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By MARY K. BLEWITT
Arundel Newspapers State Writer
FRONT ROYAL — The Environmental Protection Agency is the most recent public agency to come down on Avtex Fibers Front Royal Inc., ordering the company with the aging rayon plant here and its former owner, FMC Corp. of Chicago, to clean up ground water contamination near the plant.
Facing a string of state violations for water and air pollution, Avtex announced just two weeks ago the company’s plans to reduce the plant size by more than 50 percent. Avtex officials blamed the increasing costs of meeting with environmental standards and negative media coverage for the company’s decision to change the structure of the manufacturing plant.
The company learned last week that it must share the expense of a cleanup project that might cost more than $9 million. Avtex and FMC Corp. have until July 26 to inform the EPA if they plan to comply with the order or be subject to up to $25,000 a day in fines, according to Avtex spokesman Nick Nichols.
The order was issued after Avtex dragged its feet in negotiations for a voluntary cleanup agreement, according to Peter Ludzia, the EPA enforcement project manager.
“Avtex is fully committed to complying,” said Nichols. The Front Royal company is negotiating the cost of the project with FMC Corp.
Built in 1940, the Avtex facility’s clay-lined waste basins were de
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