THE WARREN SENTINEL

 Article Date: July 31, 2003

Avtex project cited as model for nation

By:  Roger Bianchini

Front Royal and Warren County’s governments cited as part of a positive model for the nation regarding interagency cooperation?  In light of recent events some might think that was a joke.

But that was the description offered of the Avtex cleanup and redevelopment project during a briefing by 10^th District Congressional Representative Frank Wolf and other interested and involved parties.

The tour reflected the variety of agencies with a stake in the Avtex Superfund Cleanup and redevelopment project.

Accompanying Wolf on Monday’s tour were 18^th District State Del. Clifford L. “Clay” Athey Jr., Front Royal Mayor Robert L. Tennett Jr., 26^th District State Republican Senatorial Candidate Mark Obenshain, Republican candidate for Warren County Commonwealth’s Attorney Brian Madden and representatives of involved agencies including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, former owner FMC Corporation and the Front Royal-Warren County Economic Development Authority.

State Senatorial candidate Obenshain commented that he had heard a lot about the Avtex project but had never been to the site.  As a potential state representative, whose district would include the site, Obenshain said Wolf’s visit was an opportune moment to be brought up to speed on Avtex.

What Obenshain and the others present heard was Army Corps, Norfolk District Chief of Civil Works Jeff Irving describe the multi-tiered remediation and reclamation project as a model for the nation.

“The Colonel believes this project is the best one in the country,” Irving said of Army Corps District Chief Engineer Col. David Hansen, whom he represented Monday.

In an era when huge federal and state bureaucracies ability to function efficiently themselves is often questioned, the Avtex project has forced a merger of federal, state and local interests, and ultimately if things go according to plans, the private sector will eventually jump into the mix.

When Virginia Attorney General Mary Sue Terry shut Avtex down in 1989 for violations of state water control and pollution statutes it brought to an end a 46-year symbiotic relationship between private industry and the federal government.

American Viscose opened in 1940 as the extension of a British-based fiber manufacturing company.  The 467-acre site nestled safely in the Shenandoah Valley on the bank of a river necessary for its existence was selected because of its distance from embattled Europe and the American coastline.  The site offered security from potential attack by Britain, and soon America’s, enemies during World War II.

The plant is estimated to have produced from a third to half of the rubber used in and on Allied military vehicles during the war, as well as materials for parachutes and other war-related products.

FMC Corporation bought the plant in 1963 and sold it to Avtex Fibers in 1976.  As the lone surviving former owner, FMC is mandated to participate in the Superfund cleanup of the site.

As Avtex Fibers, what was at one time, the world’s largest manufacturer of rayon continued to contribute to federal projects into the 1980's.  Avtex became the lone source of some specific materials used in portions of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Space Shuttle Program.  As such it was partially funded by the Department of Defense, which had a vested interest in its continued operations despite increasing scrutiny from state agencies for its pollution of the Shenandoah River.

In 1989 the Virginia Attorney General said enough is enough and ordered the plant closed despite its contributions to America’s space and national defense programs.  Seemingly, the federal umbrella of protection over the plant had closed as alternate sources of needed materials were created or located.

Within a year of it’s closing, Avtex was cited as the nations largest environmental disaster federal “Superfund” site.  Fourteen years later after first languishing, then becoming the object of a local dream of economic redevelopment after the federally- mandated cleanup is achieved, things seem to be progressing full circle.

After listening to FMC Project Manager Doug Bement estimate two years for the release of marketable properties withing the 160- acres earmarked for commercial and light industrial development and two years beyond that for the release of the entire property, which is to include a 240-acre conservancy park, Frank Wolf was buoyed that his hard work in the financial trenches of Capitol Hill will bear fruit in the not to distant future.

“I think as [Mr. Irving] said, this is almost a model for the county,” Wolf said at the conclusion of his site tour.  “But it was tough, particularly now that we have a very tough budget situation, the Congressman added of securing the final $11 million necessary to reach the dream of redevelopment.

“But you couldn’t leave it here and the federal government had a responsibility and an obligation.  This facility was kept open for the federal government and what they were doing.   So, there was a moral obligation to finish it up.”