OUR VIEW
Wait for all
the studies to end before agreeing to VX river proposal
07/31/2006
Just when we all forget about the DuPont Co.'s pending
request to dump a diluted concoction of the world's most deadly nerve gas in
the Delaware River, it rears its controversial head yet again.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said
late last week the the Army's plan to destroy VX agent in Indiana and truck the
byproduct to DuPont's Chambers Works at Deepwater, N.J., adequately addresses
public health concerns. It seems that at every turn in this ongoing high-stakes
saga that threatens the future of the Delaware River a new study proclaims all
would be fine with VX disposal.
We continue to side with the New Jersey congressional
delegation on this matter. Reps. Robert Andrews, a Democrat, and Frank
LoBiondo, a Republican, insisted the CDC plan failed to definitely declare the
Army's shipment and disposal plan was safe. Rep. Andrews said the CDC's
conclusions were based on "the rosiest of scenarios, the best-case
assumption." Currently, the Government Accountability Office is reviewing
the overall plan.
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To the great credit of Delaware's Department of
Natural Resources and Environmental Control, a statement for the agency said,
"We won't be rushing to judgment." That's good to hear.
We've been unconvinced of the safety or advisability
of the Army's plan to transport the neutralized 1,200-ton stock by truck to
DuPont's commercial wastewater treatment plant from Indiana. The Army has
characterized what it would dump in the Delaware River as drain cleaner. As
we've said before, dumping 2.5 million pounds of drain cleaner in the river is
not something anyone should support.
We agree with the Delaware Riverkeeper Network and the
Chemical Weapons Working Group in calling for a 180-day delay in any action on
the project in order that another review of the evidence take place.