At an online community meeting Wednesday evening, the Radford Army Ammunition Plant provided an update on the search for 13 missing totes of a chemical that were washed into the New River last year during flooding from Hurricane Helene.
No new totes have been identified in the past month, and four are still unaccounted for. As much as 1,575 gallons of a chemical called dibutyl phthalate could have been released into the New River, according to a report filed with Virginia Department of Environmental Quality.
The Radford plant first reported the missing totes to DEQ on October 14 last year, several weeks after the flood, and made a public announcement at a community meeting in November.
Several community members raised concerns during yesterday’s meeting, arguing the plant should have done a better job communicating with the public about the missing totes in a more timely manner.
Nelson Hernandez, Environmental Manager with BAE systems, which oversees operations at the plant, noted at the meeting that flooding from Helene was the highest waters reached at the Radford site since 1940, a year before the plant was built.
BAE Systems is asking the public to notify local law enforcement if they see any of the totes, and not to drain chemicals from the container.
