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Newport Still Aims to Ship Wastewater
The appearance of a potential new technology for eliminating VX nerve agent without creating wastewater has not changed the U.S. Army’s existing plans for chemical weapons neutralization at the Newport Chemical Depot in Indiana, the New Jersey Courier-Post reported Saturday (see GSN, April 11). Perma-Fix Environmental Services of Atlanta claims that its mobile technology could eliminate VX without creating hydrolysate wastewater. The Army has faced strong opposition to its present plan to ship hydrolysate from Indiana to be treated at a New Jersey plant and then dumped into the Delaware River. Weapons disposal is expected to begin in the next two weeks. Shifting gears now could delay the project by two years and increase costs by $300 million, the Army said. “Right now, we’re still moving forward with our proposed contract with DuPont,” said Jeff Lindblad, spokesman for the Army Chemical Materials Agency. “It’s not our intent to solicit new bids on a secondary waste treatment process.” Perma-Fix President Louis Centofanti argues that his company’s technology has already been tested on Army VX and could be installed quickly and at a reasonable price, the Courier-Post reported. U.S. Representative Rob Andrews (D-N.J.) said he questions the Army cost estimates. He said a group of lawmakers from his state and Indiana will press the Army to consider alternatives to wastewater shipments. Plans include placing in a Defense Department authorization bill, “a prohibition or, at the very least, a delay until further studies can be done,” Andrews said. “They’re just wrong and we’re not going to let them do it,” he said (Lawrence Hajna, Courier-Post, April 30).
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