A citizens watchdog group formally called on the Army on Thursday to adopt a new approach to plans for the disposal of wastewater created by the military's destruction of the deadly nerve agent VX in Newport.

The Chemical Weapons Working Group vowed to do whatever it would take to block proposed shipments of the wastewater from Indiana to New Jersey unless the Army changes its approach.

In a letter to Claude M. Bolton, the Army's assistant secretary for acquisition, logistics and technology, the Kentucky group suggested the wastewater should be treated using a method that breaks it down under high heat and high pressure.

The same equipment, the group said, could be used at the Blue Grass Chemical Depot in Richmond, Ky., to treat wastewater created by the destruction of three chemical weapons stored there: VX, mustard agent and sarin.

The Army had planned to use that approach at the Newport Chemical Depot but switched gears to speed up the process after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. So far, nearly 3,400 gallons of VX have been destroyed at Newport in a process that began in May. An additional 247,000 gallons remain to be addressed.

"That was 31/2 years ago, and the controversy has only increased over time," said Craig Williams, director of the citizens group.

Army officials now want to ship 4 million gallons of the wastewater to New Jersey, where it would be treated at a DuPont plant in a process designed to render the caustic stew harmless. The byproduct would be discharged into the Delaware River. But New Jersey environmental groups have vehemently opposed that plan, citing fears that even treated wastewater still could harm fish and other aquatic life in the Delaware.

The Chemical Weapons Working Group said its alternative on-site treatment approach is proven -- it has received government approval for use at Blue Grass -- and could be in place at Newport within a year.

But Jeffrey Linblad, spokesman for the Army's Chemical Materials Agency, said the treatment was unproven for the type and volume of wastewater that would be created by the VX destruction. He cited problems with corrosion and clogging of the equipment in early lab-based tests.

To make it work, he said, it would take at least two years to engineer and build the equipment and another two years to treat the wastewater -- delaying a process that already has taken longer than the Army would like.

Kevin Downey, an official with General Atomics, which developed the on-site treatment equipment approved for use in Kentucky, said the cited problems have been resolved "from the standpoint of Blue Grass." But he declined to address whether it could work at Newport.

While the debate continues, the Pentagon has asked officials in Blue Grass to consider off-site shipment rather than on-site treatment, said Jim Fritsche, federal government site manager at Blue Grass. Officials there will make a recommendation Sept. 13.

"We are now driven by a combination of cost and a schedule to get done by 2012," the proposed deadline for meeting international chemical weapon destruction treaties, Fritsche said.

New Jersey residents, meanwhile, are worried that wastewater from VX and other chemical weapons will come to their state, said Sharon Finlayson, head of the New Jersey Environmental Federation.

Sara Morgan, who lives near Newport and is a member of the Chemical Weapons Working Group, said the Army should have expected public opposition. "Indiana is filled with solid, patriotic people who believe in the Golden Rule" and don't want to ship waste to another state, she said.

The job of neutralizing VX is being handled by an Army contractor that is mixing it with hot sodium hydroxide and water. The byproduct, a caustic wastewater, is being stored in containers until the Army decides where it will go for final treatment.

The VX has been stored in Newport since 1969, the year the U.S. stopped producing chemical weapons.

Call Star reporter Tammy Webber at (317) 444-6412.