ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times

DATE: Saturday, March 15, 1997               TAG: 9703170026
SECTION: BUSINESS                 PAGE: A-5  EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JEFF STURGEON THE ROANOKE TIMES 

EPA TAKES OVER BARRELS, GETS SAMPLES TO ANALYZE ANY HEALTH RISKS TO BE KNOWN IN 6 WEEKS

The barrels were put there by Cyphers Drum Reconditioning and Recycling.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency expects to know in six weeks whether an abandoned barrel field in Northwest Roanoke threatens the public or the environment.

Field investigators said Friday there is no emergency at the site off Baker Avenue, but they want to analyze samples they were collecting from some of the barrels. If dangerous chemicals are present, the EPA will pay to have the barrels removed, said Kevin Koob, an EPA coordinator for the project.

The 1.75-acre lot at 30th Street contains an estimated 800 to 1,500 barrels placed there by Cyphers Drum Reconditioning and Recycling, which went out of business in May 1994 when owner Don Cyphers died, according to the state Department of Environmental Quality.

Many of the barrels are empty, but environmental officials are concerned because a few without clear labels contain unidentified fluids. Cyphers received the drums from businesses and rinsed them at an Eighth Street warehouse, said Rebecca Wright, a DEQ senior environmental inspector. She has said it is possible the barrels at Baker Avenue were those waiting to be rinsed when Cyphers died.

Cyphers also had 2,500 barrels at the warehouse. They have been removed.

State officials solicited the EPA's help because the DEQ determined it did not have money to pay for testing or cleanup. The EPA does, Koob said.

'It would be done with money from Superfund," a government fund for cleaning hazardous sites for which no one has taken responsibility, he said. The fund is fed by a tax on chemical businesses.

Cyphers' estate and his heirs are unable to pay to investigate or clean up the site, the DEQ said.

The EPA will receive help from the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Koob said.

The site is closed to the public.

LENGTH: Short :   48 lines
ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO:  JANEL RHODA/THE ROANOKE TIMES. Field personnel, who work
          for an EPA cleanup contractor, sample barrels. Neither they nor the 
          EPA would give their names. color. Graphic: Map by staff.