08:33 AM CDT on Monday, May 7, 2007
PORT ARTHUR, Texas -- For decades, Port Arthur residents have lived with the refineries and chemical plants that some blame for cancer, asthma, and liver and kidney disease.
But when a company won a $49 million contract to incinerate chemical waste from the destruction of the deadly nerve agent VX, Hilton Kelley and others said enough was enough.
"It's disgusting to know that all across America, when you mention Port Arthur, Texas, that it's considered the toxic dump site of North America," said Mr. Kelley, 46, a community activist. "It's not right, and I am not going to stand by and let anyone come and dump toxic waste in my community."
Mr. Kelley has been holding rallies and meetings to protest the incineration, drawing about 100 people to a recent meeting.
Jefferson County, where Port Arthur is located, has been ranked in the top 10 percent of America's dirtiest counties by the Environmental Defense Fund.
The battle began in April when Veolia Environmental Services of Lombard, Ill., announced a contract with the Army to incinerate 1.8 million gallons of VX hydrolysate over the next three years. New Jersey and Ohio fought off plans to incinerate the waste there.
VX hydrolysate is caustic wastewater created when VX is destroyed by mixing it with sodium hydroxide and water. The Army is destroying its entire supply of the Cold War-era nerve agent, which can kill with a single drop. The wastewater is shipped in 4,000-gallon containers across eight states and nearly 1,000 miles to the Veolia plant in Port Arthur.
"I know a lot of people have concerns, but we are not bringing in VX nerve agent. We're bringing in wastewater," said Daniel Duncan, Veolia's environmental, health and safety manager.
At the Veolia plant, the VX hydrolysate is unloaded with specially designed hoses, fed into a blending tank where it is mixed with other waste materials, then funneled into a 60-foot rotary kiln and incinerated at temperatures between 1,500 and 1,600 degrees. The ash will be buried in Carlyss, La.
The first shipments of wastewater arrived in Port Arthur about two weeks ago, and the first batch was incinerated on April 22. By the end of last week, the plant had received 23 shipments and burned 15,000 gallons, Mr. Duncan said.
Critics complain that Army and city officials did not announce the project until the deal was done.
"We didn't even get a warning that it was coming," Mr. Kelley said. "We're being used as guinea pigs because we are the area of least resistance. How are you going to go out and protest for clean air when you are just trying to get food for your family to eat?"
Mayor Oscar Ortiz said he saw no reason to warn anyone.
"Why create a big scare thing if there's nothing there to be afraid of? Why do something about a project that's safe and creating a lot of work?" Mr. Ortiz said.
Moya Green is convinced that her children's ailments, her own recently diagnosed asthma and the respiratory problems of two nieces, one a newborn, are connected to the emissions from the refineries and chemical plants.
"There is always a smell, always a spill. Pretty much every day, there is more smog, more fog than anything else," said Ms. Green, 35, who is in nursing school. "It has to be the refineries. This is not normal. This is crazy."
While the mayor said the refineries and chemical plants are probably to blame for some health problems, he defended the companies as "good corporate partners" that contribute 64 percent of the city's tax base.