Army and industry representatives have stepped up their crusade for a plan to treat chemical weapon disposal waste at a site along the Delaware River despite unsettled questions about the project, a state environmental leader said Wednesday.

"They're going town to town, doing a public relations effort to get support," said Jane Nogaki, a South Jersey coordinator for the New Jersey Environmental Federation. "They haven't received that public support, yet they continue to spend taxpayers dollars to support their effort."

The complaint about tax dollars being used ---a complaint disputed by the Army and DuPont Co. -- surfaced as the federal government prepares to release a crucial safety report on a revised plan for treating up to 4 million gallons of neutralized VX nerve agent at DuPont's industrial wastewater plant in Deepwater, N.J.

Jeff Lindblad, a spokesman for the Army Chemical Materials Agency, said the presentations are a DuPont effort, but confirmed that a military representative attends when possible.

"We've participated in about 65 community meetings over the last 15 months or so," said Anthony Farina, a DuPont spokesman. "We've done that for a number of reasons. One is, it's very clear to us that there was a lot of misinformation around about what this proposal was and what it wasn't."

DuPont has received some taxpayer money to finance studies needed to validate the treatment plan, Army spokesman Lindblad said, but the government is not financing the company's information effort. He said he was unable to provide details on the payments.

Delaware officials were originally opposed to the plan. In April 2004, Delaware Gov. Ruth Ann Minner and then-New Jersey Gov. James McGreevey strongly opposed the VX waste treatment plan in a joint letter to the Army. Environmental officials from both states also stepped up against the Army's plan.

N.J. makes moves to stop plan

Delaware's Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control has recently backed off its objections, describing recent changes to the treatment plan as reassuring.

New Jersey leaders, meanwhile, have maintained their critical stand. The state has banned the wastewater shipments from its state turnpike.

"We cannot allow the proposed transport of this dangerous material on our roads to continue without oversight and without ensuring that precautionary measures are in place," Sen. Robert Menendez, D-Hoboken, and Rep. Rob Andrews, D-Haddon Heights, said in a recent letter to U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta.

New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine has said that DuPont would have to complete a public permit amendment process before the state authorizes the treatment, even if the project clears other federal reviews.

DuPont's treatment plant stands on land in New Jersey, but its discharge pipe opens into a portion of the river well on Delaware's side of the state border. Company managers have proposed upgrades of the pipe and an extension deeper into the river.

Environmental Protection Agency reviewers earlier this year tentatively ruled DuPont's treatment process as safe for the river.

"I think, in fairness to everyone, that the proposal has changed pretty substantially from a technological viewpoint," David Small, deputy director of DNREC, said Wednesday. "Now the question be- comes: Is it enough?"

Del. lawmakers await report

All three members of Delaware's congressional delegation said Wednesday they are awaiting release of a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report on the human and ecological risks posed by the project.

"It is our understanding that the CDC report will most likely be released to members of Congress within the next month. We look forward to the final report's release and for the Army and the DuPont Co.'s review of this report to determine if they wish to pursue this project."

Although DuPont and the Army have defended the plan as safe, some environmental groups and critics have dismissed the hauling operation as a needless hazard.

About 14 percent of a 1,200-ton VX stockpile in Newport, Ind., already has been treated and moved into mobile storage containers to await shipment to New Jersey. Military officials are seeking approval to store up to 2 million gallons of broken-down nerve agent at the depot while awaiting a final decision on the DuPont permit.

Contact Jeff Montgomery at 678-4277 or jmontgomery@delawareonline.com.