Lodging of Consent Decree Pursuant to the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

Lodging of Consent Decree Pursuant to the Comprehensive

Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act

In accordance with Departmental policy, 28 CFR 50.7, notice is

hereby given that a proposed consent decree in United States v. FMC

Corporation, Civil Action No. 5:99-CV-0054, was lodged on July 9, 1999

with the United States District Court for the Western District of

Virginia. The United States filed this action pursuant to Sections 106

& 107 of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and

Liability Act (CERCLA), 42 U.S.C. 9606 & 9607 at the Avtex Fibers

Superfund Site in Front Royal, Virginia.

Before it closed in 1989, the Avtex plant in Front Royal was the

largest rayon manufacturing facility in the United States and is now

the largest Superfund site in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The plant

is a 440 acre facility that is located directly adjacent to the

Shenandoah River in the town of Front Royal. The site is contaminated

with a variety of hazardous substances including PCBs, arsenic, lead,

cadmium, chromium, zinc and carbon disulfide as the result of rayon

manufacturing operations conducted at the site over the course of 50

years. The consent decree requires FMC to pay $9.1 million for past and

interim responses costs incurred by EPA at the Avtex Site. In addition,

FMC has agreed to perform future response work at the site, with a

value of $62.7 million (in 1998 dollars) and pay for EPA's oversight of

the clean up. Finally, FMC has agreed to oversee and participate in the

removal of abandoned buildings and structures at the Avtex plant. This

additional future work is not covered under CERCLA but will enable the

property to be redeveloped or reused.

The Department of Justice will receive, for a period of 30 days

from the date of this publication, comments relating to the proposed

consent decree. Comments should be addressed to the Assistant Attorney

General for the Environmental and Natural Resources Division,

Department of Justice, Washington, DC 20530, and should refer to:

United States v. FMC Corporation, DOJ Ref. #90-11-3-372A.

The proposed consent decree may be examined at the Office of the

United States Attorney, Western District of Virginia, Office of the

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 3, 1650 Arch Street,

Philadelphia, Pa., and at the Consent Decree Library, 1120 G Street,

NW, 3rd

[[Page 40044]]

Floor, Washington, DC 20005, (202) 624-0892. A copy of the proposed

consent decree may be obtained in person or by mail from the Consent

Decree Library, 1120 G Street, NW, 3rd Floor, Washington, DC 2005. In

requesting a copy, please refer to the referenced case and enclose a

check in the amount of $37.50 (25 cents per page reproduction costs),

payable to the Consent Decree Library.

Joel Gross,

Chief, Environmental Enforcement Section Environment and Natural

Resources Division.

[FR Doc. 99-18810 Filed 7-22-99; 8:45 am]

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