Carolina, but I stayed here over Christmas this year to follow up with this,'' he added. ``You just never know what's going to happen.''
It was only by chance that the city discovered the problem in the first place.
Earlier this month, a police officer stopped a truck at the foot of the Campostella Bridge and found it loaded with old military chemicals and paint.
The officer could see and smell the chemicals through a hole cut in the side of the truck to let fumes escape, officials have said. He asked where the driver was headed and followed him to W.O. Register.
In cracking down on Register, local officials are trying to avert a toxic fire like the one that engulfed Fine Petroleum Co. earlier this year, said Ed Palaszewski, supervisor of inspections for the city fire marshal's office.
Unlabeled and undocumented chemicals stored in a Fine Petroleum warehouse in southern Norfolk went up in flames and sent toxic fumes throughout adjoining neighborhoods.
Since then, Norfolk has tried to monitor more closely the storage of hazardous materials and intends to pursue cases like W.O. Register with vigor, Palaszewski said.
Register is trying to sell the materials in smaller packages to local outlets in time to meet his January deadline. And he's exploring the possibility of sending a large portion to an out-of-state buyer.
He also was rebuffed last week by a company on the Northern Neck of Virginia. After informing Norfolk officials of a proposed shipment there, Register was told that the company was not equipped to store so much hazardous material, he said.
Register originally bought the materials from a military catalog. He planned to sell them to local marine merchants, fishermen or industry officials - anyone interested in a cheaper substitute to virgin paints and solvents.
The U.S. Department of Defense sells hazardous chemicals and paints through its catalog to licensed buyers, who must submit sealed bids. Last year, the government sold $3.6 million worth of surplus chemicals, said Joe Murphy, a spokesman for the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service in Battle Creek, Mich.
But with Virginia tightening its building code in 1993, followed this year by Norfolk amending its own codes, the rules for storing hazardous materials have become much tougher, said Palaszewski.
For example, under the new standards, W.O. Register should have been storing no more than 270 gallons of flammable materials on its grounds, Palaszewski said; city officials found 21,000 gallons when they inspected the yard this month. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
VICKI CRONIS/The Virginian-Pilot
Chemical drums sit outside at W.O. Register salvage yard in Norfolk.
Owner William Register thought he had found a home for them in
Hampton, but the city sent them back. He has until Jan. 13 to
dispose of them or face prosecution.
by CNB