Posted on Fri, May 12, 2006

House backs delay in plan to dump nerve-agent waste off N.J.

Associated Press

WASHINGTON - The Army's plan to dump treated wastewater left over from the destruction of a deadly nerve agent into the Delaware River off South Jersey may be headed for another delay.

A bill passed yesterday by the U.S. House includes a provision that would require the Government Accountability Office to study the plan for the DuPont Co. to treat and dispose of the waste. The provision also would prevent the plan from starting earlier than February 2007.

The Army last year began neutralizing VX nerve agent - a single drop of which can kill a person - at western Indiana's Newport Chemical Depot. That project has destroyed nearly 20 percent of the stockpile of more than 250,000 gallons, producing caustic wastewater called hydrolysate.

A 1997 treaty requires the United States to destroy the chemical weapon by 2012. For years, the Army has been trying to win approval to ship the byproduct to DuPont's facility in Deepwater, Salem County, where it would be treated and discharged into the river.

New Jersey's congressional delegation won a delay last year by requiring the Army to submit a cost-benefit analysis. Now Democratic Rep. Robert Andrews and Republican Reps. James Saxton and Frank LoBiondo propose that the GAO review that Army report.

"I think anything of this level of importance requires an independent review," Andrews said in a conference call yesterday. "I want someone who has no vested interest in the outcome of this issue to look at it thoroughly."

Under the proposal, the GAO would have to finish its work by Dec. 1.