Dayton Daily News
July 17, 2003

VX-plan opposition gaining backers; Some cities await consultant's report

By Jim DeBrosse
jdebrosse@DaytonDailyNews.com

DAYTON | A group fighting an Army proposal to ship neutralized VX nerve agent to Jefferson Twp. has succeeded in getting 18 governmental bodies - including the city of Dayton and the Montgomery County Commission - to pass formal resolutions opposing the plan.

But Centerville, Englewood, Kettering and Oakwood have yet to act, and some members of the residents group are getting frustrated at what they consider foot-dragging along class lines.

"They don't have the courage to do the moral and ethical thing," said Mary Johnson, a Jefferson Twp. resident and a member of the grassroots opposition group Citizens for the Responsible Destruction of Chemical Weapons of the Miami Valley.

"We're trying to take a very objective look at this," Centerville Mayor Sally Beals said. "We're not for this coming into our (region). But by the same token, we don't want to be irresponsible."

Officials in Centerville, Englewood, Kettering and Oakwood all say they are waiting to see a report that the county will issue in the next few weeks from an independent consultant hired to review the safety of the Army proposal.

But Johnson questioned if those leaders would act similarly if the Army wanted to truck VX byproducts into their own communities.

"This is not a scientific decision because it's all experimental," Johnson said. "Nobody has the answers. . . . Would they want it in their own backyards? I think not."

The government resolutions are more than just window-dressing, said U.S. Rep. Mike Turner, R-Centerville. Turner has been using the resolutions as ammunition in trying to sway top-level Army officials to change their minds about the plan.

The Army has a clause in its proposed contract with Perma-Fix of Dayton Inc., an industrial wastewater treatment operation in Jefferson Twp., that requires "public acceptance" of the plan before the company can begin receiving truckloads of VX waste product, called hydrolysate, from an U.S. Army base in Newport, Ind. Perma-Fix would treat the hydrolysate a second time before discharging the end product into the county's wastewater system.

The resolutions "are very important. They send a clear message to the Army and to Perma-Fix that (the Dayton area) would like the Army to take other action," Turner said.

Kettering Mayor Marilou Smith said she personally opposes the Army plan but that several council members have asked to wait for the county study before voting on a resolution.

The county commissioners, who hired the expert consultant, already have voted unanimously against the Army plan.

County Commissioner Vicki Pegg said the commissioners decided to turn to their own expert for reassurance and advice in case the county is forced to accept the Army plan. "Unfortunately, if (Perma-Fix) is properly certificated, and they have all the proper paperwork, it's out of our hands," she said.

For several months, Perma-Fix has been conducting test runs on small samples of hydrolysate. If the firm can show the Army that it can dispose of the material safely, Perma-Fix would be awarded a $9 million contract to treat and dispose of 300,000 gallons of the substance. Shipments from the Army stockpile in Newport could then begin as early as October.

Oakwood Mayor Judy Cook conceded that Oakwood's City Council would probably not hesitate to vote against an Army disposal plan if it meant receiving shipments of hydrolysate there.

"If it's in your own neighborhood, there is a greater sense of immediacy," she said. "Perhaps that's not the way it should be, but that's human nature."

Bellbrook Mayor Mary Graves, where the city council voted unanimously against the Army plan, said the resolution was a matter of philosophy, not location.

"We support any community where someone wants to dispose of toxic waste, especially where it was not generated," she said. "We would be very unhappy in our community if someone wanted to do the same thing here. We feel for Jefferson Twp. It's just not right."

Contact Jim DeBrosse at 225-2437.