Enough toxic waste now

Thursday, November 02, 2006

The Army has tons of deadly chemical weapons that it must defang under an international treaty requiring reductions in chemi cal warfare stockpiles. One of the nasty substances to be eliminated is VX nerve agent, a concoction so deadly that a single drop can kill.

VX can be broken down safely and efficiently into harmless components -- carbon dioxide, water and salts -- at the VX storage site in Newport, Ind. But the Army says that is too expensive.

Instead, the Army wants to "pretreat" the VX in Indiana, rendering it into a less deadly but still hazardous liquid, one with the caustic qualities of drain cleaner. That liquid then would be trucked across the country to Salem County in South Jersey. There, it would be run through a DuPont treatment plant to clean it further and dumped in the Delaware River.

The Army says not only would this convoluted process be safe, but it could save taxpayers more than $300 million compared with defusing the VX back in Indiana.

There is serious reason to think that figure is no more believable than the initial cost es timates for the Iraq war. Rep. Rob Andrews (D-1st Dist.) and other members of New Jersey's congressional delegation have been able to block VX shipments until the Government Accountability Office scruti nizes the Army's cost savings estimates and other financial data.

But this proposal has so many other weak points that, even if the Army is right on the financial bottom line, the plan still would be a poor bargain.

The Army's preferred treatment method, called biodegradation, ranked last out of eight alternatives reviewed by scientists from the National Research Council for effectiveness, safety, pollution potential and practicality. Transporting the pretreated VX over interstate highways from Indiana to New Jersey would present serious risks of accidents and hazardous waste spills.

And then, even after treatment in South Jersey, the stuff that would be dumped in the river still would contain chemi cals that could harm fish and other life unless the detoxifica tion process is accomplished with scrupulous attention to detail. Likely this is not.

Andrews says Army VX plans shouldn't be driven by cost so much as by using the safest, most effective method to blunt the threat from this Cold War chemical leftover. That means treating the nerve agent in Indiana. New Jersey has plenty of toxic waste already. Imports aren't needed.



Enough toxic waste now Thursday, November 02, 2006 The Army has tons of deadly chemical weapons that it must defang under an international treaty requiring reductions in chemi cal warfare stockpiles. One of the nasty substances to be eliminated is VX nerve agent, a concoction so deadly that a single drop can kill. VX can be broken down safely and efficiently into harmless components -- carbon dioxide, water and salts -- at the VX storage site in Newport, Ind. But the Army says that is too expensive. Instead, the Army wants to "pretreat" the VX in Indiana, rendering it into a less deadly but still hazardous liquid, one with the caustic qualities of drain cleaner. That liquid then would be trucked across the country to Salem County in South Jersey. There, it would be run through a DuPont treatment plant to clean it further and dumped in the Delaware River. The Army says not only would this convoluted process be safe, but it could save taxpayers more than $300 million compared with defusing the VX back in Indiana. There is serious reason to think that figure is no more believable than the initial cost es timates for the Iraq war. Rep. Rob Andrews (D-1st Dist.) and other members of New Jersey's congressional delegation have been able to block VX shipments until the Government Accountability Office scruti nizes the Army's cost savings estimates and other financial data. But this proposal has so many other weak points that, even if the Army is right on the financial bottom line, the plan still would be a poor bargain. The Army's preferred treatment method, called biodegradation, ranked last out of eight alternatives reviewed by scientists from the National Research Council for effectiveness, safety, pollution potential and practicality. Transporting the pretreated VX over interstate highways from Indiana to New Jersey would present serious risks of accidents and hazardous waste spills. And then, even after treatment in South Jersey, the stuff that would be dumped in the river still would contain chemi cals that could harm fish and other life unless the detoxifica tion process is accomplished with scrupulous attention to detail. Likely this is not. Andrews says Army VX plans shouldn't be driven by cost so much as by using the safest, most effective method to blunt the threat from this Cold War chemical leftover. That means treating the nerve agent in Indiana. New Jersey has plenty of toxic waste already. Imports aren't needed.