Article date: August 04, 2000

Richard Kuhn, EPA community involvement coordinator

By Ben Orcutt

The U. S Environmental Protection Agency has scheduled a public meeting to discuss a remedial action plan for 34 acres within the Avtex Superfund Site, according to Richard Kuhn, an EPA community involvement coordinator.

The EPA will present a proposed remedial action plan for the 34 acres on Aug. 17 Kuhn said Thursday from his regional office in Philadelphia. Th plan includes enforcement of a conservation easement for industrial/commercial use only, and monitoring of the site, he said.

"It’s (the public meeting) a very formal process," Kuhn said. A stenographer will attend the meeting to record the proceedings as part of the public record, he said. "We have to receive that (public) comment and address it," Kuhn said.

In addition to Kuhn, those also scheduled to attend the meeting include EPA Remedial Project Manager Bonnie Gross; representatives from FMC Corp., a company paying a large portion of the Avtex cleanup costs; and representatives from contractors the EPA has hired to do some of the remedial work, he said.

The meeting will include a short presentation on the site investigation of a 24 acre tract to the west of the administration building on Kendrick Lane and a 10 acre parking lot across the street, Kuhn said.

The EPA collected 18 soil samples in 1995 to determine the levels of contamination related to the 34 acres, Kuhn said. According to an EPA report, the findings "indicated that the maximum levels of all the constituents are either below EPA’s criteria for industrial exposure, or within range of normal or local (backgrounds) levels established during the site investigation in 1993."

Due to the lack of contaminant concentrations in the soil samples, the EPA determined that ground water and deeper soil were not affected, the report says.

The report goes on to say that based on the results of a 1999 ecological risk assessment, the areas would not present a risk to humans, animals and the ecology.

The public meeting will "help people to understand the cleanup action," Kuhn said. "As an agency, we take public comments seriously. In the Avtex case, we go a step further."

"This is a pretty clear, clean-cut situation," Kuhn added of the remedial plan. "The levels of (contaminants) do not pose a risk to human health or the ecology--plants and animals."

We know that there isn’t anything contributing to the contaminants of that soil," Kuhn added.

This remedial action is estimated to cost $10,000, Kuhn said. Those costs will include enforcement of the easement for industrial/commercial use, long term monitoring, and EPA and state reviews, he said.

"If all goes well, we’ll have a decision document that is signed by the EPA in September," Kuhn said.

That will mean that the Front Royal-Warren County Economic Development Authority will be free to move forward with redevelopment of those 34 acres, Kuhn said.

"In partnering with the EDA and the community we heard that they wanted to use these areas," he added.

The EPA had determined that no additional cleanup effort needs to occur with regard to this acreage, or as the EPA refers to it, Operable Unit 8, Kunh said.

The Avtex site is one of the largest Superfund sites in Virginia and is composed of multiple operable units, Kuhn said.

"We’re going to be making cleanup decisions (regarding Avtex) probably for the next four to six years," Kuhn said. "It’s hard to predict how much longer we’re going to be working because we haven’t made decisions on a number of the (additional) units."

The Aug. 17 meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. in the Front Royal Town Council chambers at 16 N. Royal Ave.