Plant Burns 15,000 Gallons of VX Disposal Waste

Veolia Environmental Services in Port Arthur, Texas, by the end of last week had incinerated 15,000 gallons of waste produced by VX nerve agent disposal in Indiana, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, April 30).

There had been 23 shipments of hydrolysate from the Newport Chemical Depot at that point.  Burning began April 22.

Some local residents and environmental groups said there was no advance notice of the transport plan until after the $49 million contract had been finalized.  They have tried to organize opposition to wastewater burning at the Veolia plant, one of a number of refineries and chemical facilities that surround Port Arthur.

The Environmental Defense Fund lists Port Arthur, an economically depressed, majority black city near the Louisiana border, among the top 10 percent of the country’s dirtiest communities, AP reported.

“We didn’t even get a warning that it was coming,” said Hilton Kelley, head of the Port Arthur Community In-Power Development Association.  “We’re being used as guinea pigs because we are the area of least resistance.  How are you going to go out and protest for clean air when you are just trying to get food for your family to eat?”

The U.S. Army says the wastewater is safe to burn.  There was no need for a warning, said Port Arthur Mayor Oscar Ortiz.

“Why create a big scare thing if there’s nothing there to be afraid of?  Why do something about a project that’s safe and creating a lot of work?” he said (Monica Rhor, Associated Press/Las Cruces Sun-News, April 30).

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