By JEFF MONTGOMERY
The News Journal
10/07/2004

A south New Jersey congressman Wednesday demanded that the Army release all results from recent laboratory trials for a chemical weapon disposal project that would ship wastes to a treatment plant at the foot of the Delaware Memorial Bridge.

Rep. Rob Andrews, D-N.J., said the Army Chemical Materials Agency had declined to release interim results from tests of a plan designed to neutralize a 1,269-ton stockpile of deadly VX nerve agent stored in Newport, Ind.

"This is yet another example of a failure to be clear about a very risky and controversial process," Andrews said.

The Army wants to break down the VX with hot water and caustic liquid similar to drain cleaner and ship the resulting wastewater to DuPont's industrial treatment plant at its Chambers Works, in Deepwater, N.J.

A spokesman for the Army agency could not be reached Wednesday. In response to written questions on the same issue submitted by The News Journal on Sept. 28, the military said: "Testing is ongoing and is scheduled to be completed in the fall. It would be inappropriate to comment on this at this time."

Andrews, who has been seeking the results for weeks, called the Army's delay unfair and troubling.

He said he favors a different neutralization process that would complete the nerve agent's destruction in Indiana.

"If all test results are not released, I am concerned that there could later be an effort to massage negative test results in order to hide serious deficiencies identified by scientific experts," Andrews wrote in a letter to the Army on Tuesday. "Releasing test results as they occur not only shines a light on this process, but it also tells the public that the Army has nothing to hide."

The governors of Delaware and New Jersey have opposed the project, saying the wastes should be treated closer to Newport. Delaware regulators said the Army has failed to assure states that all VX - lethal even in tiny amounts - will be destroyed and that disposal byproducts are safe for river discharge.

This summer, the Army conceded that small but unacceptable amounts of VX from some containers in the stockpile had survived the original disposal treatment. Officials said the problem agents came from containers with particular stabilizing chemicals, about 54 percent of the total, but they declined to release results.

DuPont spokesman Anthony R. Farina said in a prepared statement Wednesday the company would proceed only if the project could be completed safely. "Our community should have access to thorough and complete information about the Army's proposal," Farina said.

Contact Jeff Montgomery at 678-4277 or jmontgomery@delawareonline.com.