The Northern Virginia Daily

Article date: March 19, 1996

 Wolf's bill would ease reuse of Avtex site

By: Diane Hartson

Legislation that mirrors a new state law that makes it easier to redevelop Superfund sites such as the Avtex Fibers plant in Front Royal was introduced in Congress on Monday by 10th District Rep. Frank R. Wolf. 

The bill would relieve state and local redevelopment groups from liability they now face for pollution discovered after they take ownership of Superfund sites and for which they weren't responsible.

Similar "fresh start" legislation was passed by the General Assembly this month. That bill was introduced by Delegate Jay K. Katzen, R-Markham.

In remarks he made on the House floor, Wolf said his measure would remove the liability issue that has hindered efforts to reuse sites such as Avtex.

"Front Royal, Va., which I am proud to represent, is a beautiful and historic area located in the scenic Shenandoah Valley of the 10th District," he said. "The region has a blemish, however -- namely the Avtex-FMC Superfund site. The citizens of Warren County and the town of Front Royal would like to move this site into productive economic use as soon as possible, thereby creating jobs and expanding the tax base."

But those efforts have been stalled by federal law that would make a new user responsible for past pollution discovered later, Wolf said.

"At the Avtex-FMC Superfund site, the EPA has proposed to subdivide putatively clean portions of the site and authorize the transfer of title to the clean sites to a new governmental, industrial or business owner," Wolf said. "Taking control of such a clean portion of the site is risky for the transferee because they could be liable for any further remediation required at the site."

The Warren County Redevelopment Corporation hopes to take contral of those remediated portions of the Avtex site to redevelop them for industrial use.

Wolf's bill would exempt public redevelopment organizations from past liability, but wouldn't remove any liability from later users for pollution they caused.

The exemption would be available to those organizations only if they owned a site on a temporary basis or transferred it to a “fresh start user”, Wolf said.

The users would be exempt only if they acquired the site from a public redevelopment group, had not taken part in any cleanup action at the site or been responsible for any pollution there, he said.

“This legislation is a good government measure which would give state and local governments needed flexibility in the transition of Superfund sites into productive uses," Wolf said. "Shielding the fresh start user from liability for an act for which the new user has no blame is essential to attracting a new business user which would otherwise be deterred by the potential for liability."

Wolf said in a telephone interview that he's "optimistic" about the bill's chances of passage.

"I never like to predict what we're going to do, but I hope it will do OK," he said. "I think it has a lot of merit."