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were stopped by company officials who were said to be concerned about potential liability problems. The workers, according to the report, had volunteered for the duty ad were working without pay.
The rayon-making machinery, which was shut down in mid-process, will apparently be destroyed by the raw viscose material if it is not cleaned out within several days of the shutdown. When the material hardens, it will not be possible to clean it out of the machines, thus rendering all the equipment permanently unusable.
The plant, which has been owned by numerous companies since it started operations during World War II, has been plagued by complaints of air and water pollution for years.
But it was state and federal evidence that Avtex was responsible for PCB contamination of the Shenandoah River that led to state lawsuits seeking the shutdown the plant’s operations and which forced its eventual closure.
Charging that Avtex committed “gross violations of its contract,” the State Water Control Board revoked the company’s waste discharge permit early Wednesday, Nov. 10 for alleged continuing releases of the carcinogenic PCB-contaminated waste water into the Shenandoah River. Within hours of the announcement, the company was in court appealing the board’s decision.
“If the Water Board’s action is not reversed, Avtex’s waste water treatment facility will be forced to close, and untreated storm and waste water could, regretably, flow into the Shenandoah River,” Avtex spokesman Nick Nichols said prior to the appeal.
State officials refuted Nichols’ comments.
“I think he fails to recognize the authority that the EPA has in taking over a long-term clean-up project,” said Richard Burton, executive director of the water board.
After hearing arguments from both sides, Richmond Circuit Court Judge T.J. Markow rejected Avtex’s request to suspend the board’s action.
Sen. John W. Warner (R-Va) worked last fall with NASA and the Department of Defense to provide $5 million for Avtex to meet its environmental obligations. The bailout came after the rayon firm’s sudden closing left the federal government without sufficient carbonized rayon to continue the space shuttle program.
The company was also awarded a federal contract worth in excess of $40 million to continue producing the special rayon yarn.
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