Wastewater plan dumped; DuPont won't handle VX byproduct

DOVER - Expecting a contentious regulatory process, DuPont Co. said Friday that it will not participate in the Army's plan to dispose of millions of gallons of wastewater from the destruction of a deadly nerve agent.

DuPont has been working with Army officials since 2003 on a plan to ship the byproduct of neutralized VX nerve agent from a chemical weapons depot in Indiana to Deepwater, N.J., where it would have been treated at DuPont's Chamber Works facility and dumped into the Delaware River.

Environmentalists and officials in Delaware and New Jersey fought the plan. A coalition of environmental and other watchdog groups in four states filed a federal lawsuit last month to block it.

While the Environmental Protection Agency and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention signed off on the idea, regulatory approval by New Jersey officials was uncertain, said Nick Fanandakis, DuPont's vice president and general manager for chemical solutions.

To dispose of the caustic wastewater, known as hydrolysate, DuPont would have needed a permit modification from New Jersey.

"It was pretty evident that the process I was about to undertake would have been a very lengthy one and a difficult one as well," Fanandakis said.

"We've got a long-standing relationship in the state of New Jersey. It's an important state to DuPont," he added.

New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine called the decision "a decisive victory for the people of New Jersey."

"VX nerve agent is one of the world's most deadly chemical compounds and dumping it in a river never made any sense," he said in a statement.

"Having worked on this issue since 2004 as both a senator and a governor, I'm pleased that the matter has come to a conclusion and that common sense has prevailed," he said.

Terry Arthur, spokeswoman for the Newport Chemical Depot in Indiana, referred calls to the Army Chemical Materials Agency at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md. Agency spokesman Mickey Morales said his agency respects DuPont's decision.

"While disappointed in the decision, CMA thanks DuPont for its insightful partnership and cooperation in addressing the secondary treatment of the wastes produced in this effort to rid our nation of the threat associated with continued storage of these obsolete chemicals weapons," Morales said in a statement. "The Army will return to reviewing all options available to address this ongoing issue. All options, including on- and offsite treatment, will be explored."

Sara Morgan, a retired teacher who lives three miles from the Newport stockpile, said the Army never adequately addressed the risks of shipping the hydrolysate out of Indiana for disposal. Activists have urged the Army for years to treat the waste at the site.

"I'm not convinced that the Army will back down on the shipping, but I think it would be hard for another company, seeing what DuPont had gone through, to pick it up and be willing to do that," Morgan said. "Hopefully, this means they'll do it onsite."

U.S. Rep. Frank LoBiondo, R-N.J., said the Army likely will have to dispose of the VX onsite in Indiana.

Led by the southern New Jersey delegation, Congress in 2005 required the Army to submit a cost-benefit analysis of the plan, then directed the Government Accountability Office last year to review the Army report.

U.S. Rep. Robert Andrews, D-N.J., said he had not seen the GAO review, which is to be released Jan. 26, but that it would confirm that the project did not make sense.

Fanandakis, the DuPont executive, suggested otherwise. "All preliminary indications we had on that were validating the Army's position that they had done the appropriate work," he said. "I didn't anticipate anything negative on that."

DuPont spokesman Anthony Farina said the company's involvement in the VX plan was motivated not by profit, but by a desire to help the Army dispose of outdated chemical weapons.

Farina said military officials approached DuPont after the Sept. 11 attacks about helping dispose of mustard agent stored at Aberdeen. The Army later sought DuPont's help with VX, he said.

While DuPont successfully disposed of 7 million gallons of mustard agent hydrolysate at Chambers Works, Farina said the company's relationship with New Jersey officials outweighed any economic benefit DuPont might have gained from disposing of the VX wastewater.

While DuPont never signed a contract with the Army regarding the VX project, company officials said the economic return would have been negligible.

"This is not something that would have moved the needle in the DuPont company," Fanandakis said.

DuPont shares were down 62 cents, or 1.3 percent, to $48.08 in afternoon trading Friday on the New York Stock Exchange.