With the clock winding down before the deadline for public comment, county residents are gathering signatures for petitions and speaking out at meetings against DuPont's proposal to treat a neutralized byproduct of the deadly nerve agent XV for the U.S. Army in Deepwater.
Tomorrow at midnight is the Army's deadline for accepting public comment about the proposal. Officials have said every comment from residents will be taken into careful consideration.
Last fall, a federal decision turned the neutralized nerve agent waste away from publicly owned plant Perma-Fix in Dayton, Ohio. Residents there also raised a strong protest against the VX treatment proposal.
The DuPont Co. has a long history in the region. Frenchman E I. du Pont started the company in Delaware in 1802, manufacturing gunpowder along the banks of the Brandywine River.
The Chambers Works site opened in Deepwater in 1917, at the same time the U.S. entered World War I. At the time it was known as the Deepwater Dye Works. Its name was changed in 1944 to the Chambers Works in honor of Dr. Arthur D. Chambers, a chemist who worked at the plant.
While the production of dyes ceased at the plan in 1980, the Chambers Works continues to produce a wide array of products.
The company today produces 500 products and services at the Deepwater plant, including key ingredients in Kevlar and Nomex products. The Secure Environmental Treatment facility, which would treat the VX byproduct, was opened for operation in 1976.
The Chambers Works today is the second largest employer in Salem County, with 1,200 employees and 300 contractors. The number of workers today at the plant, however, are only a fraction of those who had jobs there in the Chambers Works' heyday.
Chambers Works has been an employer for many generations in towns bordering the plant and the current SET facility.
Ellie Zane, a 40-year resident of Deepwater, is an example of that background: Her husband, father, three brothers and sister all worked at the plant. During the Great Depression, her father found employment at DuPont when many others were out of work.
"It was the place to work," she said. "It was wonderful because they gave men jobs."
"Between here and there, I'm sure there must be someplace they can treat it," she said. "I feel like we've had so much happen to the Delaware River."
Many residents in Deepwater and surrounding towns such as Penns Grove, Carneys Point and Pennsville have voiced concerns about the VX nerve agent treatment proposal. DuPont and the Army held two public information sessions -- one in Carneys Point and the other in Delaware -- March 17 and 19, to allow residents and others to ask questions and express concerns.
At the Carneys Point meeting, held at Penns Grove High School, locals asked questions alongside officials, Delaware residents and other from around the state. Before the question and answer session at the meeting, Sharon Finlayson, New Jersey Environmental Federation chair, said she was heartened by the many local people who attended.
"They understand the extreme risk involved. They understand it and get the message," she said. "(This) is an experiment on us and our region. We're here to tell them, we're not going to let DuPont put our family and residents at risk."
Finlayson said the many miles of transportation increase the risk of exposing the byproduct, should it accidentally spill from transportation trucks, thereby putting others along the route from Indiana to New Jersey at risk.
In a telephone interview Friday, director of the New Jersey Sierra Club Jeff Tittel also said his group is concerned with the proposal to bring the VX byproduct to the Deepwater SET facility.
"We couldn't find nerve agent in Iraq and now we're dumping it in the Delaware," he said.
Environmental and public safety must be carefully considered because discharging the processed byproduct into the Delaware River could possibly have a negative impact on marine life, according to Tittel.
"It's one of the dumbest things I've ever heard of," he said. "There's been no tests or long-term studies about the impact on the environment. I'm most concerned about a spill or an accident when it's en route, let alone an impact to the fish and environment."
Others echoed Tittel's concerns. In Quinton, the township committee approved a resolution at its April 6 meeting that opposed the proposal.
"We don't have to do anything, but what we would do is take a position," said Mayor James Kates during the meeting. "Quinton Township is going to speak up here opposing future treatment (of the byproduct) by the U.S. Army."
Carneys Point resident Don Redfield attended recent township committee meetings in Carneys Point and a borough council meeting in Penns Grove, telling local officials from both municipalities he was worried about the proposal. Both towns have a foul odor issue that has existed for nearly two years and might be caused by Delaware industry, according to officials.
"We're dealing with smells over here already," Redfield told council at a recent Penns Grove borough council meeting.
In a telephone interview Friday, Penns Grove Mayor John Washington said he is concerned about the treatment proposal. He said residents of the river town once regularly swam and fished in the river, but years of heavy pollution have hindered those activities.
"We want to preserve the water in Penns Grove," he said. "My concern is the Delaware River. ... To bring something that far -- there's got to be somewhere in between."
Carneys Point Mayor John "Mack" Lake said it is good for residents to ask questions and show concern about the proposed contract. He said, ultimately, the decision for the contract will be made following studies and permit approvals by officials other than local government, but residents should still vocalize their opinions.
Joyce Ronketty, of Penns Grove, is one of many Salem County residents who have circulated petitions against the proposal. The petition she circulated said signers are "vehemently opposed" to the proposal to transport the nerve agent hydrolysate from Indiana to New Jersey. About 30 people signed her petition. Many were neighbors and relatives.
She said her husband, a fisherman and oysterman, has seen the effect of pollutants on fish in the river. The water is a form of recreation for many people in the county, and if their ability to safely swim, boat and fish is endangered, she does not know what they will do.
"This is it for people along the East Coast," she said. "Once that's gone, where are we going to go?"