By JEFF MONTGOMERY
Staff reporter
04/20/2004

The Delaware River Basin Commission has challenged the tests used by the DuPont Co. to support its proposal for treating chemical weapons disposal waste at a plant near the Delaware Memorial Bridge, according to Delaware environmental regulators.

The Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control said the commission determined DuPont failed to use standard methods to evaluate the toxic effects of its discharges into the Delaware River from its plant in Deepwater, N.J.

DuPont reported last month that outside researchers had predicted "no adverse effect on the environment" if the company's Chambers Works site wins a contract to treat caustic wastewater from an Army nerve weapons neutralization plant.

Scientists for the commission, however, suggested that DuPont's treated wastewater, including the proposed new discharge, would fail to meet New Jersey state permit requirements based on routine testing methods, according to DNREC. Those guidelines require survival of at least half the organisms directly exposed to treated wastes after they are diluted by 50 percent.

"It does call into question their conclusions," said Kevin C. Donnelly, water resources director for DNREC. "The issue of toxicity in the river is one of our fundamental concerns."

DuPont spokesman Anthony Farina said the company was not aware of the commission's findings, but said DuPont was confident in studies used to support the proposal.

"We welcome the opportunity to discuss and detail the assessments and appropriate protocols that were followed in completing this comprehensive set of sound science and technical information," Farina said.

Jeff Lindblad, a spokesman for the Army's Chemical Materials Agency, said he had not seen the commission's evaluation.

The commission, which is governed by officials from Delaware, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania, oversees water supply and quality issues for the entire watershed of 13,539 square miles that drains into the Delaware River and its tributaries.

DuPont wants an Army contract to treat up to 4 million gallons of caustic wastewater from a VX neutralization project at a weapons stockpile in Newport, Ind.

DuPont's plan would discharge treated wastewater from an industrial wastewater plant to a section of the river inside Delaware.

Obscure chemicals cited

A commission official said late Monday he could not discuss the agency's findings until the Army receives the report. But DNREC referred to the toxicity findings in its written objections to the project.

DNREC researchers estimated that 79 percent of two obscure chemicals would pass untreated to the river, raising concerns about effects on aquatic life and algal blooms. Other potential contaminants were unexamined, DNREC said, along with risks to an upstream public water supply.

On Monday, DNREC Secretary John A. Hughes sent the Army a letter saying the military had failed to support a finding that the discharge would have no impact.

DNREC sent an expanded, follow-up letter to one sent last week by Gov. Ruth Ann Minner and New Jersey Gov. James E. McGreevey urging the Army to treat the wastes "in close proximity" to Newport, Ind.

Hughes said concerns were raised that the earlier objections were misdirected, and might not become a part of the public record.

VX ranks among the most deadly chemical weapons in the U.S. arsenal, capable of killing in amounts as small as a droplet. All of the nation's stores of the material have to be destroyed under an international treaty signed in 1997.

Military backs DuPont

The Army had set an April 19 deadline for public comments on a finding of "no significant impact" from its proposal to have the wastes trucked to Deepwater along a route that could exceed 1,000 miles. Military managers for the project have said they believe DuPont already has required approvals for the treatment plan, despite objections raised by state regulators and environmental groups in Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

New Jersey regulators have said they may impose tighter restrictions on the Deepwater plant's existing discharges, aimed at limiting long-term harm from pollutants in the river. Several major citizen groups, including the 100,000-member New Jersey Environmental Federation, Delaware Nature Society, Delaware Riverkeeper Network, Sierra Club Delaware Chapter and Clean Air Council, oppose the project.

On Monday, the Mid-Atlantic Environmental Law Council at Widener University submitted an objection on behalf of the environmental group Green Delaware, and called for a full environmental impact study. The council listed 11 points to support its stand, including potential Clean Water Act violations and inadequate research by DuPont.

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