The United States once churned out one of the world's deadliest
nerve agents by the ton. A Cold War was on, and, to some, chemical weapons
seemed a legitimate form of defense.
But now those stockpiles of lethal VX must be destroyed -
and not only because America has agreed to under the international chemical
weapons convention. Post 9/11, there shouldn't be a speck of VX or any other
chemical weapons around for terrorists to grab.
The U.S. Army has been working for years to develop a safe
and efficient VX disposal plan. But a current proposal to destroy 1,200 tons
of VX and ship the byproduct to South Jersey for further treatment still
has too many unanswered questions. Chief among them: Is this 100 percent
safe for people and the environment?
Those questions must be settled if the Army has any hope of
swaying increasingly skeptical government officials in New Jersey and Delaware.
Even so, it will be a very tough sell.
The current proposal would have the VX chemically destroyed
at the military site where it is stored - the Newport Chemical Depot in Newport,
Ind. Left behind would be about two million gallons of a watery residue called
hydrolysate. The caustic but nonlethal hydrolysate would then be trucked
about 630 miles to DuPont's Secure Environmental Treatment facility in Deepwater,
N.J., near the Delaware Memorial Bridge.
It would take trucks two years to complete the shipments.
After the hydrolysate went through further treatment at DuPont,
a liquid the Army says is harmless would then be dumped into the Delaware
River. Mother Nature would do the final treatment - diluting the liquid still
more as it headed out to the ocean.
New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey and Delaware Gov. Ruth Ann Minner
and their respective environmental departments recently have raised red flags
about the plan. Some of their objections, stated in a letter sent to the
Army this month, are overblown - such as incorrectly saying that two chemicals
left in the treated hydrolysate would pose "significant risk."
But other objections have merit, including the worry that
an increase in phosphorous caused by discharge of the treated hydrolysate
could harm aquatic life in this precious regional waterway. Pennsylvania
environmental officials, by the way, have been bewilderingly silent here.
What is needed next are two new and exhaustive disposal plan
reviews. One, already planned by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
must establish there is not a genuine risk to the millions of humans who
recreate in, and draw their drinking water from, the Delaware. The Army needs
to assign an independent science body - before disposal - to assess
whether this plan would threaten fish and other aquatic life.
The Army has done itself no favors by initially underplaying
public disclosure of the disposal plan and raising suspicions of secrecy.
Finally, though, adequate public hearings have been held. The public comment
period on the DuPont plan ends on Monday.
Meanwhile, the Army has made a smart decision. It will begin
the initial VX destruction at Newport. The hydrolysate residue will then
be stored in tanks there until a final disposal scheme is decided.
Given rising local opposition to the plan, the Army should
develop an alternative course, perhaps exploring the construction of a treatment
facility at the Newport site.
But McGreevey, Minner and other heads of states would do well
to remember this: It's in the national interest that these stocks of VX are
destroyed. If all states say "Not in My Back Yard," it won't get done.
