By LAWRENCE HAJNA
Courier-Post Staff

Don't expect any public meetings on a U.S. Army proposal to send the byproduct of a Cold War-era nerve agent to South Jersey - at least not until DuPont gets the disposal contract.

DuPont, which would treat the waste at its sprawling Chambers Works complex in Salem County, says it is not a foregone conclusion that it will get the contract.

Army officials, meanwhile, say it's much too early to consider holding public meetings.

"Until there is a contract with DuPont, we don't have the right to go into an area and talk about something that is still in the procurement process," Terry Arthur, an Army spokeswoman, said last week.

But environmentalists, who believe the Army and DuPont had hoped to slip the plan past the public to avert backlash, argue a hearing should be held before a contract is awarded.

"Once they get the contract, it's too late," said Jeff Tittel of the Sierra Club's New Jersey chapter.

The liquid VX nerve agent, one of the deadliest substances ever made, first would be rendered nonlethal at the Newport Chemical Depot in west central Indiana, where it has been stockpiled for decades.

The agent - one drop of which can cause paralysis and death within minutes - will be neutralized with hot water and sodium hydroxide to form hydrolysate, a caustic compound scientists liken to household drain cleaner.

DuPont submitted a proposal to treat 2 million to 4 million gallons of hydrolysate.

If the company receives the contract, it will remove chemicals in the hydrolysate and discharge the effluent into the Delaware River. DuPont officials say the effluent will be virtually pure water.

But South Jersey residents have reacted with anger, fear and suspicion since the Courier-Post reported the plan last week.

Some worry VX will slip through the process and get into the river, or that truck or rail shipments will become terrorist targets. They say they should at least have an opportunity to learn more technical details and express their concerns.

"This is so upsetting, to think anyone would agree to attempt to do something like this," said Kate Derderian, a retired account executive from Mount Laurel. "I just don't trust them."

An Army contractor has been searching the nation for someone to treat the waste byproduct from the neutralization of 1,200 tons of VX stockpiled since 1969 at the Newport Chemical Depot, about 30 miles north of Terre Haute, Ind.

DuPont runs the nation's largest industrial wastewater treatment plant at its Chambers Works site, which straddles Carneys Point and Pennsville.

DuPont says it's in the final stages of a "treatability" analysis to determine the effectiveness of its plant in handling the hydrolysate.

Preliminary results "look encouraging," DuPont spokesman Anthony Farina said. But, he added, "we will not accept any stream unless we are able to treat it safely, effectively and without any impact on our employees, people or the environment."

A final decision is about a month away, he said.

Concerned residents may obtain an environmental assessment of the proposal at the Pennsville Library, Farina said.

This "Finding of No Significant Impact" indicates the treatment process would have no significant adverse impacts on human health and the environment.

The public can submit comments on the plan through the FONSI document, Farina said. The company will take comments until this weekend - 30 days after a legal notice appeared in a local newspaper, he said.

The notice informed the public of a proposal to treat a chemical agent from Newport, but it did not mention VX or any nerve agent by name.

Public meetings could be scheduled if public interest is high enough, Farina said.

The company has kept an advisory panel of local officials informed about this proposal, as well as an ongoing treatment of neutralized mustard agent from the Aberdeen Chemical Agent Disposal Facility in Maryland, Farina added.

"The point is, there are opportunities for people to provide input," Farina said.

DuPont has always worked well with the community, Carneys Point Mayor Mack Lake said. He said he expects DuPont will present the plan to the public during a future township committee meeting - if it gets the contract. But, he added, his constituents have expressed no concerns to him.

"A lot of people who live here work for DuPont or have family and friends who work for DuPont," Lake said. "They're no stranger to us and they're an active part of the community. We're used to DuPont being there."

People outside the area "get the misconception that it is raw (nerve agent) being brought to DuPont," Lake said. "That is absolutely not true. What they're bringing into the facility is caustic water."

Still, U.S. Rep. Frank LoBiondo, whose district includes the communities around the Chambers Works facility, believes the public has legitimate questions, said his spokesman, Rob Geist.

LoBiondo, R-Vineland, believes DuPont should continue to reach out to the public and environmental groups but feels formal hearings now would be premature, Geist said.

"We're just in a bidding process," Geist said. "If the situation develops and ripens a little more . . . then you take a look at that."

The Army's primary contractor at the Newport depot, Parsons Infrastructure and Technology Group, has been acting on the Army's behalf in seeking companies to handle the hydrolysate.

This is the same company that was at the center of a political firestorm in New Jersey as the Whitman administration's choice in the late 1990s to run the state's automobile inspection program.

The program was plagued by long lines, equipment failures, breakdowns and staff shortages. The State Commission of Investigation ultimately found Parsons hired politically connected lobbyists to help win the contract, which it called a "mammoth boondoggle."

Arthur, the Army spokeswoman, would not disclose whether other companies have submitted proposals to Parsons. Parsons, through Arthur, also would not provide the information.

Arthur, however, said the Army will cooperate with DuPont if the company decides to hold public meetings. "The Army would work on anything they would need from us," she said.