THE WARREN SENTINEL

Article date: October 25, 2001

 

Coalition claims questions still unanswered about Avtex impacts on health

By: Jay North   

The Coalition for the Safe Re-Development of Avtex is looking for answers to their questions about the safety of the people of Front Royal, and the preservation of the Shenandoah River.   Among the group’s concern are complaints from near-by residents about the sulfurous smell near the site, possible contamination of off site properties and ground water, and the location of pollution storage basins in the river’s 100 year flood plain.

Bonnie Gross from the Environmental Protection Agency , Rick Goss and Douglas Bement both of FMC Corporation— the company overseeing the clean-up, sat down to address the Coalition’s concerns.

The groundwater contamination and pollution plume created by the leaking viscose basins, are confined to an area west of the site, extending under the Shenandoah river and across into small portions of the Rivermont area.

Scott Dueweke, a stakeholder in the Multi Stakeholder’s Group of the Avtex superfund site and resident in the Rivermont area, says he is more than satisfied with FMC’s efforts in the clean-up.

 “I’ve never seen such a largely government funded project put together more thoughtfully.  They (FMC) paid to have all of our wells tested on Catlett Mountain, and they came up pure.  That’s proof enough for me,” said Dueweke.

Members of the Coalition expressed concerns over a health study from 1988 performed by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.  According to Goss, the agency was unable to find a link between the activities at Avtex and local health problems.  No other study was taken, Goss says another health study would have to come from the Agency, and not from FMC.  FMC contests the coalition’s claims of quantities of health problems being reported, saying that such problems were not reported to representatives during a door to door outreach in June.

The Coalition expressed concerns over air quality near the site and made a request for off site air monitors to be installed.  Bement said that air monitors on site show no evidence for the necessity of off site systems.

“If we can’t detect anything leaving the site, how can we detect it off site?  There is not a problem,” said Bement.

Bement says additional testing has been performed at adjacent pieces of property, including the former parking lot across Kendrick Lane from the site, and that tests showed no pollutants.

The Coalition’s other concerns focused around the location of storage bins withing the flood plain, as opposed to locating them further inland on the site.  The storage bins are currently being compiled to reduce their numbers, and set for a cap and cover procedure.

“The window of doing anything else with the sludge has closed,” said Bement.  “The capping process has already begun.”