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More CW Waste Could Be Sent to New Jersey Plant
Waste produced by three U.S. chemical weapons neutralization plants could ultimately be sent to New Jersey for processing and disposal in the Delaware River, the Wilmington, Del., News Journal reported Sunday (see (GSN, May 9). The U.S. Army has already identified the DuPont Chamber Works facility as the planned site for processing of hydrolysate wastewater from the Newport Chemical Agent Disposal Facility in Indiana. The controversial waste shipment plan has come under fire from activists and from lawmakers in Delaware and New Jersey. The Army would consider sending waste from yet-unbuilt neutralization sites at Blue Grass, Ky., and Pueblo, Colo., to the DuPont facility as well, the News Journal reported. “If the planets lined up correctly and if DuPont was willing, that would possibly be a potential facility, but there is no short list,” said Katherine DeWeese spokeswoman for the Defense Department’s Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives program. The DuPont wastewater plant previously treated millions of gallons of partially broken down mustard agent from a stockpile in Maryland as part of the U.S. chemical weapons destruction program. The Centers for Disease Control is reviewing plans for the DuPont plant to treat the Newport waste. The House of Representatives has also a review of the plan by the Government Accountability Office (see GSN, May 12). Members of citizen advisory groups in Blue Grass and Pueblo said Pentagon officials have brought up the DuPont plant on several occasions during meetings. “New Jersey seems to be the site that it would have to be shipped to,” said John Klomp, who leads the Pueblo advisory group. “Our major concern is that it would face immediate litigation, even though it might be done reasonably and maybe even more cheaply (in New Jersey) than on site.” Shipping wastewater from Colorado and Kentucky to New Jersey for treatment could save $60 million, said Craig Williams, director of the nonprofit Chemical Weapons Working Group. It also could increase waste-disposal costs by $80 million, he said. A DuPont spokesman said he knew of no other proposals and that the company is focused on treating VX nerve agent waste from Newport. “We are squarely focused on the Newport proposal, make no mistake about that,” said spokesman Anthony Farina. “I can categorically tell you that we have not been approached” about treating waste from other locations. “Our understanding is the Army has contracts in place for processes that do not involve us” (Jeff Montgomery, The News Journal, June 11).
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