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CDC: Army nerve agent plan OK

Friday, July 28, 2006

By ANDREW FRANKUM

Staff Writer

SALEM -- The Center for Disease Control and Prevention, in a report released Thursday, said it has no technical issues with the U.S. Army's plan to transport the byproduct of the deadly nerve agent VX to the DuPont Chambers Works in Deepwater for final treatment and discharge into the Delaware river.

While the CDC endorsed the project, area members of Congress, however, said they remain opposed to the project.

"I'm not convinced that we have met the standards necessary," said U.S. Rep. Frank A. LoBiondo, R-2nd Dist. "We are going to continue to press very hard to have every "T" crossed and every "I" dotted and every question answered. And that has not been done yet."

The Army is moving ahead with destruction of its stockpile of the VX nerve agent currently stored at the Newport Chemical Agent Disposal Facility in Newport, Ind. The Army is neutralizing the VX leaving a byproduct known as caustic VX hydrolysate (CVXH), which it wants to transport to the Chambers Works in Deepwater.

DuPont would then further process the CVXH at its high-tech wastewater treatment facility before discharging the final waste product into the Delaware River just north of the Delaware Memorial Bridge.

When initially announced, the proposal raised concerns and questions among Congressional lawmakers from New Jersey and Delaware prompting a formal review of the proposal to treat the VX byproduct here in Salem County.

In April 2006 the CDC released its Phase I report which did not recommend the Army proceeding with the treatment and disposal at DuPont. However, this phase of the report did not consider a modified process at the DuPont plant that has shown to be effective, on the laboratory scale, in removing phosphonates and eliminating trace amounts of VX if needed.

The report by the CDC released Thursday, which includes DuPont's modified process, found the proposal presented by the Army and DuPont to be sufficient to address critical issues of human toxicity, transportation and treatment.

The report further states that if DuPont chooses to sign a contract with the Army for the disposal of the byproduct, it would require a modification of DuPont's current New Jersey Pollution Discharge Elimination System Permit to accept the CVXH. DuPont would also have to satisfy the Environmental Protection Agency that the treatment meets its limitations to protect the environment.

LoBiondo was joined by U.S. Rep. Rob Andrews, D-1st Dist., Thursday in a conference call to express their opposition to the project.

"I remain unalterably opposed to the plan to dispose VX residue in the Delaware River. Today's report in no way changes my position or weakens my resolve to stop this poorly conceived idea," Andrews said.

Andrews said the CDC report is based on the presumption that everything will go as planned. He said the CDC report says if the project went as planned the treated CVXH would be safe for disposal in the Delaware River.

"With all due respect to the CDC, that's not the question. The question is will the Army conduct this process in a way that will give us a level of assurance that VX will never end up in the Delaware River? As far as I'm concerned the answer is 'no.' The Army has not given us that level of assurance."

Andrews questioned the ability of the Army facility at Newport, Ind., to disintegrate the VX and remove the killer element from the byproduct.

"How sure can we be that there will never be any significant level of VX in the hydrolysate," Andrews asked. "We don't know. And because we do not know we should not take the risk with the people of the tri-state area."

Andrews also said the Army has a long history of "over-promising and under-performing." He told reporters of a significant spill in treatment process in Newport, Ind., as well as a misunderstanding concerning the flammability of CVXH. He said the Army originally said the byproduct will have flammability in excess of 200 degrees when in reality it is as low as 60 degrees.

"The burden of proof is on the Army to show there will never be a quantity of VX that can find its way to the Delaware River," Andrews said.

To add another step in the process to thoroughly investigate the proposal, the congressmen said they inserted language in the Armed Services Bill of this year, that requires the General Accountability Office (GAO) to do a complete exhaustive study on the entire process and determine if it is done properly by the Army.

Andrews said the study will look at every step of the process without assuming the project will go as planned. Until the study is finished, the Army will be under legal prohibition to proceed with the shipping of the VX byproduct out of Indiana.

"We believe the GAO will show there are too many risks, too many unanswered questions and too many reasons not to go forward with the disposal of VX in the Delaware River," Andrews said.

DuPont officials, who also received the CDC report Thursday, said they were pleased with the report but do not want to rush the project.

Nick Fanandakis, vice president and general manager of DuPont Chemical Solutions Enterprise released a statement saying, "DuPont will make its decision as to whether to pursue this project after government officials, regulators, community leaders and the company have had the opportunity to review and react to the CDC report."

Fanandakis also said stakeholders should have the opportunity to examine the findings from the CDC and EPA and incorporate them into their review process.

"From the outset, we said we would be involved in this proposal only if it can be accomplished safely and effectively without any adverse impact on the community, our employees or the environment," Fanandakis said.

John Strait, plant manager at the Chambers Works, where the CVXH would be treated, agreed Thursday saying company officials will discuss the CDC findings with the Army and with lawmakers.

"We are not going to rush off and do anything," Strait said.

Still, New Jersey lawmakers vow to continue to fight against the project.

U.S. Sens. Robert Menendez and Frank R. Lautenberg of New Jersey released the following statement Thursday:

"The CDC's recommendation to allow VX waste to be transported into New Jersey and dumped in the Delaware River is flat-out wrong, and based on a rosy best-case scenario that doesn't stand up to the Army's continued troubles in carrying this project out. This fight is not over. We'll wait for the GAO to complete their review, and continue to work with other members of the delegation to fight the federal government's plan to use New Jersey's rivers as a toxic sewer."