Port Arthur residents protest burning nerve gas waste agent

Associated Press - August 23, 2007 8:24 PM ET

Corrected Version

AUSTIN (AP) - Some environmental activists and lawmakers today urged Texas Governor Rick Perry to block shipments of waste from the deadly nerve agent VX -- from Indiana to Port Arthur, Texas.

The chemical product is being transferred for incineration.

Perry spokeswoman Katherine Cesinger says the office has no plans to intervene, but expects the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to monitor the shipments.

She says Perry has been assured by the TCEQ that the waste incineration is not endangering public health or the environment.

A federal judge in Indiana recently refused to halt the shipments, which started in April.

A letter signed by 28 legislators urges Perry to help stop the $49 million, 3-year waste disposal contract between the Army and Veolia (vee-OH'-lee-uh) Environmental Services.

Jefferson County is home to 1 of the country's biggest chemical-industrial complexes.