Public acceptance not an Army priority

By Jim DeBrosse
jdebrosse@DaytonDailyNews.com

DAYTON | A congressional hearing Wednesday on the Army's chemical weapons disposal program made clear that "public acceptance" was not an Army priority in deciding whether Perma-Fix of Dayton should have treated neutralized VX nerve agent here.

Officials from the Army and Parsons Corp., the primary contractor for neutralizing the Army's VX nerve agent stockpile, told a panel of three congressmen and an audience of about 80 at Sinclair Community College that they would have forged ahead with the unpopular plan if Montgomery County officials had not denied them a sewage discharge permit.

"If the technical outcomes of Perma-Fix's efforts had been validated by the independent consultant (hired by the county) and if the water board had come forward with positive feedback (on the discharge permit), I think we would have encouraged Parsons and Perma-Fix to continue on their path," said Michael Parker, director of the Chemical Materials Agency of the U.S. Chemical Demilitarization Program.

The field hearing of the Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats and International Relations was called by its chairman, U.S. Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Conn., and urged by its vice chairman, U.S. Rep. Mike Turner, R-Centerville. Turner has been trying since April to get the Army to clarify language in the contract with Perma-Fix that appeared to require "public acceptance" of the disposal plan.

From April through September, 37 government bodies and community organizations, including the Montgomery County Commission, passed proclamations against the Army plan. But the contract was not canceled until last week, soon after county Sanitary Engineer Jim Brueggeman announced there were too many technical and safety questions to issue a discharge permit to Perma-Fix.

At the hearing, a stream of witnesses from the county, Jefferson Twp., Dayton and grassroots organizations faulted Perma-Fix for failing to notify all relevant agencies in the area about the disposal plan, including the region's emergency response team. Witnesses also criticized the Army for failing to answer their concerns.

"I think the Army really underestimated the ability of the community to understand the information, make decisions and act for themselves," said Jane Forrest Redfern, environmental project director for Ohio Citizen Action.

Army officials acknowledged that they had reviewed and approved the language of the Perma-Fix contract, but insisted it was up to the project's primary contractor to negotiate and supervise the details with Perma-Fix.

Parsons officials said the contract required only that Perma-Fix notify local authorities and conduct public education sessions to "establish a measure of public acceptance," but that public approval was never a "deliverable product" in the contract.