Article date: November 20, 2000

Rick Goss

Decision Quest

By Ashley May

Crews hired by FMC Corp., former owner of the Avtex Superfund site, have hauled away more than 130 tons of debris as the first phase of the multimillion-dollar cleanup effort for the former viscose plant grounds draws to a close, according to Rick Goss of Decision Quest, hired to manage the effort for FMC.

"About 90 percent of phase one materials have been removed, and should be shipped off site by Christmas,"he said.

Goss said that so far, about 80,000 tons of construction and demolition debris have been removed from plant buildings, and underlying soils excavated since phase one remediation efforts began two years ago.

He said that according to Bill Cutler, who is overseeing the first phase of the cleanup effort for FMC, about 5 tons of hazardous waste, including residual sludge from plant operations and materials already sealed in drums by the Environmental Protection Agency, have also been removed, to an approved waste station in Model City, N.Y.

About 10,000 tons of steel have been recycled as well, Goss said.

Also in the first phase effort, 16 of the plant’s industrial transformers are to be "decommissioned" by a company called Safety-Kleen, in Twinsburg, Ohio, and 10 tons of steel have been hauled to another for recycling, he said.

At Avtex, 35,000 tons of brick, concrete and soil have been recycled on the plant side to fill building foundations and place temporary roads and equipment paths in fly ash basins, which will eventually be capped, Goss said.

Less that 10,000 tons must still be removed during phase one of the two phase cleanup effort, he said.

Phase one includes Superfund related demolition, and was begun two years ago by the EPA, than carried on by FMC. Phase two will consist on non-Superfund work done by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Goss said.

The Army Corps is now hiring contractors for phase two, and conducting surveys of asbestos on the 500-acre site, he said.

After FMC conducts some limited cleanup activities to begin phase two, the Army Corps will remove asbestos from remaining buildings and dispose of or recycle the materials as needed, he said.

Goss said the Cutler speculates that phase two will generate at least as much material as phase one.

FMC expects to spend $70 million to $75 million by the end of the process, which is scheduled to begin in the spring and will probably take two or three years, Goss said.

Avtex, a former rayon manufacturing facility, was first operated by the American Viscose Co. From 1940 to 1963, and then by FMC Corp. from 1963 to 1976. Avtex Fibers operated from 1976 to 1989, when the plant was shut down for financial, environmental and safety reasons.

More than 100 acres of waste impoundments or basins are located in the conservancy park plan area, where sulfate sludge, fly ash and viscose have leached into soil and ground water. The basins will be cleaned up and capped as part of the remediation process, and environmentally friendly vegetation will create open space in the reclaimed area.

Because of the pollution from plant operations, the Avtex site was designated a federal Superfund site by the EPA in 1986, and last year was named as one of the pilot sites in the EPA’s Superfund redevelopment initiative.