THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, June 5, 1996 TAG: 9606050409
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY SCOTT HARPER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 54 lines
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will not block a water-pollution permit for Newport News Shipbuilding, a decision that ends a divisive five-year debate over what pollutants the giant shipyard can pipe into the James River.
In a letter released Monday night, EPA regional administrator W. Michael McCabe said the permit, while not perfect, satisfies federal standards and should provide protection for the James River and, farther downstream, the Chesapeake Bay.
The Newport News Shipbuilding permit becomes effective immediately and is good for five years.
The ruling comes as welcome news to state environmental officials, who have been negotiating and drafting the pollution blueprint since 1991. Of late, they have been sharply criticized by environmentalists for cutting corners in favor of the shipyard, one of the largest private employers in Hampton Roads.
``Obviously we feel there's much bigger issues out there to discuss,'' said Frank Daniel, Tidewater director of the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality. ``We're ready to move on.''
Environmental groups, led by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, had hoped the EPA would protest the permit and require tougher limits on TBT, a highly toxic boat paint,and stricter scientific monitoring of other toxic releases, including copper and zinc.
``We're very, very disappointed,'' said Kim Coble, the Bay foundation's senior scientist in Virginia. ``We still feel the permit is inadequate and written illegally.''
Under state law, the foundation has no legal standing to challenge the permit in court. It waged a fierce public campaign to include stronger, more expensive protections within the permit.
The EPA sided with the foundation last year, after the state suggested removing numerical TBT limits from the permit. But with a 50-parts-per-trillion limit put back in, the EPA this time sided with the state.
Still, the federal agency suggested that the shipyard comply with TBT standards in two years, instead of the four years that the state has proposed.
While other states regulate TBT, Virginia is the only state that goes so far as to include TBT limits in pollution permits. Newport News Shipbuilding and other maritime experts have complained that the limits are unrealistically low and put them at a competitive disadvantage with other shipyards on the East Coast.
They have argued that a fairer approach would be a national ban on the anti-barnacle paint. That way, no port could use the paint and the environment would be better off.
KEYWORDS: EPA WATER POLLUTION PERMIT RULING NEWPORT NEWS
SHIPBUILDING by CNB