December 16, 1993

Looks can be deceiving at the Avtex Fibers site in Front Royal, an Environmental Protection Agency spokeswoman said from her Philadelphia office this week.

"Just because you have not seen that many people on the (Avtex) site, there is still a lot going on," said Amy Barnett, EPA community relations coordinator for the Avtex Fibers site.

The EPA investigation at Avtex Fibers, at 1169 Kendrick Lane, began after carbon disulfide from the plant was discovered in groundwater at Rivermont Acres Estates, a subdivision across the Shenandoah River from the 440-acre Avtex site, in 1982. The Avtex plant, which primarily produced rayon, closed in late 1989.

The EPA Superfund cleanup at the site is expected to cost $11.5 million. Superfund is a federal program that cleans up sites that have been severely polluted, usually by hazardous chemicals.

As part of the on-site investigation that began in June, contractors for EPA and FMC Corp., a former owner of Avtex, have installed testing equipment including "anything from drill rigs, barges, and boats to first-aid kits and computers," Barnett said.

The equipment is being used to test wastewater at the site, drill new wells for monitoring groundwater under the site, and to sample chemicals there, among other things, she said.

Workers also repaired roadways at the site, including dropping gravel and fixing potholes, Barnett said.

There is also 24-hour security to discourage trespassers and look for fire hazards, she said.

A decontamination pad was also constructed to clean the equipment used in sampling at Avtex, she said. For instance, the contamination pad was used to clean barges used for testing sulfite ponds at the Site.

The EPA is also testing the health of fish in the nearby Shenandoah River, Barnett said.

There are now 15 contractors at the site, down from the 35 to 40 people at the height of sampling activities in the past several months, Barnett said.

The on-site work is part of the Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Study, a process of collecting data to determine the extent of site contamination; assess present and future risks to human health and the environment; and develop and evaluate potential site cleanup alternatives, according to an EPA press release.

EPA officials expect the on-site investigation to continue through May 1994, at which time the investigators will evaluate the data and determine whether additional field work is necessary to assess health and environmental risks, the press release said.

Information about the Avtex site is on display at Samuels Public Library in Front Royal. Interested people can request the administrative record file, a collection of site reports and other documents, from the reference librarian.