COMMERCIAL TWP. -- The second presentation by the U.S. Army and DuPont in this area, this time at the Commercial Township hall on Thursday, brought many of the same questions from a largely new audience. but the same reaction.
Not here.
Once again, Army Col. Jesse Barber and DuPont engineer Todd Owens explained that there would be no VX nerve gas in the effluent from DuPont's Chambers Works in Deepwater, which has an outfall in the Delaware River.
There wouldn't even be any VX in the material shipped there from Newport, Ind, which already would be neutralized.
It will be a liquid, similar in appearance to 30 weight motor oil, composed of 85 percent water and the rest organics and salts and not flammable.
The Environmental Protection Agency has signed off on the proposal and the Army and DuPont are waiting for a final report from the Centers for Disease Control before negotiating a contract.
Still, there were concerns about long-term effects.
Capt. George Kumor once again suggested an escrow account to pay fishermen for the loss of their business because people wouldn't want to eat seafood which came from the bay.
Another speaker wanted money set aside for future harmful effect on humans which might not show up for years.
Gene MacMurray asked why it could not be taken out to sea and dumped, an idea several people liked.
Owens said DuPont lacked the necessary permits and equipment to do that.
Owens had said the water coming from the outfall would be pure, but when asked if he would drink it, he said he would not drink salt water.
Asked if he would drink a cupful mixed with a drum of fresh water, he still said he wouldn't drink salt water.
Russell Stormes asked about heating it and dissipating it as steam.
Barber said that wouldn't evaporate off the salt.
Asked how much money DuPont would make from processing the material, Owens said there was no contract and no amount had been negotiated yet.
Jane Galetto asked what other types of chemicals the Army has that might come to DuPont, which previously processed deactivated mustard gas for the Army. That has been completed.
Barber said it is not permitted to move the chemicals from place to place and those still not destroyed would have to be neutralized where they are.
Galetto said it was her opinion that the Army would be putting citizens at less risk by not transporting the material here, instead of disposing of it at Newport.
Barber responded that his plant at Newport costs $350,000 a day, or $10 million a month, to operate and to build and operate a facility there to further process the material would cost the American taxpayer.
"The Delaware Bay is the second largest estuary on the East Coast and a tremendous resource we have worked hard to clean up, and DuPont has been part of that effort to clean it up" Galetto said. "I don't feel it's safe and I don't think many people in this room feel it's safe. You don't have to have your dog and pony show all around the Delaware Bay to convince us."
Galetto then read a long list of environmental groups that oppose the disposal of the effluent in Delaware Bay.
"They are all asking DEP not to let it come here," she said, drawing applause.
A number of residents of Downe Township attended the meeting, including township committeewomen Lisa Garrison and Christine Wilford.
All voiced opposition.
Barney Hollinger, chairman of the Delaware Bay Section of the Shell Fisheries Council, brought up one important point nobody else had mentioned -- the detrimental effect of placing more salts in the river.
"How much will it rise the salt load in the river," he said."Dermo (a parasite which kills oysters) is directly related to salt levels."
Not only Dermo, but MSX, another parasite and several predators are in greater concentration where salinity is higher.
"If you put salt in there and we have a dry summer, the salt line moves up the bay and kills oysters. You're going to cause a disaster in the bay," he warned.
