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

DATE: SATURDAY, July 31, 1993                   TAG: 9307310034
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: CATHRYN McCUE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

SCOTT PLANT FINED; TOXIC FUMES STILL SPEW

Company executives met with federal environmental regulators Thursday in Philadelphia to negotiate a settlement regarding the toxic emissions from the Dungannon plant.

Carrie Dietzel, spokeswoman for the Environmental Protection Agency, said the talks were private. The EPA has requested more information from Louisiana Pacific and it probably will be several months before a settlement is reached, she said.

Meanwhile, a local citizens group, the Health and Environmental Action League, has called on Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Abingdon, to launch a congressional investigation into the EPA's handling of the case.

In May, under a consent order with the EPA, Louisiana Pacific agreed to pay $11.1 million for air-pollution permit violations and another $70 million for new control equipment at 11 of its 17 plants around the country.

However, the Dungannon plant was not included in that agreement, and the environmental group asked why.

"We are asking EPA for an explanation," Boucher said. In response to the group's request, he has contacted the EPA for more information.

Dietzel said the Southwest Virginia plant was not part of the settlement because it was out of operation from late 1990 until last year.

The plant shut down because of a soft market for its products and problems with air-pollution control. As of July 1992, the plant had a new permit from the state Department of Environmental Quality's air division and reopened with increased capacity, said plant manager Mike Sarder.

"We've done a lot" to reduce air emissions, Sarder said. The plant uses resin as a glue to hold together wood particles that are pressed into waferboard. The resin releases toxic fumes that can cause respiratory irritation.

Sarder said Louisiana Pacific has reduced the amount of resin used in its process, but would not give details.

Tests on the plant's stack emissions in December and March showed increased levels of the toxic fumes, air division officials in the Abingdon region office said. The first test showed levels averaging three times the amount specified in the company's permit, said Crystal Bazyk, state environmental manager for the region. The company exceeded the limit "just barely" the second time, she said.

After the tests, the state told the company to reduce the amount of resin being used. Results from another test in June will be available next week, Bazyk said.

Louisiana Pacific has paid $5,500 for the first violation and $4,049 for failing to inform the state about a broken production monitor. The state is working on a consent order for the second violation, which also will carry civil charges, Bazyk said.

Sarder said the Dungannon plant, which employs 118 people, is one of Louisiana Pacific's smaller waferboard facilities. The plant in Sagola, Mich., from which he was transferred in December, produces 1 million board-feet of waferboard annually. The Dungannon plant, he said, produces less than half of that.