Treating VX

In an unusual alliance, environmental activists, union members, local elected officials, and others have banded together to urge the Army to reconsider its plan to truck wastewater created from the destruction of VX nerve agent in Indiana to New Jersey for final treatment.

The Army plans to transport the toxic wastewater, or hydrolysate, to a DuPont hazardous waste treatment facility in Deepwater, N.J., for processing and ultimate disposal in the Delaware River. The alliance is asking the Army to revert to its original plan to use supercritical water oxidation (SCWO) to treat the hydrolysate on-site at its Newport, Ind., disposal facility.

Jeff Lindblad, spokesman for the Army's Chemical Materials Agency, says using SCWO to treat VX "would add at least two years and an additional $300 million in cost" to the project. But Chemical Weapons Working Group spokeswoman Elizabeth Crowe counters, "The Army has released no detailed assessment showing how off-site treatment will be faster and cheaper" than using SCWO on-site.

Jim Rowe, president of United Steelworkers Local 943 in Deepwater, has concerns about maintenance of the treatment facility and the future harm to human health and the environment.

DuPont spokesman Anthony Farina says the company "would only be involved in the project if it can be accomplished safely and effectively" with no harm to the community or the environment.

To date, the Army has hydrolyzed about 198,300 gal of VX at Newport but has had to store the hydrolysate on-site until the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention releases its congressionally mandated risk assessment of the Army's plan. This report will be released later this month, probably after Congress returns from recess on April 24.