THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, January 19, 1996 TAG: 9601190641
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY SCOTT HARPER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: Medium: 75 lines
After years of legal wrangling, an agreement has been reached for the cleanup of the former Abex metalworks plant, now a Superfund toxic-waste site heavily contaminated with lead.
The agreement, filed in U.S. District Court in Norfolk on Jan. 4, clears the way for tons of contaminated soil to be removed from a 700-foot ring around the abandoned foundry, which encompasses the Washington Park public housing complex and a community playground.
``This provides the framework to start the cleanup,'' said William A. Hutchins, an environmental trial attorney with the Department of Justice. ``This gets the ball rolling.''
From 1928 until 1978, Abex Corp. and its predecessors turned scrap railroad car bearings into new ones at the plant, but buried much of their wastes - including lead, zinc and copper residues - beneath undeveloped lots.
Contamination was not discovered until 1984. As part of a preliminary cleanup ordered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Abex removed tainted topsoil in 1992, and the affected areas between Effingham and Green streets were declared safe for human activity.
However, until a more detailed cleanup plan was approved, the EPA warned neighboring residents to dig no deeper than a foot underground and prevent their children from putting soiled hands into their mouths.
Since then, debate and fears have raged in public hearings and before the Portsmouth City Council about health risks associated with living so close to so much potentially dangerous lead.
Lead is known to cause neurological and learning problems in high concentrations, and also is considered a probable carcinogen.
Helen Person, a spokeswoman for Washington Park residents, said she was ``pleased to a certain extent'' that the agreement finally has been concluded. However, Person said she still wants permanent relocation for her and her neighbors.
``This place is not fit for a dog to live in,'' she said Thursday. ``They're keeping us here because we're poor, and they're still moving young people with kids in here. Now you tell me if that's right.''
City health officials stand by a 1992 study in which 546 neighborhood residents were given blood tests. Twenty-one children showed ``mildly elevated'' levels of lead in their blood, a status requiring no medical treatment.
The agreement - signed by lawyers for the federal government, Abex, the city of Portsmouth and the Portsmouth Redevelopment and Housing Authority - ends a complex dispute over who is responsible for how much of the final cleanup.
Abex has agreed to foot most of the estimated $21 million cleanup cost, which will include removing dirt down to the groundwater level in areas closest to the foundry. Abex also must refund the EPA $1.1 million for past federal work on the site.
The foundry itself will be demolished and covered by Abex. The city will rezone a two-block area where several private homes currently stand. The housing authority will assist in purchasing those homes, which also will be demolished, said Susan Hansen, a Portsmouth attorney representing the housing authority.
The city will then build a public facility atop the area. City Hall has three years to complete the project, and officials currently are studying whether a park, a police station, a fire house or another amenity is best suited for the site, Hansen said.
At Washington Park, residents will be temporarily relocated during excavation if necessary, Hansen said. It remains unclear what ``if necessary'' means, however; that will be determined when Abex completes its design plans for cleanup work inside the housing complex.
The company has 60 days to file its design plans, according to the agreement, and then the EPA must approve them. Work would begin shortly thereafter, although no lawyer or official would estimate when that could be.
KEYWORDS: HAZARDOUS WASTE POLLUTION LEAD CLEAN-UP by CNB