VX waste plan likely to pass; Governors express their
concern
DOVER - The deadline for public comment on an Army proposal
for the DuPont Co. to treat the byproduct of a deadly nerve agent and discharge
the effluent into the Delaware River closes today.
Col. Jesse Barber, the Army's project manager for alternative technologies
and approaches, who has been promoting the plan, remains confident in the
effort to get the caustic wastewater of nerve agent VX treated at DuPont's
Chambers Works facility in Deepwater, N.J., at the foot of the Delaware Memorial
Bridge.
The Army will address the submitted concerns and believes "that the project
will be given a green light," Col. Barber said.
Army chemical and legal officials will review the comments and no independent
review of them would be required, he said.
"I don't like to speculate on how long" that process will take, Col. Barber
said.
The Army is waiting for an assessment of its plan by the
federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"It is not unusual," Col. Barber said, for that agency to review an Army
proposal.
No decisions will be made until that review is complete, said Army spokesman
Jeff Lindblad.
Transporting the caustic wastewater likely wouldn't begin for three to four
months after awarding a contract, Mr. Lindblad said.
While there is no time schedule set on the proposed DuPont treatment process,
Col. Barber said he hopes to start the initial destruction of the nerve agent
at its Indiana site toward the end of the summer.
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The byproduct of that process is what the Army hopes to contract
DuPont to treat.
That contract has some opposition. A recent resolution objecting to the plan
passed the Delaware House of Representatives and Senate.
Last week, New Jersey Gov. James McGreevey and Delaware Gov. Ruth Ann Minner
sent a joint letter to the Pentagon objecting to the project.
The letter states that DuPont's study of the proposal shows "an inappropriate
method of handling" the acids involved and notes "little, if any" published
information on the environmental effects the materials would have on the
waterway.
It goes on to question the "safety and wisdom of transporting this material"
from its Indiana stockpiling site and states that the Army "has failed" to
show that levels of the nerve agent in the discharged material would be below
detection limits.
It also states that it's in the best interest of Delaware and New Jersey
for the material to be treated closer to its Indiana depot.
"I read the New Jersey and Delaware governors' letter a little bit differently
than most people," Col. Barber said.
"They didn't come flat out and say, 'No, we won't do it.'"
Delaware's Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control did
not send its technical review to the Army after reviewing the proposal, said
Kevin Donnelly, director of DNREC's Division of Water Resources.
"There's no need to," Mr. Donnelly said. "The state's comments are the governor's
comments."