The Northern Virginia Daily

Article date: December 29, 2007

Work on track

Avtex looks to be done in field by the end of 2008

By: Jessica Coleman

Field work at the Avtex Superfund site may be completed by the end of 2008, said John Torrence, site manager and FMC Corp. representative.

FMC, the only firm among three owners of the site that is still in business, is working to get the Royal Phoenix area at the site ready for redevelopment by 2010.  Currently, 35- acres of the site has been labeled as ready.

There are four basic components of the redevelopment plan:  a 33-acre soccer complex that was completed in September, a 240-acre, low impact conservancy park between the Norfolk Southern Railroad tracks and the South Fork of the Shenandoah River, a 70- acre park on the west side of the river and a 160-acre commercial-industrial park.

As 2007 draws to a close, Torrence looked back on what the cleanup crews have accomplished on the site over the last 12 months and what it will take to get the work finished by the end of the next year. 

“The year 2007 was a very productive year for FMC and the EPA at the Avtex Fibers site,” he said.  “We accomplished a lot of our work activities.  Some of them are ongoing, so we got a lot of the work done, and we have a lot to continue into ’08.”

The major accomplishments of the year included removing 13,700 linear feet of sewer lines, 54 manholes and 6,000 tons of impacted soils.

“The name of the game this fall has been waste disposal.” Torrence said.

The wastewater treatment plant on the site was also spruced up with new activated carbon vessels and sand filters during the summer of 2007.

An improvement in air quality could be seen in the summer when a research associate at the Smithsonian Conservation and Research Center, M. Victoria McDonald, discovered 15 different species of butterflies on the site between May and August, according to Torrence.  Bird species spotted on the site have also increased this year, he said.

There are a number of tasks to be accomplished before FMC can send a closure report to the EPA for review, Torrence said he hopes to begin composing the document by mid-2009, when the EPA will look it over and request any further pertinent information it may need in order to approve it.  Torrence said he hopes this process will be completed by 2010, but the EPA will not commit to a timeline.

“For 2008 we have set some pretty hard- to- reach goals in front of us, but FMC and EPA are committed to getting this area ready for redevelopment as quickly as possible,” Torrence said.  “So that’s why we set our standard up so high.”

In 2008, FMC will remove even more sewer lines.  The company is currently putting together a bid that will be awarded in January to remove the sewers along the railroad.

The PCB impacted soil around the area that formerly housed the polymer plant will be addressed in 2008, along with other waste disposal.

Two carbon disulfide storage areas, which are impacted by flammable liquid, will be remediated next year, as well.

“We have to be very careful about how we go about removing it from the ground,” Torrence said.  “You can’t just send people in there because it may catch on fire.”

Work will also begin in April across the railroad tracks, where the 240-acre nature conservancy is planned.

Soil samples from areas that have been planted with grasses and trees that are not growing well will be sent to Pennsylvania State University in the winter and spring to be analyzed so that new seeds can successfully be planted this summer.

Torrence, who started on the Avtex site in October 1999 as a sample collection technician, said he feels gratified to see the project nearing completion.