The Northern Virginia Daily

Article date: August 06, 2007

 Avtex site manager describes goals

Updated map shows cleanup efforts

By: Jessica Coleman

The Front Royal-Warren County Economic Development Authority got a look at a map updating progress on the cleanup of the former Avtex plant during its meeting last week.

John Torrence, site manager and representative of FMC Corp., brought a draft of the map to the July 27 meeting, showing the areas that have been deemed clean and those that are still being worked on.

FMC, the only firm among three owners of the site that is still in business, is working hard to get the Royal Phoenix area at the Superfund site ready for development by 2010.  The company is currently removing old sewer lines and sending soil samples to be tested before asking the Environmental Protection Agency to declare that they have no further interest in these areas.  Once the EPA classifies these areas as adequately mitigated, construction can begin in the portion of the site that will be occupied by commercial institutions.

On the draft map, the areas in white are clean and the green areas have not yet been so classified. Currently, there is quite a bit more green than white.  Torrence estimated that about 20 percent of the 165-acre site is included in the white area.

“While it looks like we have just scratched the surface… it just needs to go through a formal review process to make sure that data is accurate, the lab didn’t make a mistake and the EPA feels comfortable that they may say this grid, for example, is ready, if indeed it is,” he said at the meeting.

The map is “misleading to some degree,” Torrence said, because he expects a sizable amount of the green areas to become white very soon.  He was reluctant to give an estimated date for these changes because he was unsure of the EPA’s timeline.  However, he said during the meeting that nearly all of the Royal Phoenix areas has been tested.

The grid on the map separates the site into 100-foot by 100-foot squares.  In order for these areas to be deemed of no further interest to the EPA, soil samples must first be validated by a third-party company.  FMC collects the samples and does its own preliminary testing before sending the soil to a lab to be checked.

“It gives us a level of comfort that we have adequately cleaned these areas,” Torrence said.

When the results come back, they are sent to the EPA.

The majority of the green area has already been tested, Torrence said, and FMC is waiting on the results.  The map is currently not final or approved.

As of right now, FMC is focusing on preparing the 35 acres that will be dedicated to the Royal phoenix business park.

“That has been our drive since 2005,”Torrence said.  “We won’t stop until it’s clean.”

He said FMC has said it will be finished with this area by 2010, but Torrence hopes and believes the job may be done before that date.  He said FMC created a time cushion because it did now want to “put any false expectations out there.”

Right now FMC is working on removing sewer lines that may or may not be contaminated from the ground.

First, workers identify the type of material that was transported through the individual sewer lines.  Some transported storm water, others moved bathroom waste and still others carried chemicals.

“There’s different degrees of danger,” Torrence said.

The pipes that transported chemicals are usually more contaminated than those that moved storm water, but all sewers are carefully tested, he added.

Once the sewer has been identified, a work plan is created.  Then tests are run on the soil, including material beneath and adjacent to the pipes.

The majority of these tests have come back clean, Torrence said.  A few were sent off site for disposal.

FMC has tested more than 200 soil samples solely associated with the sewers since Feb. 26.  Torrence estimated that about 25 to 30 samples have been sent to the lab for testing.

Torrence said that he hopes to have the EPA’s  record of decision, for the Royal Phoenix property by the end of the year.  At that point, plans for the redevelopment can be made.