Dayton Daily News
October 8, 2003

County to deny permit for VX plan; Sanitary engineer: Too many unknowns

By Jim DeBrosse
jdebrosse@DaytonDailyNews.com

DAYTON | Montgomery County Sanitary Engineer Jim Brueggeman announced at
Tuesday's commission meeting that his department would not issue a permit
for Perma-Fix of Dayton to discharge treated waste products from neutralized
VX nerve agent into the county's wastewater system.

"The sanitary department has determined that Perma-Fix's proposal cannot be
approved given the considerable number of unanswered questions, incomplete,
missing or inadequate data, apparent treatment process deficiencies and the
risks - health and ecological - involved," he said.

The permit denial would block Perma-Fix from accepting an Army contract to
treat and discharge into the county's western regional treatment plant up to
a million gallons of VX waste products, called hydrolysate. Vacuum-sealed
trucks from the Army's stockpile in Newport, Ind., could begin shipping
hydrolysate as early as January, with Perma-Fix being paid $9 million to
dispose of the first 330,000 gallons of the caustic material.

Brueggeman's announcement was made to more than 100 people who crowded into
commission chambers to hear the county's hired expert, Bruce E. Rittmann, a
professor of civil and environmental engineering at Northwestern University,
present his report.

Another 150 people showed up Tuesday night for a second presentation and
question-and-answer session with Rittmann at Jefferson Twp. High School.

Rittmann said Perma-Fix's processing method is based on sound science, but
is still too new and experimental to be done without more testing, better
monitoring and a study to determine its impact on wildlife.

He also recommended that the Army perform the first step in the treatment
process - oxidation - in Newport. Oxidation would destroy nearly all the
thiolamine in the hydrolysate, one of three chemicals needed for the
reformation of VX nerve agent and the prime factor in the hydrolysate's
strong, skunk-like smell and flammability.

Despite recent company efforts to improve maintenance and housekeeping at
the Perma-Fix plant in Jefferson Twp., odors continue to be a problem.
Regional air inspectors detected chemical odors in the surrounding area on
30 of 40 random visits in August, September and October, according to
reports filed at the Regional Air Pollution Control Agency.

Audience members at the commission meeting, many of them Jefferson Twp.
residents, lauded Rittmann for his work.

"He has validated everything we have learned throughout the past year," said
Laura Rench, a township resident and member of the grassroots opposition
group, Citizens for the Responsible Destruction of Chemical Weapons of the
Miami Valley.

Rench queried Brueggeman at the township forum after he re-read his
statement about the discharge permit, which inserted the words "at this
time."

"Is there something else the county would consider?" Rench asked.

"We're not planning on looking at anything different. I think the ball is in
Perma-Fix's court," Brueggeman said. Perma-Fix would have to answer all of
Rittmann's concerns "before we would even reconsider (their application).

Perma-Fix chief executive Lou Centofanti called many aspects of Rittmann's
report "reasonable and prudent" and added that "we are taking a close look
at the issues in this report."

Army officials have said the report will be "one element" in their decision
whether to transport VX hydrolysate to the plant.

Brueggeman said his decision on the permit was based primarily on Rittmann's
concerns about three potentially toxic chemicals that would be left in trace
amounts from the Perma-Fix treatment - MPA, EMPA and EA2192.

In a demonstration study completed this summer for the Army, Perma-Fix
reported it was able to reduce each of those chemicals to the acceptable
levels the Army demanded. But Rittmann said those trace amounts still could
pose health risks to workers and wildlife that aren't yet fully known.
EA2192, for instance, is a nerve agent, although not nearly as potent as VX,
which can kill with exposure to a drop.

Blake Watson, a professor at the University of Dayton Law School who teaches
a class in environmental law, said Perma-Fix could appeal the county's
decision in court.