Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 29, 1994 TAG: 9403290174
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By CATHRYN McCUE and STEPHEN FOSTER STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Medium
``We've never had anything like this'' - shutting down because of environmental regulations, said Nicole Kinser, the arsenal's public affairs officer. The plant will remain closed at least through Sunday.
The arsenal, operated by Hercules Inc., failed to install a double liner and leak detection system in the industrial wastewater impoundment, said Mary Beck, project manager with the Environmental Protection Agency.
The deadline is today, and the law does not allow extensions, she said. If the plant had continued to operate, knowing of the violation of federal law, it could have faced criminal charges.
Kinser estimated 1,500 workers would be affected. She said they could take the time off as vacation or consider themselves furloughed. Supervisors were informing the employees Monday.
``They just sort of told us before we left the plant, the last shift,'' said Eddy Woolwine, an arsenal worker and union committee member. ``It's just what the economy needs.''
Steve Gentry, an international representative for the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers Union, said the union is in contact with Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Abingdon, and the White House to try to keep the plant open.
Joe Shoemaker, Boucher's spokesman, said the congressman had been negotiating with EPA and Army officials all day ``to resolve the situation as quickly as possible.'' An EPA or presidential waiver was being explored.
Hercules officials and arsenal commander Lt. Col. Bill Forrester met with EPA officials in Philadelphia on Monday and asked the agency to let the plant continue operating. Kinser said the army has been negotiating for two weeks.
The arsenal is the only facility in its six-state region to close because it didn't meet the deadline, said EPA spokeswoman Ruth Podems.
``They are building a state-of-the-art storage tank, but it's just not done yet. Now, why they didn't start sooner, I don't know,'' she said. ``They had four years to comply ... Now Hercules is deciding to close down.''
The arsenal had to comply with the law after Congress added 2,4-dinitrotoluene - a suspected human carcinogen - to its toxic hit list in 1990.
It's not known whether the compound has contaminated the soil or the New River, where the arsenal discharges its wastewater. ``Surface impoundments leak, that's basically it,'' Beck said.
Kinser said well testing showed no environmental damage caused by the plant. Carolyn Jake, environmental engineer with Hercules, said that less than one part per million of the carcinogen was present in the water - below federal requirements - and that the regulatory action applied to the facility itself.
``It's not modern enough,'' she said.
Kinser said the arsenal began planning to replace its bio-treatment plant in 1988 at a cost of $13 million. After design work and bids, construction began in late 1992 or early 1993.
The project will not be completed for at least 13 months, she said.
``All of this stuff takes time,'' she said. ``Before you know it, it's 1994.''
The Army had hoped the EPA would consider the construction a ``good faith'' effort and grant an extension, she said.
But the EPA denied the request.
Podems said the EPA and state officials will be ``going out to the facility in the near future'' for an inspection, but would not say when.
The arsenal's production schedule will probably be pushed back a few days, but Kinser said she couldn't say what the arsenal will lose in terms of money or production.
Staff writer Allison Blake contributed information to this story.
Memo: ***CORRECTION***