WEST DEPTFORD TWP. -- New Jersey legislators say they have "another arrow in the quiver" in their fight against the planned treatment and disposal of the neutralized byproduct of the deadly nerve agent VX into the Delaware River.
U.S. Rep. Rob Andrews, D-1st Dist., and U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, D-NJ, gathered with Assemblyman Douglas Fisher, D-3rd Dist., on Monday on the banks of the Delaware River at the RiverWinds Community Center to announce their latest demand for safety reviews of the U.S. Army's proposal to send up to 4 million gallons of hydrolysate to the DuPont Chambers Works in Deepwater.
VX is a deadly nerve agent used in chemical warfare. The U.S. Army is now destroying its stockpile of the agent.
The plan is already undergoing heavy scrutiny from various state and federal agencies -- the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP) is expected to release its review of the environmental health risks, as well as the technological aspects, of the plan in April. But in a letter drafted Monday to the U.S. Secretary of Transportation, Menendez and Andrews demanded that the U.S. Department of Transportation assure the public that no community along the 700-mile planned route of the trucks which would carry the hydrolysate through Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New Jersey would be at risk from a potential spill of the chemicals.
"This is another arrow in our quiver," said Menendez, adding that he doesn't think any amount of review or reports would satisfy him. "New Jersey is not a garbage dump, it's not a wasteland, and we won't accept this VX byproduct on the banks of the Delaware River -- a byproduct which I think is more corrosive in nature than the Army would have us believe. This letter asks the U.S. Secretary of Transportation for the assurance that this entire routing be determined safe. We think that it cannot."
"This plan, from start to finish, doesn't make any sense," said Andrews. "Not for us, not for Indiana, Pennsylvania or Ohio. Hopefully, we can now form a block of opposition to this -- I think this is a hurdle that DuPont and the Army can't jump."
Anthony Farina, a DuPont Co. spokesman, said his company is committed to the lucrative Army deal only if it can be done safely for all involved. While Farina declined comment on Andrews' and Menendez' letter to the Department of Transportation, he said DuPont "looks forward to the CDCP report coming out this spring."
Jeff Lindblad, a spokesman for the Army Chemical Materials Agency, said it is his understanding that the CDCP report will address transportation issues, and declined to comment on the Garden State lawmakers' demand for a separate review from the Department of Transportation.
The legislators said they held the press conference here and not in Salem County where DuPont is located because they wanted to stress that hydrolysate pollution in the Delaware River would affect many communities.
"We have a river that we just spent years and years cleaning up," said Fisher. "Now, to have it assaulted with the byproduct of a nerve agent such as this -- we don't need it, and we don't want it."
Opposition to the plan was underscored by last week's 300-gallon spill at the Indiana facility built to handle the first phase of VX destruction. This was the fourth reported spill at the facility since VX destruction began last May.
"How can we have faith that this material, which will ultimately be dumped into the Delaware River, has been rendered 'harmless' by those who cannot adequately manage the initial treatment?" said Sharon Finlayson, board chair of the New Jersey Environmental Federation who was present at Monday's press conference. "Our government should stop wasting (millions of dollars) on trying to make the public view VX hydrolysate as acceptable, and put those dollars into the facility in Indiana so that the destruction can be completed at the storage site."
Along with Fisher, Third District legislators state Sen. Stephen Sweeney and Assemblyman John Burzichelli released a statement through their office saying they remained opposed to the treatment plan.
Last month the plan to treat the VX byproduct got a boost when the federal Environmental Protection Agency said it was satisfied that DuPont could safely treat and dispose of the hydrolysate.