The Northern Virginia Daily

Article date: August 28, 2004

EPA clears way for Avtex projects

By: William C. Flook

The Environmental Protection Agency has given the green light to the Warren County Economic Development Authority to develop 34 acres of uncontaminated land on the Avtex Superfund site.

The EPA, which reviews the cleanup work of FMC, the only non-defunct company to own the shuttered rayon plant, told the EDA on Aug 11 that it has no more interest in 21 acres west of the Avtex administration building or the 13 acres taken up by the building and its parking lot.

These lots are just a part of what is slated to become a 175-acre office park, a 240-acre conservancy park, and 30-acre soccer complex in the coming years.

The highly polluted site was declared an EPA Superfund site in 1986, requiring all companies who owned the rayon plant, past and present, to shoulder the burden of cleanup.  FMC took over the plant in 1963 from the American Viscose Co., and sold it to Avtex in 1976.

Avtex and American Viscose have both gone out of business, and FMC is charged with remediation of waste accumulated by all three companies, through it only owned the plant for 13 years.

John Torrence, a field engineer who works for a company contracted by FMC to conduct cleanup, said large portions of the approximately 440-acre site are safe, though still closed to the public.

He said an area known as “Operable Unit 7 ” and three viscose basins still pose cleaning challenges for FMC.

Though most of the buildings have been fully or partially demolished, the powerhouse complex, spray pond, and river water filter house still stand, and remain contaminated.

The Army Corps of Engineers , which is contributing to the cleanup and demolition of the few remaining buildings at the site, is in the process of asbestos abatement in the powerhouse complex.

“It’s a lot of scientific processes, but at the same time it’s a lot of simple labor,” said Torrence, adding that cleanup in the buildings is often as rudimentary as sweeping.

At the Warren County EDA board of directors meeting Friday morning, Torrence announced that FMC was in the process of removing asbestos tiles that had stalled progress on development of the soccerplex .

Future plans for FMC on the site have yet to be officially determined.

“We don’t have a timeline for next year’s work per se, because it revolves around working with the EPA to develop work plans to get the jobs done,” Torrence said.  “We’re working hard at getting this work completed as quickly as possible in the safest possible way.”