TRENTON -- A coalition of environmental groups is arguing that a U.S. Army proposal to truck waste from 1,269 tons of nerve agent to Salem County for treatment and disposal into the Delaware River is more than unsound, it's illegal.
In a federal lawsuit announced Thursday against the Army and
Secretary of Defense, the Delaware Riverkeeper Network and
other organizations want a court to block plans to ship the
VX waste from Indiana, where the nerve agent is being
destroyed, to DuPont's Chambers Works because federal
law prohibits the transport of chemical weapons over state
lines. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in
Washington, D.C.
"The threats of transporting VX nerve agent waste through our communities and dumping nerve agent waste into our Delaware River are too great and totally unnecessary," said Riverkeeper Maya van Rossum.
The suit is the latest example of resistance to the plan on all sides of the river, including opposition from state and federal officials.
The Army would not be transporting the pure chemical weapon, but a byproduct regulators say would be hazardous to humans because of its toxic properties rather than nerve agent traces.
Opponents say the Army can't prove there won't be VX elements in the shipped material. The Army is relying on the treatment process at DuPont to completely remove the nerve agent, the lawsuit states.
Army spokesman Jeff Lindblad, who declined to comment on the suit itself, noted that the project has been looked at twice by federal regulatory agencies that concluded it can be done safely. A spokesman for DuPont echoed that point.
The groups are also calling on the Army to conduct an environmental impact study for the project sooner rather than later. Generally, van Rossum and others say the VX byproduct should be treated in Indiana.
The destruction of the Army's VX stockpile in Indiana has begun, but a secondary treatment phase involving Chambers Works was put on hold as the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reviewed the plans for about two years.
While those entities eventually concluded that the disposal could be completed safely, a federal cost-benefit analysis spurred by New Jersey congressmen in October further delayed the plan.
The Government Accounting Office is expected to issue its findings soon, said U.S. Rep. Robert Andrews, D-1st Dist., of Haddon Heights, who voiced his support for the lawsuit on Thursday.
Andrews, U.S. Rep. Frank LoBiondo, R-2nd Dist., of Ventnor, and U.S. Rep. Jim Saxton, R-3rd Dist., of Mount Holly, have been staunch opponents of bringing the VX byproduct to New Jersey.
The freeze on the shipment of VX waste that was part of the GAO review is set to expire in February, but Andrews suggested the plan still faces significant federal hurdles.
Next year, Andrews, LoBiondo, Saxton and two newly elected Pennsylvania congressman representing districts across the river in Pennsylvania, Patrick Murphy and Joe Sestak, will be sitting on the House Armed Services Committee, which has approval power over the Army's budget each year.
"I assure you that we're not going to go away," Andrews said.
DuPont would also need to require additional permitting through the state of New Jersey, which it has yet to secure.
DuPont representatives have insisted the company presently has no contract with the Army to treat the VX byproduct.