THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, January 30, 1996 TAG: 9601300300
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY SCOTT HARPER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 93 lines
Under pressure from environmentalists, Virginia has reversed its decision to deregulate a highly toxic boat paint used at shipyards in Hampton Roads.
In announcing the about-face, the state Department of Environmental Quality's regional director said Monday ``an in-depth review'' determined that limits on tributyltin, or TBT, are necessary at local shipyards. TBT, an antifoulant banned in several countries, is sprayed primarily on cruise ships to keep away barnacles.
``We felt that, for now, it was the best thing to do,'' said DEQ's Tidewater director Frank Daniel.
The action ends a yearlong attempt to scrap limits on TBT from water-pollution permits issued to local shipyards. The proposal, buried in the minutia of regulatory paperwork, became an environmental flashpoint for the Allen administration in recent months.
The policy change most immediately affects Newport News Shipbuilding, the largest private employer in the region. A TBT limit of 50 parts per trillion will be included in its new water-pollution permit, expected to be issued later this year, Daniel said. Other shipyards also will be required in coming years to more meticulously control toxic paint chips and other residues from spilling into state waters.
However, the TBT issue is farfrom over.
Next week Virginia will formally propose a new definition for what constitutes TBT contamination, one that environmentalists and scientists are cautiously reviewing.
Meanwhile in Washington, several Virginia politicians are demanding to know why the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which opposed state deregulation efforts, has not offered advice on TBT. So far, the EPA has spent eight years studying the controversial paint.
``It appears that your agency wishes to make the Commonwealth do the work EPA has failed to accomplish,'' reads a November letter to EPA Administrator Carol M. Browner, signed by a bipartisan group of congressmen from Hampton Roads and Sen. John W. Warner.
Last spring, state officials argued that the current TBT limit of 50 parts per trillion was too strict and placed an undue hardship on local shipyards trying to compete for new business in a changing marketplace. So they proposed doing away with a numerical limit in Virginia. After all, they reasoned, no other state has one.
But environmental groups, led by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, spurred an angry blacklash after finding the change in proposed pollution permits for Newport News Shipbuilding and Norshipco. The yards had asked the state for regulatory relief in private negotiations.
The issue soon became a crucible for Gov. George F. Allen, who was portrayed by environmentalists and others as putting short-term business interests ahead of clean water and protections against one of the world's most notorious boat paints.
A tin-based antifoulant, TBT is known to harm humans and fish in trace amounts. One study by Old Dominion University found that fish did not develop tails when exposed to TBT levels like those in the Elizabeth River, which is lined with shipyards. The deformed fish could only swim around in circles, according to the study.
``We hope this episode will serve as a reminder to state officials that the people of Virginia do not want, and will not stand for, the weakening of environmental regulations that help to maintain clean water,'' said Roy A. Hoagland, assistant director of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.
Jerri Fuller Dickseski, a spokeswoman for Newport News Shipbuilding, said the Peninsula shipyard ``continues to be unhappy that Virginia's the only state requiring numerical limits,'' but would comply with the state's decision.
She said ``it's fairly obvious'' that the limit will make Virginia's shipyards less attractive to vessels needing repairs and new paint. The biggest competitors are Florida's ports, where less restrictive TBT limits are in place, she said.
``Mostly, it's for cruise ships, the ones going to tropical waters, that want the TBT,'' Dickseski said. ``It's a customer requirement in shipbuilding.''
Virginia first regulated TBT in 1988, when the state Water Control Board banned the paint on small boats and limited its use on large ships.
Shipyards have long argued that, if enforced, a state water-quality standard for TBT would virtually ban the paint in Virginia. Currently, no state waterway is supposed to show TBT levels above .001 parts per billion, said Kim Coble, a senior scientist with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.
However, readings routinely violate the standard in the Elizabeth River, especially in water samples drawn near shipyards, Coble said.
``You've got a waterway already exceeding the water quality standard and they wanted to remove limits to make it easier to use more of the paint,'' she said. ``We just never thought that was very smart.'' by CNB