DuPont scraps plan to treat VX waste
Byproduct of chemical weapon would have been dumped into Delaware River
The News Journal/WILLIAM BRETZGER
If Chambers Works had treated
VX waste, large amounts of
phosphorus would have gone
into the Delaware River,
critics say.
The DuPont Co. on Friday abandoned its plan to dispose of treated chemical weapon waste at a factory on the Delaware River across from New Castle.
A DuPont spokesman said the company faced a tough fight to win regulatory approval for the plan, which would have brought as much as 4 million gallons of wastewater to its Chambers Works plant in Deepwater, N.J., at the foot of the Delaware Memorial Bridge.
"During our three-year evaluation of the ... proposal, it has become increasingly clear to us that the approval process will be lengthy and arduous," said Nick Fanandakis, vice president and general manager for DuPont's Chemical Solutions Enterprise. "Therefore, we believe it is in the best interests of New Jersey and DuPont not to proceed."
The move was hailed as "the right decision" by state government and citizen groups in the region.
Under the plan, the Army would have shipped neutralized VX nerve agent waste liquid called hydrolysate from Newport, Ind., to Deepwater for breakdown and disposal. VX is a liquid chemical capable of killing in droplet-sized amounts.
But DuPont and military officials found a gauntlet of opposition, including a sometimes hostile public, a federal lawsuit, congressional scrutiny and skeptical state regulators.
Several local environmental groups called the DuPont pullout a victory.
"The Army now has another opportunity to work cooperatively with contractors and the Newport community to destroy the hydrolysate on-site, per its original plan," said Elizabeth Crowe of the Chemical Weapons Working Group, a Kentucky-based citizen organization. "Too much time and money has been wasted trying to force communities to accept this waste. It's time to get the job done right."
Crowe's group joined a coalition of citizen and environmental groups led by the Delaware Riverkeeper Network that sued the Army in federal court last month. The suit charged that the plan to use DuPont's industrial wastewater treatment unit in Deepwater would violate federal environmental laws, including requirements for environmental impact studies.
A threat to fish
Some critics of the plan said the disposal process would not remove all VX molecules from the wastewater, and warned studies had shown VX posed a deadly threat to striped bass.
Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control scientists produced evidence that broken-down parts of VX molecules would pass untreated into the Delaware River, creating risks to aquatic life at a time when officials have seen signs of restored health in the waterway.
In recent years, oxygen levels in the river improved enough that a spawning area for striped bass has emerged. And shad only recently were able to make it through what used to be a dead zone to reach their spawning areas.
But if Chambers Works treated the waste, large amounts of phosphorus would have gone into the river, potentially feeding algal blooms that could drive down oxygen levels, critics say.
Others pointed out that tidal flows would have moved discharges from Deepwater in both directions, potentially sending chemical traces far upriver.
DuPont radically changed part of its treatment plan to answer some of the criticism, developing a method to capture phosphorus-related chemicals in wastewater. The new design would have converted the most controversial VX-related wastes into solids that would have gone into a hazardous waste landfill instead of the river.
Fanandakis did not discuss DuPont's potential revenues from the project or expenses during a more than three-year attempt to secure the contract.
Estimates released during a shareholder meeting in 2004 put revenues at $13.5 million for the life of the Newport project.
"This is the right decision by DuPont. There is no way this ill-fated scheme would have survived the lawsuit we just filed and no way it could have been legally permitted" by New Jersey, said Delaware Riverkeeper Maya van Rossum. "The Delaware River needs to be protected and nurtured; it is not a dumping ground."
John A. Hughes, secretary of Delaware's Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, said DuPont made the right move.
"I think it's the correct decision, particularly for a company which has shown an abiding interest in the health of Delaware Bay.
"My personal feeling is that the entire VX situation had too many bells and whistles on it, too many areas of concern between Indiana and a remote site for treatment, trucking issues," Hughes said. "To me it began to look like something Dr. Seuss invented -- far too many complexities."
A busy plant
The episode also brought attention to DuPont's commercial wastewater treatment plant at the Chambers Works operation. The treatment operation handles most of the industrial wastewater in New Jersey, and markets its services nationally and internationally.
"This does not address the larger issue of DuPont's toxic discharges," said Alan Muller, who directs the environmental group Green Delaware.
Muller said his organization "won't be content until the pipe is plugged up and all of DuPont's toxic discharges from the Chambers Works have been brought to a halt. Even without this project, DuPont will continue to discharge millions of pounds a year of harmful chemicals into the river."
The Army's Chemical Materials Agency said it respected DuPont's action.
"While disappointed in the decision, CMA thanks DuPont for its insightful partnership and cooperation," the agency said in a written statement. "The Army will return to reviewing all options available to address this ongoing issue. All options, including on- and off-site treatment, will be explored."
Some critics of the proposal were awaiting a Government Accountability Office review of Army claims that taxpayers would save money by using DuPont's commercial wastewater treatment plant at Chambers Works instead of a new plant at Newport, Ind.
"From the very beginning, the Army's plan to ship this waste off-site was a recipe for disaster," said Craig Williams, who directs the Chemical Weapons Working Group. "We're pleased to hear that DuPont is considering pulling the plug on this project."
Fanandakis said DuPont would consider working with the Army on other solutions to chemical weapon waste destruction.
Contact Jeff Montgomery at 678-4277 or jmontgomery@delawareonline.com.