Published: December
21, 2006 11:13 pm
Berea group part of federal lawsuit
Against Nerve Agent Transportation
Register News Writer
The Berea-based Chemical Weapons Working Group (CWWG), a watchdog over the chemical weapon destruction process, are plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit against the Army to try and stop its plan to dump byproducts from deadly chemical weapons into the Delaware River.
The CWWG is just one of the many plaintiffs that includes similar organizations from New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware.
The complaint claims that the Army's plan to transport the byproduct of neutralized VX nerve agent (also stored at the Blue Grass Army Depot) from Indiana violates a federal law banning interstate movement of chemical weapons.
The suit was filed Wednesday in federal district court and it strongly suggests that the Army do an environmental impact assessment before the project continues.
Other co-plaintiffs include the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, the American Littoral Society, Pennsylvania Clean Water Action, the Delaware and New Jersey Audubon societies and the New Jersey Environmental Foundation.
The news was delivered to Kentuckians earlier this month at a meeting of the Chemical Weapons Working Group.
The Defense Department no longer wants to conduct on-site super-critical water oxidation (SCWO) of the hazardous material that will result from neutralization of the chemical agents in the rockets, bombs, land mines and artillery shells stored at the depot.
The SCWO method was to be a pilot project at the Blue Grass Army Depot.
The military has concluded that it can save up to $150 million annually by shipping chemically neutralized nerve agent to another site for secondary treatment, said Bill Pehlivanian, deputy program manager for the Defense Department's Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives (ACWA).
The $150 million in annual savings the military hopes to realize from off-site SCWO is about how much it planned to spend annually on its destruction projects at depots in Richmond and Pueblo, Colo.
Rather than burn the chemical waste in an incinerator, as was done at other storage sites in Alabama, Arkansas, Oregon, Utah and on Johnston Island in the Pacific Ocean, the chemical agents stored at the depot south of Richmond and near Pueblo, will be mixed with sodium hydroxide, commonly known as "caustic lye."
The resulting solution is no longer a chemical weapon, but it remains highly corrosive. Combining it with water under intense heat and pressure -- super critical water oxidation -- will reduce it to ordinary "industrial waste."
Elizabeth Crowe, program director for the CWWG, said the group supports safe disposal of the weapons and the secondary waste in an environmentally sound ways.
"The shipment of hydrolysate is completely unacceptable to those communities and we will continue to urge the Army to revert back to the original plan for safe treatment in Indiana," Crowe said.
Bob Wendelgass of the Clean Water Action based in Pennsylvania, said he is very concerned about the danger of trucking these highly toxic materials from one end of Pennsylvania to the other.
"The risk of possible accidents on Interstate 80 or other highly traveled routes, is a serious concern for us," he said.
Craig Williams, director of the CWWG, has played an important role in pushing the Pentagon to continue funding for the pilot project in Richmond. And, based on the recent news announcing the Army's decision, he will have to continue fighting for the safe disposal of the weapons stored at the depot.
"(The lawsuit) is an obvious action reflecting the depths of resistance to the Army's proposed plan to send nerve agent waste into a community," Williams said.
Army spokesman Jeff Lindblad said he was aware of the lawsuit, but would not comment on pending litigation, according to Associated Press reports.
The Centers for Disease Control found no safety issues with the transport of the byproduct in a 2005 report, and the Environmental Protection Agency determined this year the dumping would not harm the river’Äôs plant or animal life, Lindblad said.
The proposed dumping site, near the Delaware Memorial Bridge, is about 30 miles upriver of the Delaware Bay’Äôs oyster beds.
Ronica Shannon can be reached at rshannon@richmondregister.com or 623-1669, Ext. 234.