Warren County Report
August 5, 2011
FINALLY! - Avtex cleanup completedFed release for redevelopment expected in 2012By Roger
Bianchini
A crucial point
in a sometimes frustrating 22-year project to redevelop a key
portion of former commercial land in the Town of
The Front
Royal-Warren County Economic Development Authority (EDA)
announced on Aug. 3rd that FMC Corporation has
completed its clean-up initiative of a portion of the Avtex
Fibers Superfund Site.
That portion is the 160-acres comprising the former Plant
Area slated for development as a business and light industrial
park.
FMC will
prepare and deliver its final report for the old Plant Area to
the U.S. Environmental Agency by the end of this year.
“This is a
momentous day,” EDA Executive Director Jennifer McDonald said in
an Aug. 3rd press release.
“It has been 12 long years of assessment, community
stakeholders meetings, public , private partnerships, design,
demolition, removal, recycling, containment, testing, cleaning
and reporting. We
are almost at the finish line.”
At its previous
day’s meeting McDonald informed the Warren County Board of
Supervisors of the news, calling it “exciting”.
What’s the
excitement about we asked.- hadn’t
she been reporting on this same progress for two months?
Rather than
being close to it, FMC has actually completed the cleanup work,
setting in motion the necessary paperwork to the EPA that is
expected to release the property for long sought redevelopment
next year.
When FMC’s
final report has been delivered, EPA, which has direct oversight
of the process, will begin evaluating the work, and will
complete its assessment and deliver a ‘letter of no further
interest’ if the work described in the report is deemed
satisfactory, McDonald explained.
Once the EPA signs off- the timeline is estimated at
mid-2012- EDA will be able to throw marketing into high gear to
get the redevelopment process underway.
“It has been a
long road,” EDA Chair Patty Wines said.
“There were times when the community lost patience with
the process. But, we
are nearly done now, and we think this is a great accomplishment
for our citizens.”
What was done
The remediation
work at the Avtex Fibers Superfund Site involved decontamination
and demolition of buildings; sewer plugging and removal;
sulfate/fly ash basin closures; landfill improvement; viscose
basin closure; soil and groundwater remediation; and wastewater
treatment plant operations.
Since 2001,
numerous non-time critical removal actions have been completed.
The Army Corps of Engineers removed 65 acres of
manufacturing buildings.
FMC engineered the closure of 4 fly ash basins, 5 sulfate
basins and 11 viscose basins.
Eighteen thousand gallons of fuel oil were recycled;
25,000 tons of steel and thousands of tons of copper, brass and
bronze were recycled and 15,000 tons of recovered coal were
recycled.
FMC also
engineered on-site reuse of materials.
Approximately one million cubic yards of non hazardous
fly ash was used for basin attic fill and grading, hundreds of
thousands of tons of concrete and brick rubble were reused for
onsite drainage and fill; and excavated soils were reused for
basin cover soil.
Today, the
14,000 square foot administration building is home to the EDA
offices, Amerisist, the
History
The rayon
manufacturing plant was opened in 1940 as American Viscose, the
During its
lifetime the plant was a major pillar of the economic life of
this community.
The plant
operated under three owners, American Viscose (1940-63), FMC
(1963-76), and Avtex Fibers (1976-89) before being shut down by
the
After the
shutdown Avtex soon went bankrupt and the property came under
the initial control of bankruptcy Trustee Anthony Murray.
As the sole surviving owner, FMC eventually became a
federally-mandated cleanup partner.
Also in 1986
the 467-acre site was listed on the EPA Superfund Program’s
National Priorities List and identified as a site requiring
long-term remedial action under Superfund.
Momentum toward a cleanup process began in 1989.
Between 1999 and 2004, $23 million dollars in federal
intergovernmental funding was appropriated for abatement,
demolition and rehabilitation at the site.
As recounted in
our “Late February”
edition, former Town Councilman and downtown businessman Fred
Foster was instrumental in pushing for not just cleanup, but
remediation to bring the site back onto the town’s commercial
tax roll.
While Fred
didn’t live to see it, his vision seems ready to be realized
after a long, expensive and arduous journey.
Even with all the bumps in the road the project was often
lauded as a landmark effort of federal-state-and local
cooperation toward Superfund redevelopment.
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