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EPA Drops Opposition to VX Waste Disposal Plan
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency no longer objects to a plan to ship and treat wastewater from VX nerve agent processing at the Newport Chemical Depot in Indiana, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Oct. 25, 2005). Changes in DuPont Co.’s plan alleviated the agency’s concerns, according to AP. “EPA believes that all of our previously identified ecological concerns have been resolved,” Walter Mugdan, director of the agency’s Environmental Planning and Protection division in New York, stated in a letter. Analysts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are now examining potential risks to humans presented by the plan to process the waste at a DuPont facility in New Jersey and discharge the treated material into the Delaware River. A final report is expected in April. Despite dropping opposition to the plan, the agency recommended studies of fish and aquatic life in the river. This research would be a collaborative effort between the agency, DuPont, New Jersey and the Delaware River Basin Commission. John Hughes, secretary of Delaware's Natural Resources and Environmental Control Department, said he was not surprised by the decision. He said he wants to review the data the agency used in making its determination. “We did say early on that it’s going to take new technology to make the VX treatment acceptable. The treatment level of the original plan was much too low,” he said (Associated Press/Indianapolis Star, Feb. 25).
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