Article date: June 21, 2000

Corps of Engineers will perform asbestos abatement work

Rep. Frank R. Wolf, R-10th

The House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday approved $7 million for the Army Corps of Engineers to do demolition and asbestos abatement work at the Avtex site in Front Royal.

Rep. Frank R. Wolf, R-10th, made the announcement.

"This is really a chance to do what the citizens of Warren County want to do," Wolf said.

A member of the House Appropriations Committee, Wolf said it was a tough sell to get the committee to agree to the funding for Avtex.

"This was very, very tough, "Wolf said. "Almost tougher now than when there was a deficit."

The Avtex funding is part of a bill for energy and water programs for fiscal 2001. The measure has to be approved by both the House and the Senate and then signed by the president.

Wolf said if all goes well, the spending should be approved by the end of September.

"It is a good first step," Wolf said of Tuesday’s vote. "It’s really an (obligation) to the citizens of Warren County to do the right thing." Wolf was referring to Avtex staying open longer than planned because the government said it needed the plant to continue to produce rayon as a matter of national security.

The county will be closer to redevelopment of the site due to this additional funding, Wolf said.

"I am pleased that funding this important project has been included in the energy and water appropriations bill," Wolf says in a press release.

"This community has worked hard to recover from the Avtex shutdown and provide new businesses with an opportunity to use cleaned-up parcels of this land. The cleanup is important for economic development and jobs, and to turn this hazardous site into productive use for the citizens of this region," he says in the release.

Warren County-Front Royal Economic Development Authority Executive Director Stephen A. Heavener agreed.

"This is the final link in the chain so that we can actually start to develop the project" developing a portion of the site into commercial space, he said. "This is very, very important."

The additional funding follows $6 million from last year that was allocated to the project, according to Wolf’s office.

"We told the feds we needed about $12 million to have all the demolition and asbestos abatement (finished) that isn’t covered by the Superfund," Heavener said.

Avtex was added to the federal Superfund list in 1986. The plant closed in 1989.

"It (additional funding) should be enough to do all the work we need to get to basically the bare land,"Heavener added.

Under one timetable, the Army Corps of Engineers was supposed to have completed demolition and abatement work by the fall so the EDA could begin to develop the site with possible occupancy in the spring.

"Things are (going) slower than I had hoped," Heavener said. "I am a little disappointed in the speed at which the Army Corps has worked."

"But," Heavener added, "now that we know that in the next fiscal year we have enough money to finish the project, money is no longer the issue, it’s getting the work done in the field.

"We have cleared a major hurdle by getting the funding lined up. Now we have to use the money to get that work done in an efficent and effective manner."