Friday, May 12, 2006

WASHINGTON -- New Jersey lawmakers are moving to block the U.S. Army's plan to neutralize a stockpile of VX nerve agent in Indiana, ship the remaining solvent to South Jersey and dispose of the wastewater the Delaware River.

U.S. Reps. Robert Andrews, Frank LoBiondo and Jim Saxton have sponsored language in a defense policy bill calling for the General Accounting Office study the economic benefits and feasibility of the Army's VX disposal plan.

House lawmakers on Thursday passed the defense authorization, including the provision requiring a study of the VX disposal plan, 396-31.

The Army's Chemical Materials Agency gave a green light to the Delaware River approach last month. The Army's cost-benefit analysis found that the South Jersey strategy would save up to $347 million, and reduce delays by 57 months, when compared with alternatives.

One more hurdle still remains. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has not yet weighed in with its own findings about the VX plans impact on human health.

Stephanie Creel, a CDC spokeswoman, said Thursday that the CDC analysis had been peer-reviewed. It was undergoing revisions before it could be released.

The Army hopes to dispose of up to 4 million gallons of hydrolysate -- a caustic wastewater -- that will be developed through the neutralization of the Army's stockpile of VX nerve agent, a forbidden chemical weapon, into the Delaware via the Dupont Chambers Works facility in Salem County.

In its military form, VX is highly lethal. But hyrdolysate is far safer and is only mildly corrosive, according to the Army.

Rather than wait for the CDC report, Andrews, D-1st Dist., wants the General Accounting Office to launch its own investigation. The congressman hopes GAO will come back with a study that questions the economic benefits of the South Jersey disposal plan and effectively halts the Army once and forever.