FOUNDRY BUILDING ON SCHEDULE

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

DATE: FRIDAY, March 19, 1993                   TAG: 9303190314
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MICHAEL STOWE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD                                LENGTH: Medium
FOUNDRY BUILDING ON SCHEDULE
Construction is on schedule and New River Castings expects to complete a $20 million expansion of its Radford plant by the end of the summer.
In January, after a year of negotiations, the state Department of Air Pollution granted New River Castings an air permit so the project could be completed.
"We're glad to be able to get on with our business without delay," said Al Bodnar, president of Intermet Foundries.
New River Castings, a subsidiary of Intermet Foundries in Lynchburg, makes iron automotive parts for Ford and General Motors.
In September, Bodnar complained about delays in getting the permits and threatened to build the new production line at another site.
On Thursday, Bodnar said the new building at New River is nearly complete with the shell up and the floor poured. The new production line will double the plant's capacity of 30,000 tons and is expected to bring 75 to 95 new jobs to the area.
Janis Toennisson, director of communications for the company, said new workers will be hired when construction is completed in the summer.
About a dozen neighbors who oppose the expansion said the First Street plant has dumped black soot on their homes for years.
The plant's particulate emissions are expected to increase from 36.9 tons to 41.5 tons per year when the expansion is completed.
New River Castings must make some improvements to processes that pose a pollution threat. They include raising the height of some smokestacks and installing bag-house filters on areas that had no controls.
Because the stacks would be higher, the pollutants will spread out more and have less effect on the environment, Margaret Key, an environmental engineer for the state said in January.
The expansion project also includes $2 million for ventilation, dust collection, water cooling and control equipment.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB