Army Doubles Pace at Newport CW Destruction Site

The Newport Chemical Agent Disposal Facility in Indiana has neutralized 1,440 gallons of VX nerve agent since operations began on May 5, the Associated Press reported today (see GSN, May 17).

Army site manager Jeff Brubaker said the pace of neutralization has doubled since work began. Approximately a dozen ton containers of VX have been drained.

While the neutralization process is expected to take two years, the facility only has enough containers to store the waste produced in the process through next February.

“We are talking to the (Indiana) Department of Environmental Management pertaining to the possibility of needing additional storage,” Brubaker said (Associated Press/Newsday, May 28).

Meanwhile, the U.S. House of Representatives included an amendment in the fiscal 2006 defense authorization bill passed Wednesday that would block dumping VX wastewater from Newport into the Delaware River until federal agencies say such action is safe, the Asbury Park Press reported (see GSN, May 23).

“I think this is effectively a veto of the project,” said Representative Robert Andrews (D-N.J.). “I don’t think the [Environmental Protection Agency] and [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] will ever sign off on this plan” (Lawrence Hajna, Asbury Park Press, May 27). 

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