By JEFF MONTGOMERY
Staff reporter
04/24/2004

The Environmental Protection Agency said Friday it will review a DuPont Co. proposal to treat chemical weapon disposal wastes at a plant near the Delaware Memorial Bridge.

Centers for Disease Control officials requested the EPA assessment this week, after the public health agency reported that it lacked the expertise needed to study ecological risks posed by DuPont's project.

DuPont wants an Army contract to treat up to 4 million gallons of the caustic byproducts at its Chambers Works commercial wastewater plant in Deepwater, N.J. The plant - described as the nation's largest commercial treatment facility - would treat waste from neutralized VX nerve agents, one of the nation's deadliest chemical weapons.

In a letter delivered to several members of Congress this week, CDC officials said a comprehensive assessment of the project "must include" an accounting for potential ecological hazards posed by the proposed new discharge to the Delaware River.

The governors of Delaware and New Jersey have urged the Army to treat the wastes closer to a VX nerve agent stockpile in Newport, Ind. Gov. Ruth Ann Minner and New Jersey Gov. James E. McGreevey cited state agency warnings that some chemical byproducts would pass untreated to the river, creating a pollution risk. The scant treatment, officials said, failed to justify risks during transportation.

"We're glad that the EPA is involved. We will provide them with whatever information we can to assist in their joint review with the CDC," said Kevin C. Donnelly, water resources director for Delaware's Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control. "I would hope they would come to the same conclusion" as state and regional regulators.

Mary Mears, spokeswoman for the EPA's regional office in New York, said her agency planned to review existing reports on the project.

"To my knowledge, we aren't doing any of our own assessments," Mears said. "We are reviewing an assessment that's been done."

CDC Director Dr. Julie Louise Gerberding said her agency still would assess human health risks associated with handling, transportation and treatment of the wastes.

The Army on Monday closed out public comment on a proposed finding of "no significant impact" from its plan to truck the VX wastewater to the DuPont plant. Col. Jesse L. Barber, the project's manager, said the Army believes that DuPont already has all approvals needed to treat the material.

State regulators and environmental critics have described DuPont's studies as incomplete, and said that little information is available on some breakdown products from the neutralization process. They also warned that DuPont may lack approvals needed to treat the wastes.

DuPont reported April 8 that it would await the CDC report before accepting any waste treatment agreement with the Army. Officials said in a prepared statement that DuPont supports the EPA's involvement. The company already had endorsed a third-party environmental review.

Several environmental groups in Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania have called for a more elaborate review.

Delaware and New Jersey regulatory agencies "need to require a full environmental impact study and develop a full understanding of what the health impacts are," said Deborah Heaton, conservation director for the Sierra Club Delaware Chapter. "I think the CDC has a role, but they're probably very correct in saying they don't have the expertise. Just because they don't doesn't mean it shouldn't happen."