DEP Announces Cleanup Activities Complete at Avtex Site
HARRISBURG (Oct. 9) -- Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Secretary James M. Seif today announced completion of the cleanup of the former Avtex Fibers site in Vernon Township, Crawford County.
"I visited the Avtex property at the outset of theRidge administration to announce a cleanup agreement. And I believed then, as I do now, that this site reflects Gov. Ridge's commitment to create a new environmental partnership in Pennsylvania," Seif said.
"Through standards established under Pennsylvania's Land Recycling Program, the entire 170-acre Avtex site can now return to productive use," Seif said. "This project is a symbol of how partnerships between government, business and community leaders can incorporate sound science to protect the environment and allow for economic growth. We hope this symbol inspires others to make voluntary cleanup commitments."
A portion of the site currently owned by Crawford County Properties Inc. is the location of the present Bainbridge Technology Center. Seventeen businesses are now operating at that complex.
"We are pleased that after many years of negotiation the new DEP cut through the red tape and made it possible to bring jobs to Crawford County," Governor's Action Team Director Steve Kohler said. "We need to keep using this approach."
Kohler was the executive director of the Crawford County Redevelopment Authority at the time the cleanup agreement was announced.
FMC Corporation of Philadelphia, a previous owner of the site, completed the cleanup under terms outlined in a February 1995 agreement with DEP.
While most of the cleanup was completed by October 1995, many areas of the site did not have acceptable ground cover. For that reason, several areas suffered from heavy erosion last winter.
In June, FMC made repairs that included placement of additional soil in washed out areas, construction of rock-lined drainage channels, and reseeding where necessary.
Groundwater monitoring wells are in operation around a closed fly ash landfill on the property. A lined cell was constructed on top of the landfill for the consolidation of hazardous wastes found on the property. The entire landfill was covered with soil and seeded, and slopes were regraded. Regular sampling will continue to ensure no contamination of groundwater.
The cleanup plan allows some areas of the site to be used only for industrial purposes.
"Pennsylvania's Land Recycling Program has three basic goals that were put into practice at this site -- putting industrial sites back into productive use to provide jobs for Pennsylvania, cleaning up sites to make them safe for their communities and workers, and protecting our open space from unnecessary development," Seif said.
Placed on the state Superfund list in 1990, the Avtex site was the location of a fiber manufacturing facility from 1929 through 1986, and was owned by a number of companies, including FMC Corp. and Hoechst-Celanese. The Crawford County Redevelopment Authority acquired a portion of the site from Avtex Fibers Inc. in 1988.
For more information on other land recycling projects in Crawford County visit the DEP website at http://www.dep.state.pa.us (choose County Environmental Notebooks/Land Recycling).
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