Southern New Jersey lawmakers have sidetracked Army plans to send chemical weapons waste to a Delaware River treatment plant until at least March.
An amendment to a defense bill signed earlier this week assures the Government Accountability Office will review the proposal before the Army can begin shipments.
The Army wants to send 2 million to 4 million gallons of treated VX nerve agent to DuPont Co.'s Chambers Works facility, a commercial wastewater plant in Deepwater, N.J. VX -- one of the military's deadliest chemical weapons -- is neutralized at a plant in Indiana.
"I believe strongly that there are too many risks and too many unanswered questions about this plan and it should never happen," U.S. Rep. Robert Andrews, D-N.J., said.
Delaware's congressional delegation supported the action, according to their offices.
"We support any study that's going to be independent and thorough and review the cost-benefit analysis," said Elizabeth Wink, spokeswoman for Republican Rep. Mike Castle.
The GAO report is due Dec. 1. The amendment bars any shipments of VX wastewater for at least 60 days thereafter.
Although the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Environmental Protection Agency found recently that the project could be managed safely, critics have argued that the proposal ignores threats to people and pollution risks in the river.
Tracy Carluccio, a spokeswoman for the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, said her group is prepared to go to court if necessary.
"We do not accept that it is safe and that it possibly could be made safe for discharging into the Delaware River," Carluccio said.
Anthony Farina, a DuPont spokesman, said Thursday that GAO reviewers already have toured the Deepwater plant.
Contact Jeff Montgomery at 678-4277 or jmontgomery@delawareonline.com