An aerial view of the Radford Army Ammunition Plant, which is spending millions on pollution controls as part of an effort that has helped to smooth relations with its neighbors. (Image courtesy of Chris Finley/BAE Systems)
On Friday, Sept. 27, Hurricane Helene wreaked havoc on the Southwest Virginia region, including flooding the Radford Army Ammunition Plant and causing the release of chemicals in the New River, according to the plant and the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality.
According to a spokesperson for the Radford Army Ammunition Plant, the facility “experienced significant flooding due to Hurricane Helene,” when the nearby New River crested at 31 feet the day after the storm.
“Due to areas of the plant being submerged, we’ve now identified the potential release of calcium sulfate and petroleum into the waterway and disclosed such instances to DEQ,” said Laura McLaughlin, a spokesperson for BAE Systems, the company that operates the plant, in an Oct. 26 email to the Mercury. “However, at this time, we do not believe there is a risk to public health or wildlife.”
According to a pollution report filed with the DEQ, as of Monday, the “total confirmed release estimate” of dibutyl phthalate —a liquid plasticizer that is also found in nail polish, hair spray and raincoats — “is now 225 gallons,” stored in tote containers at the plant that were carried away by the river.
The flooding event came as the plant seeks a variance to accept and recycle acid waste, in lieu of acid RAAP already buys and uses. The move has prompted environmental groups to say the plant isn’t being fully transparent with the community and skirting stringent regulations, and is at risk for future flooding events.
“If they provided more information, we would be able to understand it on a deeper level,” said Alyssa Carpenter, with the Citizens for Arsenal Accountability, which wants the request denied, or the process restarted with more information.
“But that doesn’t mean that it’s going to alleviate our concerns, because it’s hazardous waste,” said Carpenter, who had her thyroid removed after years of living near the plants and is “still seeing doctors.”
The plant
The Radford Army Ammunition Plant, or RAAP, has been in Radford, a half hour from Roanoke, since 1940, manufacturing propellants for the U.S. Army munitions and rockets under a contract with the U.S. Department of Defense.
Throughout the years, the plant has come under scrutiny for its discarding of waste through open burning, which releases pollutants in the air. Two years ago, the Citizens for Arsenal Accountability produced a report outlining the concern.
The flooding
The flooding led to the release of potentially up to 127,500 pounds of calcium sulfate wastewater and up to 700 gallons of diesel, said Justine Barati, chief of public and congressional affairs at Joint Munitions Command.
The release of DPB came from four containers found in the area after 13, each holding 275 gallons for a total storage of 3,575 gallons of DPB, were “lifted up and carried away” from the plant, Barati explained.
Nothing released into the New River from the RAAP would have entered any Virginia waterworks or been received by their customers.
– Tristen Franklin, a spokesperson for the Virginia Department of Health Office of Drinking Water
The search for the other nine totes is ongoing, and “includes surveillance by helicopter, drone and watercraft extending all the way to the Bluestone Dam in West Virginia,” according the pollution report.
Despite the chemical releases, Barati said, “public health was not jeopardized, and there were no observed impacts to the environment.”
Tristen Franklin, a spokesperson for the Virginia Department of Health Office of Drinking Water, said, “there are no intakes in the New River downstream of RAAP,” Franklin said, meaning, “nothing released into the New River from the RAAP would have entered any Virginia waterworks or been received by their customers.”
“There is no concern that those chemicals (Calcium Sulfate, petroleum, DBP) released by RAAP are in any Virginia residents’ drinking water,” Franklin said.
Preparation
Ahead of the flooding, the plant moved 14 tractor trailers of material to higher ground, Barati said, and prioritized work, which meant, “the potential impact to employee safety and the environment was greatly reduced.”
The containers’ movement “was unexpected, but so was the size of the flood,” Barati said.
Following the flooding, the plant began coordinating with DEQ, the National Response Center, the Department of the Army and local first responders, Barati said.
In the Oct. 26 email from McLaughlin, the BAE Systems spokeswoman, she said, “We are happy to report that all of our employees are safely back at work on site.”
Variance request
As RAAP continues to operate now after the flooding, the plant is seeking a variance to the Virginia Hazardous Waste Management Regulations to accept and recycle acid waste, while still following the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and complying with their air permit, according to DEQ. The plant is asking permission to receive up to 18 million pounds of nitric acid and 9 million pounds of sulfuric acid annually, said Julie Raimondi, a DEQ spokeswoman.
The goal is for 100% of the accepted product to be reused, resulting in a “net environmental benefit,” Raimondi said, by requiring less raw material and eliminating hazardous waste. Barati added the plant would “not be taking on more acid than we otherwise do,” has “significant and strict controls in place.” The plant hasn’t heard from DEQ they’re lacking any information, Barati said, and is working on “modernization projects” for future flooding, but those “need to be presented to Army leadership, Department of Defense leadership, and Members of Congress for approval before being announced to the public.”
“The acid we would accept through this variance request would be in place of acid we would buy through other suppliers, not in addition,” Barati said. “This is an opportunity to re-use a product that is otherwise going to be wasted in a process that we are already currently performing here on the plant.”
But Thien Chau, a senior associate attorney with Earthjustice, an environmental advocacy law group working with Citizens for Arsenal Accountability, said there’s a lack of information in the request for the community to review, including a “consideration of potential cumulative risks from other nearby potential stressors,” as required by the regulations, and the controls that would be put in place, Chau said.
“Communities just shouldn’t be poisoned at all, let alone at the hands of their own government,” Chau said. “The problem we have here is that DEQ wants to grant the arsenal this variance without themselves having the information they need to determine if it’s going to be protective of human health and the environment, as it’s DEQ’s obligation to do.”
RAAP made their variance request before the flooding happened, which “sort of changes the situation based on what risks that poses to us as a community,” Carpenter said.
A public comment period will be open until Nov. 25. A community meeting for the variance request was scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at the Christiansburg Public Library Thursday night.
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