The Northern Virginia Daily

Article date: August 12, 1996

 EPA is reconsidering proposed landfill

By: Diane Hartson

The Environmental Protection Agency is "leaning toward" nixing a proposed on-site landfill for debris from the demolition of 30 acres of badly contaminated buildings at the Avtex Fibers Superfund site in Front Royal, an EPA spokesman said Friday. The planned landfill was outlined to the Town Council last August.

But it drew protests from residents and councilmen, who questioned whether it would be in the town's flood plain and whether the EPA's plan to oversee the site for only 30 years would protect the town.

Demolition of the buildings was recommended by consultant Roy F. Weston Inc. That consultant reported that the buildings are in bad repair with tanks of contaminants that have weakened walls and areas where roofs have collapsed and steel columns are flaking away.

The Weston report also proposed that debris from the demolition be placed in a fly ash basin at the site.

The basin would be capped to prevent leachate from seeping out of the pit, Andrew Palestini, then remedial project manager for the EPA, told the council at last year's meeting.

Palestini said then that the EPA isn't sure whether it would have to seek state or local approval if it decided to go forward with the on-site landfill plan.

Pat Gaughan, spokesman for the agency, said Friday that the landfill proposal is being reconsidered, as is the plan to demolish the buildings.

The reconsideration was prompted by the opposition voiced at the council meeting and by a request from the FMC Corp. to consider other alternatives, he said.

As a former owner of the Avtex site, FMC is responsible under federal law for a portion of the cleanup costs.

FMC sold the plant to Avtex in 1978. The site was added to the Superfund list in 1986 and was closed by Avtex in 1989. Avtex declared bankruptcy in 1990.

FMC suggested to the EPA that the buildings could be decontaminated instead of demolished, according to Caroline E. Oppleman, senior project manager for EIM, the contractor in charge of FMC’s cleanup evaluation efforts.

Ms. Oppleman said that in addition to concerns expressed by Ed Ward of the Friends of the Shenandoah River about wildlife living near the fly ash basin, the basin selected by the consultant for the landfill is the one closest to residences.

"Perhaps there's a better way to go (than) taking down 30 acres of buildings and calling all that hazardous when it’s not," she said.

Gaughan said the EPA is "evaluating the building structure to see if decontamination rather than demolition of buildings is an appropriate action. We're looking to see if some of the buildings can be decontaminated and saved for future use" with debris from any structures that are taken down removed from the site.

A decision on those alternatives is pending a report that's expected within the next few weeks, Gaughan said.

Whether an option other than demolishing all of the buildings and disposing of the debris on site is viable will depend on cost, he said.

The consultant, in the earlier report, estimated that on-site disposal would cost $23 million, compared with $138 million for disposal elsewhere.

"We would like to see the hazardous material if it's a smaller amount -- 10 to 15 percent of the structures -- removed off site," Gaughan said.