A fly ash basin selected as a proposed landfill to contain debris from sections of the Avtex Fibers plant scheduled for destruction may be in a flood plain, an Environmental Protection Agency official says.

The plant, which closed in 1989 after more than 2,000 violations of environmental laws, is a federal Superfund site.

Andrew Palestini, remedial projects manager for the EPA, also told the Front Royal Town Council on Monday that the agency isn't sure if it will have to seek approval from local and state governments to move forward with plans to dispose of debris on the site from the planned demolition of 30 acres of buildings at the plant.

He said the plan calls for debris from the destruction of the buildings to be placed in fly ash basin No. 6 after the ash has been removed and then covering the basin with a clay or plastic cap.

"Underneath the cap would be another layer to capture any leachate," he said.

Palestini said the basin is "appealing to us because it's further from the river and most of it is out of the flood plain."

But asked by Ed Ward, a member of the Friends of the Shenandoah River, whether EPA officials know for sure whether the basin is in the flood plain, Palestini said they don't.

"That's a real concern we need to address further," Palestini said. "We need to know for certain where the flood plain is."

He also was asked if further pollution would occur if the site were flooded.

"I can't say for certain. I don't know," Palestini said.

Councilman Walter M. Duncan said the river rose 51 feet in 1942, but he didn't know how far the waters penetrated the Avtex site.

Ward said the No. 6 basin "is the last place on site I think should be used for disposal. It's a beautiful marshland. A lot of wildlife lives there. The fly ash is not contaminating anything."

He said if the fly ash has to be moved, the agency should consider "moving the building debris where you're going to put the fly ash."

Palestini said the agency has "looked a little bit at other basins."

But when asked by Ward what studies had been made of other sites above the flood plain, Palestini said, "There haven't been any."

Planning Director Kimberley P. Fogle said it appears that all of the fly ash basins, which are between the railroad tracks and the river, are outside of the 100-year flood plain, but inside the 500-year flood plain.

Mayor Stanley W. Brooks Jr. asked Palestini whether the town government would have any real say in whether the debris disposal plan is adopted.

"What if the Town Council voted as a whole and said, "We just don’t want this?", Brooks said.

"It all depended on why," Palestini said. "If you have another alternative just as safe and just as cost-effective, but not if you say, ‘We just don’t want this.’"

The agency is considering the onsite disposal plan because it’s estimated to cost about $23 million, compared with $138 million if the debris is disposed of elsewhere.

Tom Modina, Superfund projects coordinator for the state Department of Environmental Quality, told Brooks that the town or state’s participation in the decision would depend on how the plan proceeds.

If the plan is conducted as an emergency remediation, "generally they seek concurrence with the state, but if they wanted to move forward on their own, they would move forward on their own," he said.

If some other party were paying for the project, the EPA also would seek the state and local government's opinion, but wouldn't be bound by it, he said.

Only if the project is funded by the EPA and the state refused to pay its 10 percent share of the cost would the project be blocked by state opposition, Modina said.

Palestini said the EPA is prepared to monitor the on-site debris landfill for 30 years.

Warren County Redevelopment Corporation Chairman Fred Foster said his group would object to that.

"We want to lock the EPA in not for 30 years, but forever. We want EPA to be monitoring this for the safety of this community," he said.

Palestini said no decisions on the project have been made. He said the agency will hold public meetings to allow residents and officials to comment on the plan before it moves forward.