
DATE: Thursday, November 20, 1997           TAG: 9711200482

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL  

SOURCE: BY SCOTT HARPER, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:  109 lines

CORRECTION/CLARIFICATION: * An article Thursday about removing abandoned vessels and piers from the Elizabeth River misstated how much money is available for the program. There is $197,000 on hand. Correction published, Friday November 21, 1997, p.A2 * ELIZABETH RIVER REPORT CARD CLEANUP PROJECT REFLECTS ON ITS FIRST YEAR

One year ago, author and journalist Charles Kuralt came to Norfolk to applaud citizens and volunteers for launching what sounded like an impossible task - cleaning up the Elizabeth River.

Since then, Kuralt has passed away, but the group attempting to revive one of the most polluted rivers on the East Coast is moving ahead, using his words as motivation:

``On a river named for a great queen,'' Kuralt said last year, ``there is something noble about an undertaking which even the youngest of us in this room may never see come to full fruition.''

On Wednesday night at Nauticus, members of the Elizabeth River Project looked back on their first year of action and readied for the future. What they saw, essentially, were small steps made and great hurdles ahead.

In their ``State of the River'' report, project leaders said it was too early to say if their efforts are helping the Elizabeth. After all, they said, it took 400 years for the river to become so degraded; improvements should not be expected overnight.

As outlined by Marjorie Mayfield, a former newspaper reporter now directing the grass-roots effort, 1997 was nonetheless a good start. A wetlands park was built from a dilapidated waterfront lot. Thirty business and government outlets, including a jail and the Christian Broadcasting Network, became ``River Stars'' by agreeing to voluntarily reduce pollution or to restore wildlife habitat on their lands. Abandoned boats and barges were fished from the water.

``The biggest change we can measure in 1997 is that now this river has a nucleus of volunteers and citizens'' who can continue the campaign, Mayfield said.

Ahead, however, is the removal of some of the most toxic contaminants known to exist in the Chesapeake Bay region, chemical residues known to cause cancer and deform fish. More wetlands destroyed by the commercial development of the river over the past century must be rebuilt. Watery wastes, called runoff, from industry, homes and storm drains must be better filtered.

And then there is the nagging question of where to find the money to pay for all this.

``This is something that will probably take longer than you thought, will be more expensive than you thought and will be more frustrating than you thought,'' said keynote speaker W. Michael McCabe, regional director of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, who flew here from Philadelphia for Wednesday's event.

``But you've made progress, and with the kind of commitment I've seen, there's the will and the drive,'' McCabe said. ``And I'm sure we'll be seeing considerable improvements in the coming years.''

The Elizabeth River Project was born around a kitchen table in 1991, when four citizens decided over coffee that enough was enough. Rooted in consensus-building and volunteerism, instead of government controls and mandates, the project has become a popular model with businesses and industries that for decades have been fingered as the culprits for environmental harm.

Here, instead, corporations are asked to participate and embrace goals that they think they can achieve without reducing their economic strength.

Whether this approach can work remains to be seen, but the project was called remarkable by politicians, environmentalists and business people alike for its broad base of support and flexibility.

``There is nothing else like this going on in Virginia,'' said Gerald McCarthy, executive director of the Virginia Environmental Endowment. ``Nowhere else are the private, public and nonprofit sectors of the economy working together like this.''

Determining progress is difficult because the state has done little scientific analysis of the river. To help, project leaders last year received $250,000 in state money to establish a comprehensive pollution monitoring program.

But as described by Mike Host, a cleanup volunteer and environmental engineer at Norfolk Naval Shipyard, that money doesn't go very far, given the expense of chemical testing and sampling.

A lack of money also is hampering the removal of more abandoned boats, barges and piers. Robert Dean, a former Virginia Beach councilman leading the effort, said his committee has identified 146 old vessels and 6,000 piers and pilings that should be removed from the river.

They have $197 in the bank, however.

Portsmouth Mayor James W. Holley III said his city would try to do its part.

``We're delighted we've come this far,'' Holley said. ``This type of thing had been talked about for years and years, and no one ever did anything about it. So yes, this is exciting. We're moving.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photos]

MARTIN SMITH-RODDEN

The Virginian-Pilot

Shipyards and other industries have caused pollution - as has runoff

from streets, lawns, storm drains.

BILL TIERNAN

The Virginian-Pilot

Volunteers from the Elizabeth River Project and neighbors of the

Birdsong wetlands in Norfolk planted cord grass at low tide in July.

KEY TO RIVER POLLUTION

VP GRAPHIC

SOURCE: The Elizabeth River Project

[For a copy of the graphic, see microfilm for this date.]