Feds endorse VX plan again

Friday, July 28, 2006

By LAWRENCE HAJNA

Courier-Post Staff

Federal health officials on Thursday released a report that concludes the Army's controversial plan to discharge wastewater from the destruction of a deadly nerve agent into the Delaware River is safe.

But the report has done nothing to quell passionate opposition to the plan.

Two South Jersey congressmen vowed the project will go nowhere until the independent investigative arm of Congress, the Government Accountability Office, reviews it.

Rep. Rob Andrews, D-Haddon Heights, and Rep. Frank A. LoBiondo, R-Ventnor, conducted a telephone news conference to discuss the findings by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. For the second time, the CDC assessed the plan that calls for DuPont in Carneys Point to treat wastewater from the destruction of VX nerve agent at an Army depot in Indiana.

The CDC found that DuPont has adequately addressed ecological issues related to the discharge of the caustic wastewater into the river and determined the project posed no other health, environmental or transportation problems.

Andrews and LoBiondo said they believe the CDC's evaluation was not thorough enough and have asked for a complete GAO review of alternatives.

A measure they sponsored in a Defense Department authorization bill going through Congress delays the plan until at least February 2007.

"There is no chance that the project will begin before that review, in large part because the state Department of Environmental Protection will not grant a permit at this time," LoBiondo said.

"This is so very serious, residents are scared out of their wits," he added.

Asked whether he would support the plan should the GAO find no problems, Andrews said, "I'm so convinced, based on my own analysis, I can't imagine that they would come back and say that."

Jeff Lindblad, spokesman for the Army's Chemical Materials Agency, acknowledged the plan must still clear these hurdles and some technical points raised in the CDC study. But he viewed the CDC report as an important step toward getting the project, on hold since early 2004, on track.

"It shows the EPA and CDC have independently verified that our proposal is safe for the workers, the public and the environment," he said.

In a statement, Nick Fanandakis, vice president and general manager for DuPont Chemical Solutions Enterprise, said he was pleased with the CDC's findings.

"From the outset, we said we would be involved in this proposal only if it can be accomplished safely and effectively without any adverse impact on the community, our employees or the environment," he said.

The Army has destroyed more than 250 tons of its 1,200-ton VX stockpile at the Newport Chemical Deport in west-central Indiana. It is storing the wastewater on site until it can begin shipping the material to DuPont, which does not yet have a contract.

While the Army insists the hydrolysate -- a caustic wastewater produced by the destruction of the nerve agent -- will contain no detectable VX, Andrews said he "remains unalterably opposed" because of the Army's track record of spills at Newport and the dangers even a drop of VX can pose to human life.

"The DuPont proposal has met with fierce opposition from all quarters and that opposition continues to expand," said Tracy Carluccio of the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, an environmental group. "The people and their elected representatives will fight the Army's plan to truck VX nerve agent waste and discharge it to the Delaware River."

Reach Lawrence Hajna at (856) 486-2466 or lhajna@courierpostonline.com