FROM:     Greenwire
 
                                        September 4, 1998
 
SECTION: NATURAL RESOURCES
 
LENGTH: 164 words
 
HEADLINE: SPECIES: VIRGINIA CHEMICAL SPILL THREATENS RARE MUSSEL
 
BODY:
     A chemical spill in Virginia's Clinch River last week, which
killed at least 3,000 fish, is also thought to have "wiped out"
one of the last reproducing populations of the rare tan
riffleshell mussel.
     Virginia Tech U. professor Richard Neves said that the spill
occurred in the only spot in the river where the mussel, which is
protected by the federal Endangered Species Act, lives and
breeds.  He said biologists may be able to reintroduce the tan
rifflefish into the Clinch, but that could take years depending
on how contaminated the river sediment is.
     Meanwhile, Massachusetts-based Certus Inc., owner of the
chemical that spilled following a truck accident, will not be
held criminally responsible for the spill, but it will have to
pay for the cleanup and possible restocking of the river,
according to Dallas Sizemore of the state Dept. of Environmental
Quality (Rex Bowman, Richmond Times-Dispatch, 9/2).