Defense Environment Alert 04/18/06

ACTIVISTS CITE DUPONT'S C-8 RECORD TO BLOCK CHEM WEAPONS DISPOSAL

More than 20 environmental groups and other opponents are strongly criticizing an EPA-backed plan allowing the Army to transport and dispose of nerve agent waste at a DuPont-operated wastewater treatment plant in New Jersey, with some arguing that DuPont's failure to adequately disclose the risks of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), the chemical used to produce Teflon, raises questions about the nerve agent disposal plan.

"As we look closely at DuPont's handling of PFOA, we see a longstanding resistance to regulation, a denial of harm, and evidence that DuPont either did not know or knew and did not act on many of the health hazards of PFOA chemicals," Delaware Riverkeeper says in a paper released at an April 6 press conference. "Can we now trust DuPont to transport, handle, process, and discharge VX nerve agent waste?"

The groups - which include the Chemical Weapons Working Group (CWWG), Delaware Riverkeeper, New Jersey Environmental Federation, and Pennsylvania Environmental Network - held the news conference in anticipation of an upcoming Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) report that could back the disposal plan.

At the same time, two New Jersey lawmakers are seeking a Department of Transportation (DOT) study into the safety of transporting the neutralized nerve agent across several states for secondary treatment.

The Army wants to dispose of approximately 4 million gallons of wastewater in New Jersey stemming from its neutralization of VX nerve agent at its Newport, IN, facility. Citizen opposition successfully halted the Army's earlier plans to send the wastewater to an Ohio facility, and now activists are trying to block a similar plan to send it to the DuPont Chamber Works facility in New Jersey, saying it raises environmental and safety issues both during transportation and secondary treatment. The treated wastewater would be discharged into the Delaware River.

DuPont paid EPA $16 million in December 2005 to settle charges it had failed to submit to the agency toxicity studies of PFOA, also called C-8, which the agency's science advisers say is a likely human carcinogen. DuPont also paid more than $ 100 million last year to settle a lawsuit brought by West Virginia residents over a leak of the chemical at a manufacturing plant in their community. The company agreed in January to phase out emissions of the chemical by 95 percent by 20 10.

The CDC is expected to soon release an updated version of a 2005 report reviewing the Army's proposal to determine the risks it poses. After the release of the report, the groups say they expect vigorous action from their lawmakers to prevent the New Jersey disposal plan from being enacted. Such action could be in the form of legislation or further analyses by the CDC, DOT or other agencies, said Tracy Carluccio of Deleware Riverkeeper, who spoke at the April 6 press conference along the Delaware River in Thorofare, NJ.

An April 2005 joint report from the CDC and EPA approved much of DOD's demilitarization plan for Newport, but raised questions about discharging the waste following secondary treatment. However, EPA in February announced it no longer had ecological objections to the plan. The Army will review the CDC's updated report before awarding a contract for the secondary treatment, a spokesman for the Army's Chemical Materials Agency (CMA) says.

In a written statement, a DuPont spokesman says that the company is committed to safety and effective treatment without adverse impacts on the community, the environment and its employees. "We would only be involved in this proposal if ... the concerns of local regulatory authorities and the community have been thoroughly addressed," he said.

Critics prefer the wastewater be treated on-site in Indiana with supercritical water oxidation - a technology the Army also expects to employ for secondary treatment of chemical munitions stored in Kentucky.

"Beyond the technical assessments done by government agencies on this plan, and beyond the debates about the scientific capability of this plan to succeed, one point remains: the people of Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey do not want this waste shipped anywhere," according to a statement from CWWG Director Craig Williams.

Meanwhile, Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and Rep. Robert Andrews (D-NJ) late last month asked DOT to conduct a study to find out whether local communities along the transportation route would be capable of handling a nerve agent waste spill should it happen. Andrews is opposed to the treatment at the New Jersey facility.

The CMA spokesman says the waste would be trucked on routes approved by DOT to handle hazardous material and that emergency crews are prepared to handle any corrosive spills that may result from the shipments.