The following letter, directed to U.S. Representative Ted Poe whose district includes Port Arthur, supports the wishes of local residents and lets him know that the issue is being watched all over the country. 

Please e-mail Elizabeth Crowe [elizabeth@cwwg.org]  or call [859-986-0868]  and let us know that you want to sign on.  Additionally please alert your allies across the U.S. and encourage them to do likewise.



Representative Ted Poe
1605 Longworth Building
Washington, DC 20515

April 2007

Dear Representative Poe,

For five years, the U.S. Army has been attempting to find a community to which VX nerve agent wastes from a chemical weapons stockpile site in Newport, Indiana could be shipped for final destruction. The waste, called VX hydrolysate, is the result of nerve agent neutralization.  And for five years, communities in Indiana, Ohio, New Jersey and elsewhere have opposed this shipment, instead supporting the safe treatment of the nerve agent waste on-site in Indiana.

Now the Army is contracting with Veolia, a waste disposal company in Port Arthur, Texas to receive this waste to be incinerated.

We are writing to let you know our opposition to this shipment.

Texas receives hazardous waste from all over the country to be burned, landfilled and deep-well injected.  These wastes have already impacted the health of area residents in ways that we may never fully understand.  This nerve agent hydrolysate shipment is particularly unacceptable given that:

• It is unnecessary.  The Newport, Indiana community overwhelmingly supports safe, non-incineration disposal of the VX hydrolysate through Supercritical Water Oxidation, which has also been approved by Indiana state regulators.

• While the waste is no longer "neat" chemical agent, it is a hazardous waste that contains chemical agent and other compounds that are as dangerous as chemical agent.

• Commercial facilities may not posses the appropriate monitoring systems for detection of any chemical agent, which may have survived the neutralization process in Indiana. Two other waste disposal companies in two other states have already rejected the waste, with countless other communities and states having opposed shipment of the waste.

• The Army and Veolia failed to adequately notify the community about its waste shipment and disposal.  This is a clear contradiction to the 2007 Defense Authorization Act Conference Report, which states that in regard to shipment of any chemical agent-related waste, "the Secretary of Defense should propose a credible process that seeks to gain the support of affected communities."

• Port Arthur residents have been disproportionately impacted by oil refinery and chemical plant pollution, as well as hazardous waste incinerator emissions.  This shipment would be a clear case of environmental injustice.
  

In addition, at a time when homeland security concerns are paramount, the shipment of VX hydrolysate from Indiana or any other chemical stockpile site is completely unacceptable.

The solution is clear:  destroy the hydrolysate safely, on-site in Indiana.  We ask that you immediately take a stand to protect Port Arthur area residents from this waste shipment and incineration, and join your colleagues from Ohio, New Jersey and elsewhere in calling on the Army to destroy the hydrolysate in Indiana as per its original plan.

Sincerely,