N.J. opposition to nerve gas disposal gets louder
By JENNIFER BROOKS / News Journal Washington Bureau
06/22/2005
WASHINGTON -- An accidental spill of a deadly nerve agent at an Indiana weapons depot has raised concerns about plans to treat a byproduct of the nerve gas at a New Jersey facility and dump the residue in the Delaware River.
New Jersey lawmakers have ratcheted up their protests since the June 10 accident at the Newport Chemical Depot in Indiana. No one was injured, but an estimated 30 gallons of VX nerve agent and its byproducts spilled into a containment area where workers were trying to dispose of the deadly substance.
"If VX cannot be safely kept at an Army base, I certainly don't see how the people of New Jersey can trust the process to be secure enough for a 750-mile journey and another round of chemical processing," said Sen. Jon Corzine, D-N.J., during a Tuesday news conference.
Corzine said the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection might step in to block the VX shipments as well.
A pinhead-sized drop of VX is enough to kill a person on contact. The Army developed the gas as a weapon in the 1950s and accumulated large stockpiles, which it is destroying under terms of the Chemical Weapons Convention of 1997.
The U.S. Army plans to ship 4 million gallons of a neutralized form of the nerve gas from Newport, Ind., to a DuPont facility in Deepwater, N.J., for further treatment and final disposal in the Delaware River.
DuPont has defended the plan as safe. The Deepwater plant recently used the same process to treat 5 million gallons of poisonous mustard gas left over from World War I.
"We said from day one that we would only accept wastewater that was safe to treat, that would not contain any detectable [nerve] agent," said Anthony Farina, a DuPont spokesman. "We still maintain that."
DuPont modified its original treatment proposal earlier this year after Delaware and New Jersey raised concerns about threats to the river from remnants of the VX. Company scientists acknowledged that, before the change, some obscure compounds would pass virtually untouched through the plant and into the Delaware River.
Investigation demanded
Last month, New Jersey barred the company from treating the material until the plan undergoes "rigorous and independent review." The state also said that it plans to require new tests for DuPont's wastewater plant that will detect more subtle signs of long-term, toxic threats to aquatic life.
Corzine and Rep. Robert Andrews, D-N.J., fired off a letter to the Army last week, demanding an investigation of the spill. Andrews also inserted language into a recent defense authorization bill that would block shipments of VX or its byproducts from Indiana until the Pentagon completes several studies.
"The idea of taking risks with the health of 2 million people is unacceptable to us," Andrews said.
Andrews' provision would require the Army to treat and store VX on-site in Indiana. It also would require the Army to provide a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis to prove that sending the toxic waste to New Jersey would result in substantial savings to U.S. taxpayers.
Treatment method questioned
Recent reports from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Environmental Protection Agency have raised questions about the safety and effectiveness of the current nerve gas disposal treatments. The EPA is expected to release an updated report this summer.
"The status is unchanged. We're still awaiting a review and report from the Centers for Disease Control and Environmental Protection Agency on the new treatment process," said Kevin C. Donnelly, Delaware's water resources director.
The VX residue would be a neutralized form of the nerve agent -- a caustic chemical compound similar to drain cleaner.
"The safety and protection of our workers, the community and the environment is our first priority in everything we do," said Col. Jesse Barber of the U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency's Alternative Technologies and Approaches. His comments came in a news release Tuesday.
"After the destruction process occurs in Indiana, the very same priority will apply to the resulting wastewater -- including safe transportation and safe treatment processing at the DuPont Secure Environmental Treatment facility in New Jersey," Barber said.
"As we have stated many times, no VX will be shipped off-site," Barber said in the release. "And, the proposed contract between the Army and DuPont will not be awarded until the CDC concerns have been addressed."
Corzine said the treatment process at the DuPont plant, which involves running the caustic residue through filters and treatment tanks, is the least effective of the 10 possible disposal methods. Incineration is considered the most effective method.
News Journal reporter Jeff Montgomery contributed to this report.