Citizens Groups Say U.S. Army Inaccurate in Response to Solution for VX Waste Processing

A coalition of organizations led by the Chemical Weapons Working Group yesterday alleged factual inaccuracies in a U.S. Army response to a proposal for disposing of waste product from VX neutralization (see GSN, Sept. 15).

The groups maintain that the waste product can safely be treated at Indiana’s Newport Chemical Agent Disposal Facility, as opposed to transporting the product to New Jersey to be processed and drained into the Delaware River, according to a Chemical Weapon Working Group press statement.

The organizations sent a letter of protest yesterday to Army Chemical Materials Agency head Michael Parker. They contend that the Army’s statement that Indiana residents support treating the waste off-site was not true. Groups, individuals, local governments and politicians in Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey oppose transporting the waste, the group said.

Also, the groups claimed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Environmental Protection Agency urged the Army this year to avoid processing the wastewater at a DuPont plant in New Jersey.

The Army also inaccurately played up the technical challenges of using an on-site treatment facility in Indiana, has presented no evidence that shipping the waste would save money, and misstated support from state regulators, even though New Jersey and Delaware state officials oppose the existing plan, according to the press release.

“It's disheartening that the Army continues to press forward on a poor decision made years ago, in light of growing opposition, advances in technical capabilities to treat this material where it is, and identified negative impacts to the Delaware River,” said Chemical Weapons Working Group Director Craig Williams said in the press release. “It's time for this off-site option to go away” (Chemical Weapons Working Group release, Oct. 24).

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