VX Waste Shipments Halted

Shipments to Texas of wastewater produced by VX nerve agent disposal are being temporarily suspended while a federal court sets a hearing date on a preliminary injunction intended to block the process, The Port Arthur News reported yesterday (see GSN, May 1).

“We are very excited,” said Hilton Kelley, head of the Port Arthur Community In-Power Development Association.  “This is a victory, no matter how small.  While the objective was to stop the trucks from coming to Port Arthur, we were able to get the Army to temporarily agree to stop the shipments until this is heard in court.”

The U.S. Army in April began shipping caustic hydrolysate from the chemical agent neutralization plant in Newport, Ind., for final treatment at Veolia Environmental Services in Port Arthur.  The plant has received 101 shipments, of which 72 have been incinerated, said Veolia environmental, health and safety manager Dan Duncan.  Less than a quarter of the entire project has been completed.

Opponents filed a federal lawsuit in May in Indiana, claiming that the shipments constitute a violation of state and federal environmental laws.  They are also seeking a government study of alternative strategies for eliminating the waste, the News reported.

“There are too many unanswered questions,” Kelley said.

The Army and Veolia said the shipments and treatment are safe.  Duncan scoffed at claims that nerve agent could potentially reform during storage.

“Our opponents feel the agent could reform in an organic layer of wastewater, something we believe is not true,” he said.  “An excess of sodium hydroxide is used to prevent the agent from reforming.  The military has been sampling the oldest of the containers and have found zero.”

Duncan said he expects a favorable ruling from the court (Mary Meaux, The Port Arthur News, June 18).

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