
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, May 15, 1990                   TAG: 9005150323
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Medium

STATE ADOPTS LESS-STRICT DIOXIN LIMITS/ ENVIRONMENTALISTS CALL WATER BOARD TO

The State Water Control Board on Monday set limits for the toxic chemical dioxin that were supported by the paper mill industry and called too lenient by environmentalists.

The board unanimously accepted a recommendation by Richard N. Burton, the board's executive director, that the maximum allowable level of dioxin in state waters be 1.2 parts per quadrillion, or ppq. That is much higher than the 0.013 ppq standard recommended by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the 0.06 ppq level suggested by the state Health Department.

Burton said the board had to weigh the economic costs of removing dioxin from paper mill discharges against the health risk posed by the suspected carcinogen.

"Zero is not always achievable or necessary," Burton said. "We must recognize that some balance is necessary."

He said laboratories are unable to detect dioxin in amounts smaller than about 1 ppq, so the EPA's recommended standard could not be enforced. "I'm concerned about creating a false sense of security among the public," he said.

One board member, Henry O. Hollimon Jr., said he was worried the state would be sued by paper mills if it set a level too low to be detected. "The better part of wisdom would be to strike a limit that would be legally enforceable," Hollimon said.

The Environmental Defense Fund, which had asked the board to adopt the federal standard, said the state was ignoring human health to placate the paper industry.

"Don't drink the water and don't eat the fish. That's what they just said," said Peter L. DeFur, staff scientist for the fund's Virginia office.

Dioxin, one of the most toxic artificial chemicals, is a byproduct of bleaching paperboard. Virginia's three bleached-board paper mills - Westvaco Corp. in Covington, Union Camp Corp. in Franklin, and Chesapeake Corp. in West Point - supported the 1.2 ppq level.

The board directed its staff to report improvements in technology for detecting dioxin and told the paper mills to submit assessments of their efforts to reduce dioxin discharges.

David Bailey, Virginia director of the Environmental Defense Fund, predicted the EPA will overturn the board's decision. Bailey said courts have not allowed financial costs to be a factor in determining water quality. Maryland also has set a 1.2 ppq level, which will be reviewed by the EPA soon, Bailey said.

Manning Gasch, a paper mill lawyer, told the board at a March hearing that many of Virginia's neighboring states are considering or have adopted dioxin levels close to 1.2 ppq.

by CNB