For decades, Newport, Indiana has been home to one of the most deadly chemical agents in the world.

But soon, that agent could be gone.

Officials from the Newport Chemical Depot laid out plans at Tuesday night's Vermillion County emergency reponse meeting. Those plans call for a complete removal of VX nerve agent from Vermillion County.

Former Indiana Emergency Management Director Pat Ralston says it will take some time.

"We all want it out of here," said Ralston. "But it's got to be put in a place that can be neutralized and destroyed in such a way that it's never going to bother anybody again."

The process could take as long as two years from the time they begin destruction, which should begin in the near future.

"We plan to begin agent destruction later in 2004," said Jeffrey Brubaker of the Newport Chemical Depot. "We're hoping to start in the summer of this year."

The VX nerve agent will be broken down into hydrolysate, a mixture of the nerve agent with heated sodium hydroxide and water. The treated product would be 85% water, and not deadly.

"It's basically like Draino," said Ralston. "Obviously something you don't wanna drink, you don't wanna touch, but it won't kill you if it touches you."

Once the process is finished, Dupont will transport the hydrolysate to it's treatment plant in New Jersey, marking the end of an era for Vermillion County. A spokesperson for Dupont told us Tuesday that they handle about 15 million gallons of wastewater every day, so the 3,000 to 7,000 gallons coming from Newport is relatively routine.