THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Saturday, February 8, 1997            TAG: 9702080457
SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B3   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY SCOTT HARPER, STAFF WRITER 
DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   48 lines

CLINTON SEEKS $200,000 FOR RIVER STUDY THE MONEY, IF APPROVED BY CONGRESS, WOULD GIVE A BOOST TO THE ELIZABETH RIVER PROJECT.

Local environmentalists are applauding a $200,000 item in President Clinton's proposed budget that would help fund a major study for restoring the heavily polluted Elizabeth River.

The money, if approved by Congress, would pay for research by the Army Corps of Engineers to define the biggest problems facing the river, which cuts through the industrial heart of South Hampton Roads, and suggest remedies.

It also would give a boost to the Elizabeth River Project, a local grass-roots organization trying to reverse decades of abuse and neglect of the river, which suffers from some of the most intense toxic pollution of any waterway on the East Coast.

The study is ``definitely a key part of our strategy,'' said Carl Fisher, a retired government oceanographer and active member of the river project. He noted that federal money and expertise would significantly move along the ambitious environmental drive.

Spearheaded by U.S. Rep. Norman Sisisky, D-4th District, Congress last year appropriated $100,000 to launch the study, which will officially begin next month, said Craig Seltzer, a corps oceanographer leading the research effort.

The study will review cleanup techniques, Seltzer said. Those techniques include building man-made wetlands on vacant waterfront land and sealing toxic wastes found in river sediments by laying a thick blanket of clean sand on top of them.

If fully funded, the study should take four years to complete, Seltzer said, with implementation of cleanup ideas to follow. The Elizabeth River Project forecasts that restoration could take generations to accomplish.

The price tag for the entire study is projected at $2.6 million. The federal government would pay for half, of which the proposed $200,000 in Clinton's budget is considered a down payment.

The rest would be funded by the state and the cities of Chesapeake, Norfolk, Portsmouth and Virginia Beach. ILLUSTRATION: File Photo by D. Kevin Elliott

The $200,000 budgeted by President Clinton would help pay for

research to define the biggest problems facing the Elizabeth River,

one of the most toxic waterways on the East Coast. Here, ducks swim

the Eastern Branch, near Arrowhead Elementary School in Virginia

Beach.

KEYWORDS: ELIZABETH RIVER STUDY FUNDING