Officials want IDEM at Newport

Citizens meet with Valley lawmakers about VX safety concerns

By Patricia L. Pastore/Tribune-Star

February 18, 2004

Wabash Valley lawmakers want the Indiana Department of Environmental Management on site when the Army destroys nerve agent VX at Newport.

Safety issues surrounding the Army's plans to neutralize more than 1,200 tons of the deadly substance prompted citizens to meet Monday with State Sen. Tim Skinner and State Reps. Dale Grubb and Clyde Kersey.

A key concern of the citizens is the need for an independent person to verify VX neutralization results at the Newport Chemical Agent Destruction facility, according to a list of 20 concerns they gave the legislators.

"I'm going to try to amend the statute so that an IDEM person is on-site when the nerve agent is destroyed," said Grubb, who noted he has the support of Kersey and Skinner on this measure.

"The citizens want somebody watching over the Army's shoulder. "We just want to be sure everything is done safely for the people of Vermillion County and every citizen in this state. I don't believe the Army will object."

The Army pledged to go beyond the citizens' objectives.

The Army has good rapport with IDEM and welcomes its staff to their site, said Col. Jesse L. Barber.

"If IDEM wants to keep a person on-site full time, that isn't an issue with me," said Barber, U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency project manager for alternative technologies and approaches, on Tuesday from his office in Maryland. "All of our other demil sites have state regulators there."

Sara Morgan of Montezuma, a member of the Citizens Against Incineration, and Leonard Akers of Clinton also question why the Army isn't focused on its primary objective, neutralizing the deadly nerve agent VX to rid the Wabash Valley of any possible terrorism threat, however slight.

The Army appears to tie VX neutralization with treatment and disposal of the VX hydrolysate, Morgan said.

"People in Vermillion County and throughout the state have lived with VX looming over their heads for more than 40 years," Skinner said after speaking with the citizens.

"Their priority is to get it neutralized safely as quickly as possible," he said.

The Army's attempt to transport VX hydrolysate, a caustic byproduct of neutralization, to Ohio for further treatment failed this past year when Ohio authorities refused to sign a permit needed for the hydrolysate to be treated at a commercial hazardous waste treatment plant near Dayton.

Now the Army is hoping to transport the VX neutralization waste to DuPont of Deepwater, N.J., another commercial wastewater treatment facility, she said. Morgan noted that opposition is mounting in the east from citizens in Delaware, Pennsylvania and New Jersey who are opposed to DuPont treating the VX hydrolysate and dumping it into the Delaware River, which flows into the Atlantic Ocean.

"If the Army insists on going to New Jersey with hydrolysate, it may take a while before it is shipped," she said. "We'd rather see VX hydrolysate treated on-site but if it needs to be stored [at Newport] while the Army sorts out the best way to deal with the hydrolysate, we won't object."

Plans already are in place to deal with any problem the Army might encounter with VX hydrolysate disposal.

"The greatest risk is continued storage of VX," Barber said. "I plan to proceed with the destruction of VX. I plan to be operational by June. We are going to meet again with the citizens in Vermillion County in the spring to keep them informed on how we are progressing."

The colonel's latest plan calls for a different type of VX hydrolysate storage/transportation container.

Barber said a better approach to storage/transportation is to use 5,000-gallon "intermodal containers" that lock on to a special truck chassis. He expects to lease 40 of them, enough to store and transport 200,000 gallons of the VX byproduct, he said.

"If the treatment storage disposal facility [at DuPont] isn't ready for the hydrolysate by the time targeted to begin neutralization, then we'll go ahead and build the tank farm using four large storage tanks," he said.

The concerned citizens' goal is safety.

"Our reasoning is not to delay VX neutralization," Akers said. "We want to ensure the VX destruction process is done in the safest possible way for all the inhabitants and the environment. It is best to be slow and deliberate rather than fast and reckless."

VX is a Cold War military chemical weapon of mass destruction. The Army has said a drop the size of a BB can kill in minutes.

This deadly chemical weapon has never been destroyed in large quantities by neutralization.

"There are so many unknowns regarding the VX byproduct and the transportation of that substance that it is unsettling," Skinner said. "There is a general feeling that the military is trying to meet deadlines and what we want is that they don't hurry too much in an attempt to meet those deadlines."

Skinner said another issue is the standards set for a non-detectable amount of VX in the hydrolysate. He said since those standards were set for destruction by incineration, he and Grubb both ask IDEM to write into the state statute acceptable standards for neutralization.

The citizens believe the Army put its spin on information released to the public and they have lost faith in its reliability.

"From what I've learned, the Army's credibility is basically shot," Skinner said. "The loss of credibility by the government is sad."

Barber is trying to repair any gaps in communication between the Army and the citizens.

"Sara Morgan told me there was a gap in a number of communications before I got there," Barber said. Decisions were made and the public was not informed. If I have a problem, I owe it to the people to tell them. I hope to have a communications structure in place to alleviate that concern.

Safety is the Army's priority.

"We will not do anything to jeopardize the public or the environment," Barber said, a statement he says is his own.

Patricia Pastore can be reached at (812)231-4271 or pat.pastore@tribstar.com