Dumping erodes trust on VX issue

The promise of community trust that the Army and the DuPont Co. are trying to nurture with plans to dispose of a nerve agent byproduct in a Salem County wastewater treatment plant has been broken by the revelation that DuPont has already released some of the material into the Delaware River.

Only a small amount of the residue, known as a hydrolysate, was sent into the river last year in a test. But the fact that New Jersey and Delaware officials did not know about it -- nor did the public -- is not the kind of thing that inspires confidence among neighbors.

We had urged open minds on this attempt for the Army to get rid of stockpiles of this product that it no longer needs or wishes to have. Since the nerve gas, known as VX, is to be neutralized before it leaves Indiana, where it is now held, the byproduct may not be as worrisome as some might think. At the very least, however, it is said to be corrosive.

By apparently jumping the gun last year, the Army and DuPont have put more scrutiny on themselves. The state Department of Environmental Protection says about seven gallons of the material was involved.

Now, this incident has led U.S. Robert E. Andrews, D-1st Dist., to demand an investigation by the Army Office of the Inspector General in what was apparently an unauthorized release into the river. The material was being put through DuPont's chemical wastewater treatment system, but neither the company nor the Army had specific permission to flush the leftovers into the Delaware last year.

That's wrong, when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and other agencies, are still trying to assess the affect the VX waste would have on the river.

On another front, state Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Bradley Campbell announced that the DuPont facility, should it treat the full 1,269 tons of this product, would also need modifications to its discharge permits.

In a community meeting in March, DuPont and Army officials were forthright in accepting the public's questions about the disposal plan. Not all of them were answered, but it was the kind of dialogue that is too often missing in such pursuits.

Casting the VX byproduct into the river at too early a time was a serious misstep. There cannot be any others if DuPont and the Army expect to continue to pursue this disposal option with any sort of credibility.

Silence is what Deptford taxpayers still have for all they have spent -- $113,000 and counting --for the township Board of Fire Commissioners' pursuit of administrative charges against Fire Chief Michael Gallagher.

Now it is Gallagher who is being blamed for this affront to the taxpayers. His lawyer, citing confidentiality for personnel matters, says taxpayers are "not entitled" to see an arbitrator's report about Gallagher's job status. Earlier, the board itself refused to release the information.

The state Department of Community Affairs will now determine what can and cannot be withheld from the public.

All of the parties must keep in mind that even though it may be legal to withhold all or part of the arbitrator's report, citizens do have the right to see that their fire district funds are being spent properly.

Citizens have precious little on which to judge that here. Not disclosing any information about Gallagher's past suspension, court-ordered reinstatement and continued employment, and how it all relates to what the arbitrator said, will convince the public that its $113,000 could have been better spent elsewhere.