The Northern Virginia Daily

Article date: March 06, 1996

 Senate approves Avtex reuse bill

By: Daily Staff Report

A bill that will ease efforts to reuse the Avtex Fibers plant in Front Royal and 24 other sites was passed Tuesday by the Senate and is on its way to Gov. George F. Allen to be signed into law.

The bill, requested by the local Avtex Redevelopment Corporation, removes liability from future users of Superfund sites for pollution that may be discovered later and they had nothing to do with creating.

"I'm very pleased," said Delegate Jay K. Katzen, R-Markham, who sponsored the bill. “This places Virginia among the very few states that have such legislation."

Efforts to redevelop the Avtex plant, which closed in 1989 after more than 2,000 violations of environmental laws, have been stymied by state and federal laws that make future users liable for past pollution cleanup costs.

"This offers a real opportunity now for people wanting to go into Avtex once it is remediated and all the other sites" in Virginia, Katzen said.

Similar legislation at the federal level is being considered for introduction by Reps. Frank R. Wolf, R-10th, and Thomas J. Bliley Jr., R-7th.