THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, May 3, 1996 TAG: 9605030512
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY SCOTT HARPER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: HAMPTON LENGTH: Medium: 57 lines
Environmentalists and citizens blasted a proposed water-pollution permit for Newport News Shipbuilding Thursday night, arguing that state regulators have caved in to pressure for softer limits at the giant shipyard.
At a tense public hearing, speakers accused the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality of ``cutting back-room deals'' with shipyard executives that could spell more toxic pollution for the James River and Chesapeake Bay.
Kim Coble, a senior scientist with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, noted that internal memos show that DEQ held private teleconferences with Newport News Shipbuilding on Jan. 18 and 19, and that three days later, permit changes requested by the shipyard were endorsed publicly by state administrators.
``There's no legal or scientific basis for DEQ's actions,'' Coble said.
State officials, backed by maritime experts, defended their proposed permit, which defines how much and what types of pollutants the shipyard can legally dump from its labyrinth of drydocks, storm drains and other outfalls.
David Mashaw, a senior environmental engineer at DEQ, called the recommended permit ``a reasonable and scientifically sound'' effort at balancing environmental protection and economic vitality.
The State Water Control Board is expected to vote on the permit at its May 22 meeting in Richmond.
Newport News Shipbuilding, Hampton Roads's largest private employer, has been without a state permit since 1991. As many as eight drafts have been crafted and modified the past five years, with much of the debate centering on how to regulate TBT, a highly toxic ingredient in boat paint that is known to genetically alter small marine life.
Virginia all but banned the anti-barnacle paint in 1988, but allowed limited use at major shipyards in Hampton Roads, which infrequently spray it on cruise liners and other commercial hulls. The substance is barred in several foreign countries, but Virginia is the only U.S. state to set specific permit limits against TBT.
Thomas J. Fox, executive director of the Center For Advanced Ship Repair and Maintenance in Norfolk, argued Thursday that the best solution to the TBT debate is to press for a national strategy, not a state-by-state fight over minute details in shipyard permits.
``We have to get away from the not-in-my-backyard approach,'' Fox said.
DEQ originally set a 50-parts-per-trillion TBT limit on Newport News Shipbuilding. The agency then scrapped the numerical limit, but reinstated it after the federal Environmental Protection Agency and environmental groups protested.
Another issue is toxics monitoring. Past permits have required biological testing for toxics, an expensive method requiring the shipyard to sample its wastes on live marine creatures. That testing has been dropped in favor of cheaper chemical sampling. by CNB