By JEFF MONTGOMERY
Staff reporter
03/25/2004

New bumps have appeared in the road for an Army plan to send wastewater from a nerve weapon neutralization complex to a DuPont Co. plant along the Delaware River.

A document released by the Army late Wednesday showed the Centers for Disease Control earlier this year raised several concerns about a study of health issues associated with the project, despite a later announcement suggesting the federal agency was satisfied with all parts of the proposal.

DuPont wants to treat nearly 4 million gallons of caustic wastewater from a neutralization program at an Army depot in Newport, Ind., that holds about 1,200 tons of VX nerve agent, one of the world's deadliest chemical weapons. Company officials earlier this month released 350 pages from reports showing the material could be safely transported to an industrial wastewater plant in Deepwater, N.J., for treatment and eventual discharge to the Delaware River.

Jennifer Sarginson, a spokeswoman for CDC's National Center for Environmental Health, said some DuPont descriptions misrepresented the federal agency's position.

"Our involvement was taken out of context. I can safely say that," Sarginson said.

That complaint led to an agreement late Wednesday for a rewording of a DuPont summary on the project, according to Col. Jesse L. Barber, alternative technologies and approaches project manager for the Army Chemical Materials Agency.

"We can understand where folks may get the impression that the CDC looked at all 350 pages. They're not expert in every area," Barber said.

Alan Muller, who directs the environmental group Green Delaware, said the incident undermines the credibility of project supporters. Environmental groups opposing the project already are pressing supporters to back up disputed claims, including commercial uses of one relatively rare chemical released in the process.

"This is crippling," Muller said. "The CDC identified an overwhelming number of problems."

Barber said the overall project, which was reviewed by three other academic researchers, remains sound. Todd Owens, a DuPont engineer at the Deepwater treatment plant, described the issue earlier as a "miscommunication."

Barber said the Army plans to respond shortly to individual questions raised by the agency.

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