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Renewable Richmond

Factories, power plants and other facilities released into Virginia's environment in 2006 more than 1 million pounds of highly toxic pollutants that can cause cancer and sickness in humans, according to federal and state experts.

These pollutants, called persistent bioaccumulative toxic chemicals, include lead, mercury, dioxins and other chemicals. They tend to build up in the environment and in the tissues of living organisms, including humans.

"Our main concern is with PBT chemicals," said Nichelle McDaniel , a spokesperson for the Environmental Protection Agency. "They can cause cancer, and have (negative) health and environmental effects."

The PBT chemicals are only eight of the 160 chemicals that the EPA monitors as part of their Toxic Release Inventory program. In the end, state industries released more than 70 million pounds of pollutants into Virginia's rivers, soil and air in 2006, the most recent year for which data are available.

Mercury and lead were released in the largest quantity, according to a compute analysis of TRI data. The two metals are byproducts of the coal burning process, which has become a key step in producing energy. Lead and mercury pollution can build up in the bodies of animals, specifically fish, and cause sickness in people who eat them. Direct exposure, as well as exposure from contaminated water, soil or air, causes severe and debilitating sickness in humans.

Other PBT chemicals include polycyclic aromatic compounds. These are released during agricultural processes or when fossil fuels or garbage is burned. These compounds can alter the basic hormonal systems in fish. According to Kyle Newman , an environmental scientist at Virginia Commonwealth University, this can occur even when only low levels of PCPs are present.

While the harmful effects of industry are acknowledged, they are typically overshadowed by the economic needs of the state. The electricity sector is a good example of how the expanding needs of the state are causing industries to produce more of their product, and subsequently, more harmful pollution. Coal use has increased over the past decade as Virginia's customer base has expanded, and the use of energy-sapping devices, such as flat-screen TVs, has become common.

"We gain 50,000 customers per year," said Jim Norvelle , Dominion's director of media relations. "(As a result) we are using more coal today than we ever did previously."

A scientist who works for the company said Dominion deals with pollution in responsible ways. The Chesterfield Power Station, the largest fossil fueled power plant in Virginia, employs a team of scientists, engineers, biologists and environmental compliance workers who "make sure that the right decisions are being made to protect the environment," said Cathy Taylor , director of environmental support for Dominion.

While responsibility and transparency among big industries can be beneficial for citizens, and for monitoring agencies such as the EPA, Virginia's history of illegal dumping has created a skeptical public.

"I'm not sure that there is any place where (some of these pollutants) are in not the water," said Ralph White , manager of the James River Park System.

In the 1970s, a pesticide manufacturer in Hopewell illegally dumped toxic wastewater into the James River. The pesticide, known as Kepone, damaged the health of workers at the plant, the river and the fishermen who relied on it for subsistence. The EPA called the incident "a disaster," and in 1976, a court case mandated that the company, Allied Chemical Corp., pay $13 million to clean up the river.

While some cleanup occurred, much of the Kepone still sits on the bottom of the James River. The Kepone is stirred up whenever there is heavy rain, causing problems for the river and the wildlife that reside in its waters. After the incident, fishing on the river was banned. Although the ban was lifted in 1988, there is still an advisory about eating fish from in the stretch of the river that runs from the I-95 James River Bridge to the Hampton Roads tunnel.

"All of these old issues are still there, they're just covered up under a few inches of sediment," Newman said.

Pre-existing pollutants, like Kepone, often intensify the affects of PBT chemicals, Newman said. Due to the size of the James River, it is hard to predict what types of chemicals are already present. Flowing from the west end of the state to the Chesapeake Bay, the river covers more than 400 miles. Because of the diversity of the James, pollution affects different areas of the river in different ways.

"Each part of the river has different water quality," White said. "Certain pollutants are not found in (the Richmond) fall line, but they might be very common in the Tidewater section where there is much more industry."

Even when pollutants are not directly released into a river, they can still have a negative impact on a watershed. The chemicals released into the air, oftentimes settle on the surface of the land, and end up in rivers after heavy rains.

"You can link a lot of contamination in rivers with air pollution," said Newman.

While the conflict between environmental responsibility and economic stability is ages younger than the James River, the issue still holds a big presence in the state's history. The challenge at hand is learning how to weigh the interests of the people with the interests of the environment, especially in a society that has grown used to having a certain set of utilities.

"When people turn on their light switch, they expect there to be light," Norvelle said.

People don't always think about where their light comes from, or how much fertilizer they put on their yard, and that lack of knowledge is "partly the result of bad government," White said.

There is too much incentive for factories, farmers and citizens to use products that pollute, he said. There needs to be more enforcement of good environmental prectices. These are protocols and standards that would make for a healthier environment but "the countervailing economic interest," as White calls it, is a weight that is hard to counter.