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Support for VX detailed
By JEAN JONES
Representatives of Maurice River Township and the Haskin Shellfish Research Laboratory say they were not offered anything by DuPont for supporting its treatment and disposal of neutralized VX effluent into the Delaware River
It was the other way around, said Maurice River Township
Mayor Ron Riggins and Haskin Executive Director Dr. Eric
Powell.
Maurice River earlier this month rescinded its resolution opposing the discharge of the effluent and said it hoped to get financial support from DuPont for construction of a boardwalk from the observation platform at the wetlands restoration site in Heislerville to the waterfront at Thompson's Beach.
The lab has proposals four projects which DuPont might help financially, but Riggins and Powell both said no promises have been made.
"At no time did we have any discussions with DuPont," Riggins said. "We are hoping that we could form a partnership with DuPont to extend the boardwalk. It's nothing new. We've been talking about the possibility of doing that for years. It's in our blueprint for the future. We already have the right of way."
Riggins said the township committee adopted the resolution in opposition at the request of waterman George Kumor.
After Kumor said he researched the situation and decided the effluent posed no danger to the Delaware River and bay, he and waterman Scott Sheppard asked the committee to rescind the original resolution, which it did.
Powell said he did meet with DuPont representatives after he had read the report by the Centers for Disease Control.
"I still had some questions. We asked for a meeting and they came down to the lab and met with me, Dr. (John) Kraeuter and Dr. (David) Bushek. We talked at great length. I already had said that I didn't believe the material would affect the oyster beds. It would be substantially diluted by the time it reached that part of the bay," he said.
He said he realized what the perception might be if he asked for, and received, financial support from DuPont.
"I was prepared to take that heat," he said. "The worst thing would be if I failed to pursue any proposal in the avenue of funding to help support revitalization of the Delaware Bay oyster beds. I would not be doing my job. The bay is in a critical situation.
"We already have solicited support from other sources, like the DRBA and the Corps of Engineers. We have an obligation to provide matching money 35 percent for the funds we get from the federal government," Powell said.
Of the four proposals for assistance, two are most important, he said.
They are a survey of the remaining one-third of the oyster seed beds to determine if abundance has been underestimated in previous years and a proposal for assessing the growth rate of oysters once they are transplanted to the lower seed beds, where they grow faster.
Powell said surveys already done have resulted in a 25 percent increase in the allocation for harvest.
"I'm willing to bet we could increase the allocations from the remaining beds, too," he said.
As for determining growth rate, the current program calls for not removing more marketable oysters from the beds than can be replaced by routine growth in the next year.
"Right now, we don't have sufficient information to change the way we're doing it now," he said.
The other proposals involved funds to determine the volume of shell planting needed to sustain the oyster beds and monitoring of bacteria in the bay.
Both Riggins and Powell emphasized that no promises have been made by DuPont and they were simply trying to tap a previously ignored source of possible financial support.
Efforts to reach DuPont officials for comment this week were unsuccessful.