Report: DuPont
plant already dumps toxins in the Delaware
The Associated Press
April 15, 2004, 6:24 PM EDT
DEEPWATER, N.J. -- A U.S. Army plan to treat caustic wastewater
left from the planned destruction of a deadly nerve agent at DuPont's wastewater
plant has sparked vigorous opposition from government officials and residents
of New Jersey and Delaware.
But the Chambers Works wastewater plant, at the foot of the Delaware Memorial
Bridge on the Delaware River in Gloucester County, already is one of the country's
top sources of toxic water discharges, Environmental Protection Agency records
show.
Since 1989, the facility has discharged up to 3.8 million pounds of toxic
pollutants each year, according to EPA reports examined by The News Journal
of Wilmington, Del.
Substances in those releases range from chemicals that can cause cancer and
developmental and reproductive disorders _ in people, animals and fish _
to nitrate compounds that cloud water and reduce oxygen levels.
Public Interest Research Group ranked Chambers Works as the Delaware River's
No. 1 source of toxic metals and toxins affecting reproduction in 1997. Then
the facility was the 14th-largest source of toxic water releases in the country.
Chambers Works moved up to No. 11 on the national list the following year.
"I think that a big red flag is flying above DuPont Chambers Works right
now," Maya van Rossum, director of the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, an environmental
group, told The News Journal for Thursday's editions. "Frankly, it's begging
for an investigation into what they are currently discharging into the river,
and what they propose to discharge into the river."
Several environmental organizations say they are worried about the Army's
plan because holes in the federal Clean Water Act already allow some wastewater
plants to function as "pollution sinks," pouring out toxic, sometimes little-known
chemicals that may be overlooked or escape public review. They say many potentially
dangerous pollutants never appear on routine public reports for Chambers Works
or other wastewater operations.
The Army wants to have DuPont use its patented system, which uses carbon
and microbes to scrub wastewater, to treat as many as 4 million gallons of
waste left from neutralizing about 1,269 tons of VX. A single drop of the
Cold War-era nerve agent, which is now stored at a depot north of Terre Haute,
Ind., can cause paralysis and death within minutes.
This summer, the VX at the Newport Chemical Depot is to be mixed with hot
water and sodium hydroxide, leaving a byproduct called hydrolysate. Scientists
compare it to liquid drain cleaner.
DuPont's Secure Environmental Treatment facility in Deepwater then would
break down chemicals in the hydrolysate and dump waste containing some chemical
byproducts into the Delaware River.
Last week, the governors of New Jersey and Delaware asked the Army to reconsider
the plan, saying the treatment would simply dilute compounds and discharge
them without knowing their effect on the river.
"Dilution does not equal removal," Kevin C. Donnelly, Delaware's director
of water resources, told the newspaper.
Delaware regulators also are worried by a DuPont proposal to seek federal
approval to treat a wider range of new industrial pollutants, including chemical
weapons disposal waste.
"It's a very significant issue for Delaware and New Jersey, and it's something
we need to catch up on," Donnelly said. "Millions of gallons a day get handled
and treated, and I think all of us are interested in taking a closer look."
Chambers Works already processes industrial wastewater generated in New Jersey,
federal records show.
"We've been doing this for 25 years. Industries and companies send us their
wastewater from all over North America," said Todd Owens, a DuPont chemical
engineer at the plant. "It's always been known that we're fairly unique in
terms of our technology."