NEWPORT, Ind. -- The destruction of VX nerve agent stored at the Newport Chemical Depot will be delayed indefinitely, the Army said Thursday. It was scheduled to start in January.

Destroying the deadly VX liquid would result in a waste byproduct, hydrolysate, which was to be taken to a treatment and disposal facility near Dayton, Ohio.

The Army, however, said it had reviewed its options since its contractor on the disposal project last month dropped subcontractor Perma-Fix Environmental Services, of Dayton. Residents there had complained about plans to send the treated waste into the city's sewer system.

"Until we have decided on a path forward, we will not speculate on a date for agent operations to begin," said Jeff Brubaker, the Newport site project manager.

The Army stores more than 1,200 tons of VX at the Newport depot, about 30 miles north of Terre Haute. Neutralizing the nerve agent is expected to yield about 900,000 gallons of hydrolysate, which chemists have compared with household drain cleaner.

Officials planned to build storage tanks to hold the byproduct for 90 days until it could be shipped to Perma-Fix. The Army now wants permission to store about 12,000 gallons of the hydrolysate for longer than 90 days.

The Army also wants to store at Newport some of the materials left over from the demolition of the facility where the ingredients that make VX were combined.

The VX was scheduled to be destroyed by April 2007 under the Chemical Weapons Convention international treaty. Congress ordered the process sped up after the 2001 terrorist attacks.