The Northern Virginia Daily

Article date: August 24, 1996

 EPA asks FMC to increase aid for Avtex cleanup

By: Chris Phillips

The Environmental Protection Agency is asking the FMC Corp. to finance or perform work necessary to address the cleanup of the buildings at the former Avtex Fibers plant in Front Royal.

FMC received a letter of potential liability last week that asks it to volunteer to take over responsibility of the buildings, officials said.

The corporation has 30 days to respond to the EPA's request. A spokeswoman said it's considering the information.

“FMC is committed to what has already been agreed upon and will continue to cooperate with the EPA for areas for which it is responsible," said Caroline Oppleman, senior project manager for Environmental Issues Management, which is handling public relations for FMC.

"FMC did not own the plant or any of the chemicals used by Avtex when it shut down and does not feel it is responsible for any deterioration of the plant buildings which may have resulted from subsequent manufacturing use, normal wear and tear or neglect that may have occurred after the plant was sold to Avtex 20 years ago," she said.

Ms. Oppleman said FMC "has done more than its fair share" of the cleanup activities. FMC is conducting and financing the cleanup of the western part of the Avtex Fibers site which includes the water treatment plant and the area west of the railroad tracks.

The EPA has been handling investigation of the building areas and is now asking FMC to also take over that part of the cleanup.

If FMC declines to address cleanup, of the buildings, the EPA will continue with its work, but may ultimately ask the corporation to finance whatever action the agency performs, according to Kimberly Hummel, the EPA's senior program manager for the Superfund program.

The EPA expects to move forward with the decontamination and demolition of some of the buildings on the site within the next year, she said.

Whenever the EPA gets ready to take cleanup action at a Superfund site, it contacts those parties liable for other areas of the same site and asks them to fund or perform the action, Ms. Hummel said.

"When a company becomes liable, it’s generally for any work at the site," she said.

Ms. Hummel said the letter of potential liability shouldn't have been a surprise to FMC because the EPA had informed the corporation that it would be asked to take over the cleanup of the buildings.

FMC operated the plant, which used to manufacture fibers such as rayon, polyester and polypropylene, 13 of the 49 years it was in operation. It was sold to Avtex in 1976 and operations continued until 1989, when the state revoked its waste water discharge permit after continued violations. Shortly thereafter, Avtex abandoned the facility and declared bankruptcy.