THE NORTHERN VIRGINIA DAILY

By Richard Nash

The U.S. House of Representatives has given its approval to a spending bill that included $7 million for the Army Corps of Engineers to complete its ongoing demolition and asbestos abatement project at the Avtex Fibers Superfund site in Front Royal.
Rep. Frank R. Wolf, R-10th, announced Wednesday that the House approved the Avtex funding Tuesday night as part of a larger energy and water programs spending bill for fiscal 2001.
The next step in the legislative process will be to carry the bill , which was approved last week in the House Appropriations Committee, to the House-Senate legislative conference, a recent news release says.
Pending approval in the conference, the bill will go to President Bill Clinton for his signature and final approval the release says.
Wolf, who is a member of the appropriations committee, said he is glad to see the Avtex funding “clear another legislative hurdle.”
Wolf and U.S. Sen. John W. Warner have secured more that $20 million in federal funds for the Avtex cleanup project since 1998, when a former owner of the now-defunct rayon manufacturing plant, FMC Corp., started working with local officials and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to redevelop the 500 -acre site as a green business park and recreation area.
Congress provided $6 million for the Avtex cleanup last year, including $1 million in the Veterans Affairs-Housing and Urban Development spending bill and $5 million Wolf and Warner secured in the Defense spending bill.
“I am pleased that funding for this important project has been included in the energy and water appropriations bill,” Wolf said. “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.”
Front Royal-Warren County Economic Development Authority Executive Director Stephen A. Heavener, who oversees the Avtex redevelopment project for the local government, said the $7 million included in the spending bill is essential to the success of the project.
Asbestos abatement and demolition of the old Avtex buildings must be completed before the EDA can begin the development stage of the project. Abatement and demolition will cost about $12 million, which is not covered under the $100 million federal Superfund grant that funds the Avtex remediation, he said.
“This (the $7 million ) is the final link in the chain so that we can actually start to develop the project,” he said. “This is very, very important.”
American Viscose Corp. Founded the Avtex Fibers rayon plant in 1940. At its height the plant employed more that 7,000 workers. The federal government added the plant, which changed ownership three times during its 50 year history, to its Superfund list of environmentally contaminated areas in 1986. In 1989, the plant closed its doors for the last time, putting more that 500 employees out of work.

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