[ALUmnus]

This is where we used to go cliff jumping. Anyone else venture up there for a nice dive into this ice-cold water? I wonder if we were in any danger from the shock testing.

http://www.newsadvance.com/servlet/Sate ... 3734&path=

Blasting tests won't change
By Sarah Watson
swatson@newsadvance.com
Wednesday, November 29, 2006


A Rustburg military contractor has pulled a request before Campbell County supervisors to relax certain restrictions on underwater test explosions.

National Technical Systems, an international company that conducts underwater shock testing for the Navy in an abandoned quarry on Sunnymeade Road, said it was withdrawing the request because of strong reactions from residents near the site.

The matter was supposed to come before the Board of Supervisors on Monday; it is no longer on the agenda. The original request came before the board Nov. 20, but a decision was delayed after Supervisor Hugh Rosser asked to have some time to meet with residents.

Specifically, the company had sought to revise a 1992 court settlement with the county that sets restrictions on blasting tests.

The requested changes would have allowed NTS to blast on overcast days and every week of the month. In return, NTS would conduct tests requiring a 125-pound charge at a facility in Arvonia, in Buckingham County. Current guidelines limit tests to three out of four weeks each month and disallow them on days when there are low-hanging clouds. However, the company can use one 125-pound charge a day at the Rustburg site.

The company is operating under guidelines established in a partially sealed 1992 court settlement between then-company Dynamic Testing Inc. and the county. The settlement was sparked by neighbors and a 1990 county grand jury determination that the testing facility was a public nuisance.

NTS wanted to clarify restrictions regarding cloud cover because the settlement language is vague, said Dwight Moore, the company’s chief operating officer.

The settlement states that “certain low-hanging cloud cover (inversions)” can amplify noise from the blasting and ordered the company to “make every effort to avoid underwater detonation testing on days when such conditions exist.”

Moore said the language didn’t differentiate between clouds and what he said is the cause of the amplification - a temperature inversion, or when a layer of warm air is trapped above a layer of colder air near the ground. “We’ve taken the conservative interpretation of that, saying that we won’t test at all on cloudy days,” he said.

He wanted a revision allowing testing when the sky is overcast, but not when there is lightning within a 40-mile radius because thunderstorm clouds typically have the worst inversions.

While that would mean NTS could blast on most overcast days, the company was making the concession of no longer using 125-pound charges, which rattle neighbors and increase fears of property damage.

“I didn’t see (allowing blasting on cloudy days) as being a negative change,” said David Laurrell, Campbell County administrator. “I think the one negative change was going from three weeks to four weeks, but in exchange they wouldn’t do the 125-pound charges.”

Since NTS has officially withdrawn the request, the testing will go on as it has for years. “We’re going to just comply with the restrictions that we have on the current facility,” said Moore.

He said the company had sought the changes because they would help NTS expand and construct a second facility, where it could conduct “non-intrusive” tests. The expansion plan in Rustburg, which he said would have brought at least 10 new local jobs, is now on hold, he said.

Representatives from the company met with residents in October and outlined their plans, though county officials weren’t invited due to an oversight, Moore said.

Many residents worry the vibrations from the ongoing testing can harm their homes and wells. “I don’t think anyone objects to the kind of testing and purpose,” said Cecil Austin, who lives less than a mile from the quarry. “It’s the destruction it’s doing over a period of time.”

Moore said the state conducted an independent study more than 20 years ago that said blasting vibrations couldn’t cause damage to homes and wells.

Some residents aren’t convinced.

“If I tap you once, it’s not going to harm you. If I tap you 100 times, sooner or later it’s going to leave a bruise,” said Ed Parthemore, who lives less than a half-mile from the site. “I think that’s what’s happening to our homes.”