WEST DEPTFORD

Opponents of a plan to ship wastewater from a Cold War nerve agent to South Jersey today again called on the Army to treat the material at its chemical weapons depot in Indiana.

Representatives from environmental groups, boaters groups and DuPont's workers' union rallied in opposition to the plan at the RiverWinds community complex, while activists met at the Indiana capitol building in Indianapolis to decry the plan.

They argued that the Army should avoid the risks of transporting the wastewater by truck to DuPont in Carneys Point, where it will receive final treatment and be discharged into the Delaware River.

They contend the Army should use a treatment process known as super-critical water oxidation at the Newport Chemical Weapons Depot in west-central Indiana.
"The time is to ... avoid all the unnecessary risks of transporting it and deal with in the most environmentally safe manner that xposes the less people to risks," said Tracy Carluccio of the Delaware Riverkeeper Network.

In a statement, Sara Morgan, a retired school teacher from Newport, said that residents of her area do not want the wastewater shipped across the country.

"I don't know about other places in the country, but in west-central Indiana we care about being good neighbors," she said. "In this case, our neighbors stretch all the way to New Jersey and we don't want this material dumped on them when it can be treated safely right here."

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this month is expected to release a supplemental report that could clear the way for the Army's VX nerve agent disposal plan.

The Army's Chemical Material Agency, responsible for destroying the nation's chemical weapons stockpile, maintains DuPont has a wastewater treatment plant, the Secure Environmental Treatment facility, that is capable of safely treating the waste, a corrosive material likened to household drain cleaner.

Construction and operation of a similar unit in Indiana would cost more than $300 million and delay destruction of the VX nerve agent by at least two years, CMA spokesman Jeff Lindblad added.