By JEFF MONTGOMERY / The News Journal
05/21/2005
New Jersey on Friday barred the DuPont Co. from treating chemical weapons wastewater at a plant near the Delaware Memorial Bridge unless the plan clears a separate state environmental review.
Acting Gov. Richard J. Codey ordered that the ruling be included in a draft five-year permit renewal for DuPont's industrial wastewater treatment plant, part of the Chambers Works chemical complex in Deepwater.
DuPont is trying to win a lucrative Army contract to treat millions of gallons of wastewater from a VX nerve agent disposal operation in Newport, Ind. The company had said its previous treatment plant discharge permit -- still temporarily in effect -- allowed handling of the Army's waste.
"At my direction, [the state Department of Environmental Protection] issued a new draft permit for the facility that precludes acceptance of the nerve agent waste unless and until the proposal is subject to rigorous and independent review," Codey said in a statement.
"He did his homework and he's taking the right position at a time when it's still meaningful," said Maya K. van Rossum, who directs the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, a multistate environmental and conservation group. "The Army has been pushing very hard to grease this project through."
New Jersey's Department of Environmental Protection also proposed new testing requirements, discharge limits and reporting rules for DuPont's 40 million gallon-per-day capacity plant, the largest commercial treatment operation of its type in the world. Agency officials began taking public comments Friday and will consider requests for a hearing on the permit.
Anthony Farina, a spokesman for DuPont, said Friday that the company agreed that the VX project was an issue separate from the permit renewal.
"The bottom line is, we need to address the concerns that have been raised, and we'll take it a step at a time," Farina said after New Jersey announced its decision.
Deadly agent
VX ranks among the world's deadliest chemical agents, with a pinhead-size droplet lethal enough to kill a healthy adult. The Army center in Newport is scheduled to process 1,269 tons of the agent, leaving 4 million to 6 million gallons of liquid with qualities similar to drain cleaner but containing small amounts of still-toxic compounds.
Environmental and civic groups on both sides of the river objected to the plan, saying some of the waste would go untreated through Chambers Works and into the Delaware River. Delaware Gov. Ruth Ann Minner and then-New Jersey Gov. James McGreevey urged the Army to treat the waste closer to Newport.
"The Army's proposal is flawed, and should be abandoned not revised," New Jersey DEP Commissioner Bradley M. Campbell said.
John A. Hughes, secretary of Delaware's Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, said his agency has worked closely with New Jersey in evaluating DuPont's plan. Although Chambers Works stands in Deepwater, its treated wastewater is discharged in a section of the river under Delaware's jurisdiction.
"The state of New Jersey is making very sure that there are no loopholes that DuPont is going to be able to jump through," Hughes said.
DuPont already has proposed an overhaul of its original treatment plan to prevent most of the waste from reaching the river, the company said. The Environmental Protection Agency and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are studying it.
Army spokesman Jeff Lindblad said that VX neutralization work is continuing at Newport at a slow pace after a start-up last month. The military plans to store wastewater in tanks at Newport pending a decision on final treatment.
Busy complex
Nearly all of New Jersey's industrial wastewater already is treated at Chambers Works, and the company is working to expand use of the site for municipal sewage from surrounding communities.
Chambers Works has released as much as 3.8 million pounds of toxic chemicals into the river annually. The operation has the daily potential to release hundreds of different chemicals in small amounts, some potentially toxic.
The draft permit from New Jersey would add requirements for a new, regular test of the plant's overall long-term toxic effects on fish and microbes in the Delaware River. DuPont also would have to track and report more individual chemical concentrations in its discharge.
Contact Jeff Montgomery at 678-4277 or jmontgomery@delawareonline.com