THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, February 2, 1996 TAG: 9602020001
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Medium: 53 lines
Environmentalists have successfully pressured Virginia into continuing its regulation of the highly toxic boat paint TBT at shipyards.
That's good, because TBT, short for tributyltin, is deadly. ``It's designed to kill anything that would in any way attach to the hull of a ship and thereby reduce speed,'' said Roy Hoagland, assistant director of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.
TBT is the best hull antifoulant because it's the most deadly antifoulant - too deadly for the environment. In concentrations as low as one part per trillion, TBT has adversely affected fish, said Kim Coble, senior scientist with the same foundation. Fish exposed to higher concentrations of TBT have been unable to grow tails.
The Navy is studying slick substances to protect hulls without harming the environment. Full speed ahead on that research.
Regrettably, Virginia is the only state that regulates TBT use at shipyards, so the commonwealth puts its shipyards at a competitive disadvantage when it does the right thing.
There were supposed to be national TBT standards by now. Back in 1988, Congress charged the federal Environmental Protection Agency with devising a national approach to limiting TBT in water. The EPA has made little progress, however.
TBT is banned in Japan, England, Germany, France and Switzerland. It should be banned in the United States. Or short of an outright ban, stringent national TBT standards should be imposed. For environmental reasons, the Navy stopped using TBT several years ago.
Hampton Roads waters and sediment already are highly contaminated with TBT. An Elizabeth River study in the early '90s found TBT levels in the Southern Branch to be 283 times the state standard of one part per trillion.
Continuing to restrict the amount of TBT allowed in shipyard water runoff will help, but according to some sources, most TBT in local waters comes from TBT-painted ships that anchor here. One study showed 65 percent of ships coming to Hampton Roads have TBT on their hulls, and it leaches into the water.
A bipartisan group of Hampton Roads congressmen and Sen. John W. Warner complained in a November letter to EPA Administrator Carol M. Browner that her agency, while urging Virginia to continue its regulation of TBT, has not done its part. One hopes she heeds the letter.
Our waters would be best served if the United States both banned TRT and urged more nations to do the same. by CNB