Valley Regional Office, Harrisonburg
Community involvement summary
The Valley Regional Office has focused on several issues raised at its 2004 open house meeting. Hazardous air pollutant emissions from local industry and air pollution along the I-81 corridor have increased citizen concern. A year-long air toxics monitoring study is under way in the Winchester/Frederick County area. Results will be shared at a community meeting with a question-and-answer session. Responding to public comments on Pactiv’s Title V permit in the Winchester area, the regional office has been collecting samples weekly to measure ethyl chloride concentrations. Results of this monitoring study will be shared at a community meeting in late summer.
The office is participating in the Virginia Poultry Disease Task Force to address public concern about the impact to the environment resulting from mortality disposal methods used in a previous avian influenza outbreak. Collaborating with the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Virginia Cooperative Extension and Cargill Turkey Division, DEQ is demonstrating alternative, environmentally sound composting methods.
Regional staff are collaborating with the Virginia Department of Health to ensure that information on confirmed releases of petroleum be made available to residents applying for well permits. Wells in the Red Hill community of Albemarle County have been contaminated from gasoline stored in underground tanks. Two public meetings were held to keep the affected community informed, and a community ground water system is being developed.
The regional office is compiling and maintaining a web-based summary of information that DEQ has considered in regulating sludge. The staff also is serving as judges for Envirothon, the Governor’s School, science fairs, speakers for local schools and guest lecturers at colleges.
Mercury contamination in the South River and the South Fork of the Shenandoah River continues to be a concern. A multi-stakeholder team of collaborators joined to form the South River Science Team, meeting every two months to research, monitor and share results of studies in a newsletter distributed to more than 1,000 concerned citizens, schools libraries and physicians. Since eating fish contaminated with mercury may raise health concerns, the regional staff is working to effectively communicate the concerns. Fish consumption warnings are posted along the river in Spanish and English. Follow-up monitoring and re-posting of signs are under way, and people are being alerted to the dangers of eating mercury-contaminated fish.
The regional staff also has made efforts to get information to the public and to involve the communities related to the ongoing fish kill in the South Fork Shenandoah River.