Chambers
Works plant in N.J. among sites Defense Department is considering for
disposal
The DuPont Co.'s Chambers Works plant along the Delaware River near Wilmington is among sites the Defense Department is considering to send additional waste from chemical weapons for disposal.
Sending the waste from stockpiles of mustard gas and VX and sarin nerve agents from Kentucky and Colorado chemical plants to off-site treatment facilities such as Chambers Works would save $200 million to $400 million over the life of the two- to three-year project, said Katherine DeWeese, a spokeswoman for the department.
"DuPont is not the only facility that could do that, but DuPont certainly has a proven capability," said DeWeese, who represents the Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives program.
Other sites that use incineration or other methods could face more opposition than DuPont's biological-treatment wastewater plant, she said.
DuPont's commercial wastewater plant in Deepwater, N.J., near the foot of the Delaware Memorial Bridge, has treated several million gallons of waste from a mustard agent stockpile in Aberdeen, Md. And DuPont is seeking approval to treat millions of gallons of wastewater from a VX nerve agent neutralization project in Newport, Ind.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently issued a report concluding that DuPont could complete the work from the Indiana plant without jeopardizing public safety, the environment or water quality. That conclusion followed DuPont's decision to rework its original treatment process in a way that the CDC and DuPont expect to prevent most pollutants from reaching the Delaware River.
Still, environmentalists are "very concerned about VX," said David Keifer of the Delaware Chapter of the Sierra Club.
The concern, he said, is that anything discharged into the Delaware River could affect Delaware residents and other river and bay users, especially "if something went wrong."
The Sierra Club has asked Gov. Ruth Ann Minner to hold hearings on the proposal. Minner's administration, which initially fought the VX treatment proposal, is reviewing the CDC report.
Delaware residents and river and bay users should have the opportunity to ask questions about the proposal, Keifer said.
The potential plan comes as state and federal agencies devote millions to cleaning up the Delaware and its tributaries.
The river and bay support a fishing industry that includes shellfish and finfish catches worth more than $6.5 million per year. The most recent numbers available found the size of striped bass catches are up. And after hitting a low in the early 1980s, when just 30 species of finfish were found in the Delaware Bay, as many as 55 species have been found in recent years, according to state surveys.
The Deepwater plant now discharges about 17 million gallons of treated chemical and municipal waste daily.
The Pueblo (Colo.) Chemical Depot has 2,611 tons of mustard agent. The VX and sarin nerve agents at the Blue Grass Army Depot in Kentucky require different treatment processes and generate more hazardous solid wastes that DuPont would have to bury at its hazardous waste landfill at Chambers Works.
Craig Williams, a member of a panel that advises the Blue Grass depot, said a Defense Department official sought comments on the idea at a Tuesday meeting without mentioning a specific destination. Department officials estimate the move could save a total of $100 million to $150 million in Kentucky, Williams said.
Williams said that if DuPont wins the contract to process the Newport, Ind., waste, it will be a clear sign that more work will be headed to Chambers Works.
John Klomp, who chairs the Citizens' Advisory Commission to the Colorado Chemical Demilitarization Program, said that similar ideas are still in play for the Pueblo depot.
"The only site that we know of that's available right now is DuPont," Klomp said. "I think they're going to tell us it's a viable option, but only that it's an option."
At one point, DuPont estimated revenues at more than $13 million annually for the two- to three-year job of treating the Newport, Ind., waste. Officials have yet to apply for state permits in New Jersey.
DuPont spokesman Anthony Farina said he was unaware of any specific proposal for DuPont, and said the government already has contracts in place for on-site waste handling at Blue Grass and Pueblo.
But the Defense Department has confirmed that it is taking a second look at other spots and has previously confirmed the Deepwater site was under review.
"We have not been approached about taking any waste from other sites," Farina said, adding that DuPont wants the public to review its plan for the waste from Indiana. "We are squarely focused on the Newport proposal only."
News Journal reporter Molly Murray contributed to this article. Contact Jeff Montgomery at 678-4277 or jmontgomery@delawareonline.com.