The Warren Sentinel

October 1, 2009

EPA introduces five cleanup options for proposed solar farm site

By Angelle Barbazon

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is working from the ground up to choose a cleanup plan for the pollution at the proposed solar farm site.

The EPA held a public hearing Sept. 22 to discuss five cleanup options and address residents concerns about health risks and groundwater safety.

The location is the old Avtex Fibers Site near the South Fork of the Shenandoah River and Kendrick Lane.  Avtex is a former rayon manufacturing plant that closed in 1989 because of pollution found in the groundwater.

EPA toxicologist Dawn Ioven found 22 chemicals in the groundwater at the site, which include potential cancerous and non-cancerous risks.  She said the risks are theoretical because no one is currently drinking the water at the site.

“If we were to walk away and do nothing at this site, and it is possible down the line that groundwater would flow off site or the site would become developed, then the risk becomes real,” she said.

EPA community information coordinator Larry Johnson assured nearby residents that their drinking water is safe.  Residential areas are located east, south and north of the property.

“What we have determined as far as the feasibility study and the remedial investigation is that we know where the contamination is.  We also know where it isn’t,” he said.  “And where it isn't is in drinking water wells.”

If carcinogens were found in residential wells, EPA hydrogeologist Bruce Rundell said the EPA would install treatment systems or provide alternative water sources depending on the well’s conditions.

Larry Scislowicz, who has lived on Oak Ridge Drive for eight years, attended the public hearing to find the answers to questions he had about groundwater safety in the area.

“For the most part, I am pretty happy with what they’re doing as far as cleanup goes because there’s only so much you can do once the groundwater is contaminated,” he said.  “It seems like they’re doing the best they can with the technology that’s available.”

The EPA has proposed five cleanup options for the site that range from doing nothing to spending up to $143.9 million to remove the toxic materials.

The EPA’s preferred option, known as Alternative C, involves capping the polluted basins, groundwater extraction and treatment and leachate removal and treatment.  Leachate is a liquid that drains from waste in a landfill.  Alternative C is estimated to cost between $30 million and 31.4 million.

Remedial project manager Kate Lose said the EPA is analyzing each alternative against a set of criteria.

 “Number one, is the remedy protective?  And number two, does it comply with regulations?  If it does not pass that screening it is not an eligible candidate as an alternative to cleanup,” she said.

The other criteria included long-term and short-term effectiveness, reduction of toxicity, state and community acceptance, cost and how easy the plan is to implement.

 Scislowicz said Alternative C seems like the best cleanup option.

“I think the other [cleanup alternatives] aren’t very cost effective,” he said.  “You have to look at the reality of it for funding, and with the way things are right now, it’s not really popular to have expensive projects.  So, I think what they’re doing is reasonable.

Lose said it is difficult to determine who will pay for which portions of the site cleanup, but she thinks  chemical manufacturer FMC Corporation will play a role.  FMC owned the property from 1963 to 1976.

“We have an agreement with FMC to implement a remedy, but there was a cost limit on it that I am pretty confident that FMC wants to move on to clean up the site,” she said.

Lose said there will be no cost to Warren County or the Town of Front Royal for the property’s cleanup.

Johnson said the EPA’s involvement doesn’t end with the implementation and operation of the cleanup project.