Congressman says officials should have been notified
By LAWRENCE HAJNA
Courier-Post Staff
U.S. Rep. Rob Andrews on Thursday requested an Army investigation into DuPont's test discharge of the waste by-product from the destruction of VX nerve agent into the Delaware River, which the company disclosed last week.
Andrews, a Democrat from Haddon Heights, said he sent a letter to Lt. Gen. Paul T. Mikolashek, the Army's inspector general, seeking an investigation into the treatment and discharge of 25 liters of the caustic wastewater as part of a DuPont study to determine if it could treat much larger volumes of the material from a military chemical weapons stockpile in Indiana.
Andrews says he wants the inspector general to determine whether the Army knew about the planned test but failed to inform the public and elected officials, or if DuPont conducted the test autonomously.
"I am disturbed that the congressional delegations and governors (in New Jersey and Delaware) found out about this through the media, not from DuPont and the Army," Andrews said in a telephone conference from Washington, D.C.
Andrews says that the Army and DuPont have repeatedly violated federal law requiring public disclosure of chemical waste destruction plans, and he reiterated a call for disclosure of financial terms of a proposed contract with DuPont.
DuPont has proposed treating up to 4 million gallons of caustic wastewater known as hydrolysate, the result of the Army's destruction of 1,269 tons of VX nerve agent stockpiled at the Army's Newport Chemical Depot in west-central Indiana. The plan is on hold, pending reviews by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Environmental Protection Agency.
Jeffrey Lindblad, spokesman for the Chemical Materials Agency, which is responsible for destruction of the nation's chemical weapons stockpile, had not seen the request but said the agency would cooperate if an investigation is launched. He said his agency knew of the test and supplied the material. However, Lindblad did not know which disclosure laws Andrews was referring to, adding, "We know the material was handled properly and safely under existing federal and state regulations that govern the permits DuPont has."
DuPont officials on Thursday continued to assert that the test was
properly conducted under permits from the New Jersey Department of Environmental
Protection.
The company released a statement identical to one it issued last week that asserts it routinely tests small samples of waste streams before accepting wastes at its Secure Environmental Treatment wastewater treatment plant.
DuPont last week said it treated 25 liters of the hydrolysate in a lab then discharged it into the river along with millions of gallons of other treated wastewater at the SET plant in Carneys Point, Salem County, next to its Chambers Works chemical plant. The test was part of a study released in early March that determined DuPont could safely transport and handle the material.
In a letter sent Thursday to state Sen. Stephen M. Sweeney, D-West Deptford, DEP Commissioner Bradley M. Campbell said 13.75 liters actually went through the simulated treatment process. He said he did not believe the "discharge posed a threat to public health or the environment," but added he was disappointed that DuPont did not first inform the DEP "in light of the great public concern over every aspect" of the proposal.
Campbell added that DuPont would need major modifications to its pollution discharge permits because the facility would "do little" to treat two chemical constituents of the hydrolysate.
Andrews, meanwhile, expressed dismay at what he characterized as a pattern on the part of the Army and DuPont in withholding information about the plan. He said the public would not have even known about the plan if it had not been reported in the newspaper.
Andrews also argued that DuPont misled the public by asserting the CDC reviewed the full plan and agreed it was safe. The test discharge "reaffirms my suspicions of the reckless and haphazard way this has been handled," he said.
Reach Lawrence Hajna at (856) 486-2466 or lhajna@courierpostonline.com