[Federal Register: July 23, 1999 (Volume 64, Number 141)]
[Notices]               
[Page 40043-40044]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr23jy99-133]                         

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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]
BILLING CODE 4410-15-M