THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, March 22, 1996 TAG: 9603220534
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY SCOTT HARPER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines
Virginia has quietly drafted a weak water-pollution permit for Newport News Shipbuilding that relaxes safeguards for toxic emissions into the James River, a leading environmental group charged Thursday.
While noting ``some compromises were made,'' the regional director of the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality called the charges by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation groundless and politically motivated.
``We notified them; we discussed all of this with them,'' DEQ's Tidewater director Frank Daniel said of contacts this winter with the foundation over the proposed shipyard permit.
The permit defines how much chemical waste can be discharged legally into the James River.
Newport News Shipbuilding, one of the largest private employers in Hampton Roads, has been without a permit since 1991. Negotiations have centered chiefly on how to limit the use of tributyltin, or TBT, a paint toxic to marine life.
Virginia banned TBT on small boats in 1987 but allowed restricted use on large ships brought to Hampton Roads for repairs. Barred in several countries, TBT is sprayed mostly on cruise ships to control barnacles.
Environmental groups in January pressured the state into reversing an earlier decision to stop placing numerical limits on TBT in permits. The move followed a long and bitter fight with the administration of Gov. George F. Allen.
Kim Coble, the Bay foundation's senior scientist in Virginia, told the State Water Control Board Thursday that while the proposed permit now includes a TBT limit of 50 parts per trillion, it lacks other safeguards.
For one, she said, the state will not enforce the limit for four years.
In addition, the proposed permit doesn't require any testing for toxic materials other than TBT that also might wash into the James River.
Daniel said that Coble knows the four-year lag time is standard. He said the decision to stop toxic monitoring was a compromise, stemming from arguments by the shipyard that Virginia, with its tough TBT limits, is overloading a struggling maritime industry with regulations.
During Coble's presentation to the Water Control Board, member Filbert Tobias questioned the wisdom of cracking down on shipyards when some studies suggest that most TBT in local waters comes from ships passing through, not from paint work at shipyards.
Coble responded that the state still should do what it can to reduce the amount of TBT contaminating state waters.
Afterward, Daniel said the real answer to the TBT debate rests with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA has been studying TBT for eight years but has not yet suggested a way to regulate its use, Daniel said.
Several Virginia congressmen have pressed for the federal government to give the problem immediate attention.
Until that guidance comes, Daniel said, Virginia will put TBT limits into shipyard permits, including Norshipco's in Norfolk, another large yard up for regulatory renewal.
Coble asked that the state grant more time for public comment on Newport News Shipbuilding's permit, saying several environmental groups were unaware that it had been proposed. The comment period expires Monday without an extension.
The Water Control Board did not immediately rule on the request. ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEWPORT NEWS SHIPBUILDING
Newport News Shipbuilding has been without an emissions permit since
1991. Talks have focused on tributyltin use.
by CNB