Rayon Plant Pollution

Additional information on Pollution

Of all the problems that the company experienced, pollution turned out to be the most troublesome. During World War Two when the United States government more or less ran the company, the goal was to produce with no thought of environmental concerns. In 1946, the Virginia State Water Board was established. In 1948, they sued and won a landmark case to force American Viscose to install a $150,000 waste water treatment plant to treat waste sulfuric acid and zinc compounds that were reaching the Shenandoah River, killing thousands of fish. But again in 1959, the Water Board found 500,000 dead fish in the Shenandoah, killed by pollution from the plant. This time it cost American Viscose $154,770:

31,500 large and small month Bass, 6 to 12 inches, at $1.50 each
3500 large and small mouth Bass, 13 inches and over, at $6 each
15,300 Sunfish, 3 to 6 inches, 4 cents each
17000 Sunfish, 7 to 8 inches, 10 cents each
265,000 Catfish, 6 to 25 inches, 28 cents each
30,000 Suckers and Carp, 6 to 24 inches, 15 cents each.

When FMC took over in 1963, it started a program to recover waste zinc from the sludge ponds which were located on 120 acres between the N&W tracks and the river. Another $3 million was spent for waste water treatment in the 1974 - 1975 period. Up to that time, American Viscose claimed to have spent $17 million on waste water treatment. After John Gregg took over in 1976 and renamed the plant AVTEX Fibers, the water board found extensive contaminated ground water. The Virginia State Department of Labor and Industry investigated complaints of lead poisoning, coal dust pollution, and toxic chemical vapors. But it took until 1982 to identify carbon disulfide in neighboring well water.

All these problems lead to the Environmental Protection Agency to declare the plant a Superfund candidate in 1986 This was a bad year for the plant, in April an AVTEX employee lost sight in one eye from a splash of caustic soda, a department head was killed in November when an acid evaporator vessel imploded, and again in November, a forklift operator was kill when struck by a bale of pulp and in December, a shift supervisor dies from inhaling carbon disulfide and hydrogen sulfide while inspecting an acid tank without protective equipment. During the early part of 1987, detailed inspection by several government agencies found 1921 violations of worker safety standards and 92 violations of worker health standards. In January of 1989, state safety inspectors again visited the plant and fined AVTEX $28,000 and started legal action with the Attorney General in March. By August, AVTEX had not satisfactory responded to the Attorney General and he threaten to take AVTEX to court, seeking a multimillion-dollar fine. Seeing no way out, AVTEX shut down in November, reopened for a few months for a NASA contact, and then closed for good.

References: Northern Virginia Daily, Warren Sentinel, Richmond Times-Dispatch, and the Baltimore Sunday Sun.

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