The Northern Virginia Daily

Article date: February 16, 2008

 Soil testing may help fix Avtex fields

 Samples to be sent to Penn State Scientists

By Jessica Coleman

In an effort to produce healthy plant life at the former Avtex Fibers plant, soil samples from the site have been sent to Penn State University for analysis.

“We’ll analyze the dirt, figure out what’s wrong with it, fix it and then plant our grass seeds,” said John Torrence, site manager for FMC Corp., a former plant owner.  FMC is funding and leading the site cleanup of Avtex, which was declared a federal Superfund site in 1986. 

The goal is turn the land into a 240-acre conservancy park.

Grass, trees and other vegetation are growing well on some parts of the property but poorly in others, and FMC is not sure why, he said.

The solution may simply be adding more mushroom compost or lime to the soil, Torrence said, but the analysis will let them know for sure what  the green areas have that the more barren areas may not.

“The Penn State analysis has got to tell us something,” Torrence said.  “I’m pretty confident we’ll find an answer and we’ll modify the soils accordingly.”

The planting process first began at the Avtex site in the spring of 2002, Torrence said, and since then there have been patchy results with only certain areas sprouting well.

“We plant it and not all of it grows,” Torrence said.  “We’ve never planted it and had none of it grow, but some of it’s just not growing as well as it could.”

So soil samples from about 20 different areas will be collected and sent to the scientist at Penn State, who will analyze the soil for any deficiencies and provide advice on how to improve the quality of the soil so that new seeds can successfully be planted this summer.

When the results come back from the university, FMC and the EPA will consider them and decide what the nest step should be, Torrence said.