OPINION

OTHER TAKES
Owen: Citizens' health and rights ignored in shipment and burning of nerve gas waste

Jane Dale Owen, PRESIDENT, CITIZENS LEAGUE FOR ENVIRONMENTAL ACTION NOW

Friday, September 07, 2007

Federal, state and local authorities are failing to do their jobs to protect public health as VX hydrolysate (VXH), a waste product of the deadly VX nerve gas, is being shipped across eight states to be incinerated in Port Arthur.

The first disappointment for those of us who hoped something could be done through federal court came in the August 3 ruling by Judge. Larry J. McKinney in Indiana. It is appalling to read the opinion released by the judge denying the motion to stop the shipments of VXH to Port Arthur. The report reveals that the judge agreed with experts on two very important and frightening facts and still authorized shipment of the VXH:

1) The neutralization process of VX nerve gas does not destroy all of the VX, some of the nerve gas remains in layers of organic matter. Pure VX nerve gas is in the shipments now traveling across eight states and being incinerated in Port Arthur, Texas.

2) The Army's method to demonstrate that no nerve gas was present in the VXH was inept and failed to prove the absence of nerve gas in the waste product as verified in testimony of the Army's own 3rd party expert and a forensic chemist's testimony at the hearing.

Judge McKinney agreed that these facts were true and then said the Army had convinced him that the shipment of VXH to Port Arthur should continue. It was disappointing to realize that a federal judge would not see fit to rule in favor of precaution for the sake of public health in this case. Also disappointing is the response from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) for permitting the shipment. And finally, Governor Rick Perry deferred his responsibility to protect public health to a state agency known for rubber stamping industry whether its operation emits hazardous substances or not. The governors of Ohio and New Jersey refused shipments of VXH.

To date, more than 350,000 gallons of VXH have been shipped and incinerated in Port Arthur. Has Veolia Environmental Services, the company receiving at least $49 million from the U.S. Army for incinerated VXH, offered to monitor emissions or conduct soil testing to make sure there is no nerve gas or other toxin being emitted in the process? Has any federal, state or local authority called for this testing? What does a community have to do to get the protection it deserves?

And one has to wonder why the VXH is being shipped to Port Arthur in the first place when the Indiana community supports safe, non-incineration disposal of the waste product through Supercritical Water Oxidation on site in Newport, Indiana, which also has been approved by Indiana state regulators.

The Precautionary Principle must be invoked in this case -- taking precautionary measures when scientists looking into possible worst case scenarios have found that: the nerve gas could re-form in tanks while in transport and endanger people living along the eight-state route, and; nerve gas could be emitted as the VXH is being incinerated. There is no monitoring equipment at the Veolia incinerator for detecting nerve gas emissions.

We also need to take a stand for the citizens of Port Arthur, who have endured more than their share of toxic dumping and hazardous emissions from petrochemical refineries and plants in their backyards. The U.S. Army's deal with Veolia to burn the nerve gas waste in Port Arthur was conducted in secrecy without opportunity for the public to be informed and respond.

Environmentalists are appealing Judge Larry J. McKinney's decision, but where are our elected officials and the governmental agencies whose job it is to protect us when we need them?

Owen, a Houstonian, is president of Citizens League for Environmental Action Now (CLEAN). She is granddaughter of Robert Lee Blaffer, co-founder of Humble Oil, and the only nonscientist member of the Federation of American Scientists.