The Environmental Protection Agency and FMC Corp. have agreed in principle to give the entire Avtex Fibers plant site to the Front Royal-Warren County Industrial Development Authority for redevelopment, authority officials were told Tuesday.

Industrial Redevelopment Committee Chairman Fred Foster said he received a letter from Andrew Palestini, the EPA's remedial project manager, informing him of the possible ownership transfer.

"In principle, EPA and FMC agree that they want the (Avtex bankruptcy) trustee to convey all of the property to an industrial authority for potential redevelopment," Palestini says in his Thursday letter.

EPA attorney Wayne Walters said the transfer is being negotiated, but will have to be approved by the federal bankruptcy court before it can occur.

Avtex declared bankruptcy after it was forced to close in 1989. The contaminated Superfund site is now under the control of a trustee appointed by the court.

"EPA does not control title to that site," Walters said. "The title is being held in trust by the bankruptcy trustee. All of the land is encumbered by liens held by various insurance companies that loaned money to Avtex."

The EPA is attempting in bankruptcy court to settle the claims of those companies and have the liens removed, he said.

If that occurs "sometime in the near future, the bankruptcy court can transfer it to the industrial authority," he said.

That will take at least two agreements, said Walters, who wouldn't detail what the agreements will entail.

Palestini says in his letter that the EPA will try to work out a purchase agreement with the authority that could include covenants against lawsuits over contamination at the Avtex site.

"If the industrial authority comes in, they would want to he insulated from present liability," Walters said. "The EPA is willing to go to the Department of Justice" and seek such an agreement.

Walter said there are three or four such prospective purchaser agreements at other Superfund sites.

"There has never been one where the debtor has no money (such as Avtex). That's a little bit of a problem," he said.

Anthony H. Murray Jr., the trustee, said the liens must be resolved. Negotiations with the lien holders have been going on for 3 ½ years, he said.

"As soon as they get that resolved, it should happen," he said.

Asked if he approved of the transfer, Murray said, "It's fine with me."

"I'm excited about it," Foster said. "I think it can click."

Members of a nonprofit corporation that will be given responsibility for the Avtex site when it’s transferred were named by the authority on Tuesday. Foster was among those named.

He said the corporation will work with the EPA to ensure that the site is cleaned up.

"We want it clean to be reused with no other polluters," he said.

Also named to the corporation were Tom Preston, George McIntyre, Peter Walker, Fitz Wickham, Dan Althouse and Eddie Morrison, the authority's representative.

Town and county officials have been trying to find a new use for the plant. The state has created an enterprise zone at the site in which tax incentives will be offered to companies that move to it.