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VX Disposal Set to Begin at Newport
Disposal of more than 250,000 gallons of VX nerve agent could begin in May at the Newport Chemical Depot in Indiana, the Associated Press reported yesterday (see GSN, Feb. 28). The Defense Department on Tuesday submitted its 30-day notice to Congress that neutralization is ready to begin of the chemical agent held in 1,600 steel containers. Work should start in mid-May and be completed in 30 months, said Jeff Lindblad, a spokesman for the U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency. “It’s going to be a slow, deliberate startup. In the first week we’ll probably just do one container and then gradually ramp it up from there,” he said (Rick Callahan, Associated Press, April 6). The Army also notified the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, which will send an inspection team to confirm the VX elimination (U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency press release, April 6). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention yesterday noted its public health and environmental concerns over plans to dump 4 million gallons of the chemical byproduct from neutralization at Newport into the Delaware River (see GSN, April 6). Nerve agent traces left in the hydrolysate could harm fish, and there is no indication yet that the contractor DuPont could treat VX or other compounds in the wastewater at its New Jersey plant, AP reported. However, the federal health agency said it saw no problems in using tanker trucks to transport the wastewater from Indiana to New Jersey, AP reported. The Army and DuPont said they are reviewing the report (Donna De La Cruz, Associated Press/Miami Herald, April 6). With disposal set to begin at Newport, the United States is on schedule to destroy 90 percent of its chemical weapons stockpile by the anticipated 2012 deadline under the international Chemical Weapons Convention, AP reported. The remaining 10 percent sits in depots at Pueblo, Colo., and Blue Grass, Ky. Construction of disposal facilities at those locations could be delayed for years, or even scrapped, due to budget concerns and other problems with the neutralization process. The Army is considering options for handling the weapons stockpiles at Pueblo and Blue Grass, which could include shipping them to operating incinerators in other states for disposal. The study should be finished this month, after which the Defense Department will decide what to do with the two sites, Dale Klein, assistant to the secretary of defense, said yesterday. “If you ask us right now, do we have a decision exactly how we will proceed, we don’t,” he told a House Armed Services subcommittee. The specter of chemical weapons relocation has unsettled lawmakers in potentially affected states, and their constituents. “You will be surprised, I think, at the type of agitation you will see. … You’ll probably see a nuclear response from the citizens of my district,” said Representative Ben Chandler (D-Ky.), whose district includes the Blue Grass Army Depot. “Transportation is not an option to us, very simply” (Hilary Roxe, Associated Press/Lexington Herald-Leader, April 7). The Senate Appropriation Committee yesterday blocked funding in a spending bill for the Army alternatives study, AP reported. “My colleagues agreed with me that the law [outlawing chemical weapons transportation across state lines] should remain unchanged,” Senator Bob Bennett (R-Utah) said in a prepared statement. “I appreciate their endorsement of our efforts to block the shipment of toxic munitions to our state. Utah currently houses and is successfully disposing [of] more than 40 percent of the nation’s chemical stockpile. That’s more than enough.” Acting Defense Undersecretary Michael Wynne said in a letter released Tuesday that alternatives are being considered because neutralization of mustard gas at the Pueblo Chemical Depot is “technically challenging,” risky and costly, AP reported (Associated Press, April 6).
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