The Environmental Protection Agency has spent more than $17 million on the cleanup of the Avtex Fibers Superfund site since November 1989, when the plant closed, agency officials said Tuesday.

Andrew Palestini, remedial project manager, told the Industrial Redevelopment Committee that the EPA spent $10.6 million on the emergency actions to stabilize the site and take care of immediate threats to the environment and has spent $6.7 million so far on long-term efforts.

The emergency actions consisted of removing tons of carbon disulfide, a volatile compound used in the manufacture of rayon, removing several tons of dirt contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCB’s, and the demolition of acid reclaim facility.

Palestini said he cannot provide a breakdown of the costs, but much of it was for the transportation and disposal of the different materials. The tainted dirt had to be shipped in lined and covered railroad cars to Utah, where it was buried in an approved landfill.

It’s difficult, if not impossible, to estimate how much the entire cleanup will cost, he said.

The next step of the cleanup process is almost complete.

The long-awaited work plan for the remedial study of the site’s contamination and the most feasible way to clean it up, should be completed in about a month, Palestini said.

The first phase of the remedial investigation and feasibility study cost about $5.5 million, he said.

Palestini said the agency will negotiate with the FMC Corp., a former owner of the site, to perform part of the cleanup.

No decisions have been made or documents signed, but there has been talk that FMC may do the study on the system of basins and waste lagoons along the Shenandoah River, soil sampling and the ground water, while the agency may do the study on the river ecology, the buildings and the plants storm sewer system.

The whole study will take about 1 ½ years to complete and the data reporting and paperwork will take an additional six months, he said.

The EPA has agreed to the idea of "mini" remedial investigations and feasibility studies of certain areas with potential reuse value as suggested by a redevelopment study of Mazza Engineering Associates of Pennsylvania, which was hired by FMC, he said.

That could allow economically useful sites identified as needing little or no cleanup to be released from the Superfund list earlier than expected, Palestini said.

The areas covered under the Superfund Act, a source of confusion since the site was listed, and, officials say, an increasingly important question, given the drive for redevelopment, will be outlined in the work plan, said Kathy Hodgkiss. General remedial branch chief of Superfund for the region.

"We may be pushing you to release properties you’re not even holding," said William Barnett, the committee’s vice chairman.

Brian Shull, director of the Front Royal-Warren County Industrial Development authority, also briefed the group on the rules for becoming a state enterprise zone.

The program offers a number of tax incentives and other programs for redevelopment of economically blighted areas, he said.

State law allows for 19 zones, and the 19^th is now being formed in Richmond. The law should have to be changed by the legislature for Avtex to be included.

Two members of the group will meet with Delegate Raymond R. "Andy" Guest Jr., R-Warren County, to discuss legislation to increase the number allowed.