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“We were seeing nothing that would have lead us to believe that PCB’s were migrating off the site,” said Urbiet. She added that the EPA is drafting a response to Baliles’s letter to Reilly.
Although the EPA inspections reported PCB mismanagement inside the plant, soil samples taken by the SWCB indicate the existence of PCB’s outside the plant. The highest level of PCB’s recorded on the Avtex site was 78.0 parts per million near the loadingpdock. The Food and Drug Administration Tolerance Level for fish is 2.0 ppm.
Only the sample from the loading platform suggests a significant pollutant level capable of contaminating the river, according to the SWCB’s soil study.
David Crump, the attorney for the Town of Front Royal who is the Democratic nominee for the 31st District seat in Virginia’s House of Delegates, said he notified the attorney general’s office of several persons who informed him of an Avtex policy of deliberate dumping of transformer oil. At least three or four people, one a former Avtex employee, notified Crump that they knew of intentional PCB dumping along the railroad tracks and in ground holes at the Avtex plant, he said.
Avtex officials had no comment on PCBs, according to Jeff Nelson, Avtex spokesman, but “are as anxious as everyone else in Front Royal to find out what the source of PCBs is.”
Attorney General Mary Sue Terry also requested that the Richmond Circuit Court consider ordering the company to cease operations at the Front Royal plant. Avtex currently faces a collection of fines for air and water pollution and worker safety violations.
A decision handed down in July in Richmond excused Avtex from a $2 million fine for releasing toxic acids into the Shenandoah on the condition that plant repairs be made. Avtex had told Circuit Court Judge T.J. Markow that the company was not financially able to pay the fine and if it were required to pay the fine immediately, the plant would have to shut down, leaving close to 700 employees out of work. As a result of the recent PCB findings, Attorney General Terry has asked the court to reconsider the July decision.
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