The U.S. Army now says that a technical change in the way VX nerve agent is being neutralized at the Newport Chemical Depot has solved the problem of the waste being flammable.

Now, the Army says, contractors can proceed and continue to process some 250,000 gallons of the world's most dangerous and toxic material. The liquid VX, easily dispersed as a deadly spray, has been stored about 30 miles north of Terre Haute at Newport Chemical Depot since the beginnings of the Cold War.

When "neutralized," the nerve agent forms liquid hydrolysate and still contains minute amounts of VX itself.

The plan has been to truck the treated VX to a DuPont Co. plant in New Jersey for further treatment, then dump it into the Delaware River.

But we suspect that the VX saga is far from over. Delays and missteps in the initial and partial neutralization of the oily, amber liquid has only given people more time to think about the dangers inherent in the Army's plan.

First, environmentalists opposed dumping the liquid hydrolysate into the Delaware River. Then a report in April by the Centers for Disease Control focused more critical attention on the plan when it disclosed that even traces of the nerve agent in discharged wastewater could kill fish and other aquatic life. A month later, a U.S. House of Representatives amendment blocked shipment of the VX by-product until federal, state health and environmental agencies agree that the entire disposal plan is safe.

Since then, news that liquid hydrolysate was flammable prompted other groups to criticize its shipment through their states by tanker trucks. That brought transportation safety more prominently into the argument, although the Army now says the new process makes VX safer.

Some people have contended all along that the deadly VX nerve agent should be fully processed, fully neutralized and disposed of at the Newport Chemical Depot. The risks to the people and environment along the transport route, and then the potential damage to aquatic life in the Delaware River, far outweigh any positives of the Army plan.

At this late point in the debate, we agree - even though such changes would undoubtedly be costly. But just slip the shoe on the other foot. Assume instead that the deadly VX is being partially neutralized in New Jersey. Then the Army wants to truck it to Indiana and, after further treatment here, dump it in the Wabash River.

Story created Sep 15, 2005 - 09:32:03 CDT