Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 7, 1995 TAG: 9503070104
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CATHRYN McCUE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The Environmental Protection Agency will take 54 soil samples from Cycle Systems' Walnut Avenue location as the first step in cleaning up the site, which likely will take several months. Lead has been found at 5,100 parts per million, five times higher than the allowable level for industrial property.
The contamination was discovered a couple of years ago when Roanoke began testing riverfront properties in preparation for a flood control project.
Kit Kiser, city director of utilities and operations, said the cleanup shouldn't delay the long-awaited project, first proposed some 20 years ago.
Cycle Systems will do the cleanup work and pay for it, under a consent order reached with the EPA in December. General Manager Jim Conner said further testing will show how much dirt needs to be dug up and how it should be disposed of.
Cycle Systems, which recycles metals and other materials, bought the property in 1988 after cleaning up contaminated dirt believed to have come from lead-based paint used by the previous owner, the now-defunct Roanoke Iron and Bridge. But the EPA conducted its own tests last year and found high levels of lead still in the ground.
Virginia Scrap Iron & Metal Co., whose property also lies in the flood project zone, is under a similar consent order to clean up lead contamination, EPA spokesman Patrick Gaughan said. He did not know if Virginia Scrap had agreed to pay for the work. The agency is reviewing a draft plan received from the company a few days ago.
Both sites are being cleaned up under the federal Superfund program, which covers a wide range of hazardous waste problems, Gaughan said.
Although the contamination of the two river sites is not an emergency, the extremely high lead levels trigger a quick response, Gaughan said.
``It's not a good situation. We don't want people exposed,'' he said.
Conner said the Cycle Systems property has always been fenced, ``so nobody can come down the river onto the bank.''
As for the flood control project, Kiser said the city is waiting to hear from its environmental consultant about any further testing that needs to be done on other properties.
The city and the Army Corps of Engineers plan to widen and deepen the river channel to reduce the severity of floods. The city undertook environmental testing years ago to avoid liability before acquiring rights to property along the river.
by CNB