Officials endorse plan to clean up Elizabeth River

PORTSMOUTH

Backed by four local mayors and dozens of state and federal officials, an environmental group rolled out plans Monday to make the Elizabeth River clean enough for swimming, fishing and harvesting shellfish by 2020.

Given the immense problems facing the Elizabeth - industrial pollution, toxic sediments, cancerous fish, to name a few - the plan was called historic, ambitious, and one of the biggest ecological goals ever set in Hampton Roads.

"We intend to fully restore the Elizabeth River in a time frame we can realize and appreciate," said Joe Thomas, board president of the Elizabeth River Project, a nonprofit environmental group overseeing the initiative.

The group, which started around a kitchen table in 1991, has been busy for years trying to turn the long-abused river around. Its first action plan, in 1996, focused on removing toxic wastes and reversing a common public perception that the Elizabeth was too sick to be saved.

The new action plan announced Monday still calls for the removal of highly toxic wastes on the bottom of the river - "the goo must go!" remains a group slogan - but also lays out a menu of remedies for individuals, businesses and governments to pursue.

They include: rebuilding shoreline wetlands, increasing the tree canopy by 20 percent, phasing out plastic bags, creating a "green Army" of 25,000 volunteers, developing a land trust to accept property gifts, getting all schools to teach about the Elizabeth River's plight, and possibly declaring the river a "no-discharge zone" for all boats and ships.

"I've dedicated my life to cleaning up this river," said Marjorie Mayfield Jackson, executive director of the Elizabeth River Project and one of its founders. "We're not going to stop until we get it right."

She was joined at a riverfront ceremony kicking off the "swimmable and fishable campaign" by the mayors of Norfolk, Portsmouth, Chesapeake and Virginia Beach, as well as the head of Virginia's Department of Environmental Quality, the state's secretary of natural resources, and the local director of the Army Corps of Engineers.

A cannon was fired to mark the occasion, and ships gathered off the Portsmouth waterfront wailed their sirens and horns.

The Elizabeth has been off-limits to shellfish harvesting since the 1920s because of high levels of bacteria. Fishing is allowed, but the state health department advises against eating more than two meals a month of most finfish in the river, and suggests that no gizzard shad, carp or large catfish be consumed because of pollution.

Elevated levels of bacteria also make swimming a risky adventure in most areas on the Elizabeth, and health experts further caution against wading into near-shore areas because of leftover contamination from decades of unregulated industrial practices.

The local campaign to reverse this unhealthy tide begins amid strict budget cuts in Richmond and Washington, and among uncertain economic times nationally. Cleanup programs will cost millions of dollars, money that officials say they are not sure they can raise, let alone sustain.

Still, environmental officials remain optimistic.

Preston Bryant, Virginia's secretary of natural resources, said the Elizabeth River Project will succeed because of its insistence that economic growth and environmental protection go hand-in-hand.

"Yes, we can have a robust commercial waterway that is also swimmable and fishable," Bryant told the crowd. "These adjectives - 'commercial' and 'clean' - are not mutually exclusive."

The action plan itself was hatched after more than a year of brainstorming and discussion among scientists, business leaders, activists, teachers, students, engineers, regulators and politicians.

It was finalized in May, then taken to various city, state and local leaders for their political blessing - a task that took most of the summer.

Col. Dionysios Anninos, district commander for the Army Corps of Engineers, cautioned against complacency and urged officials in attendance to start implementing their part of the plan now.

"If we don't do that," said Anninos, wearing combat fatigues and a beret, "the plan will sit on a shelf and collect dust."

Scott Harper, (757) 446-2340, scott.harper@pilotonline.com