Activists Urge Texas to Block VX Waste Shipments

Texas Governor Rick Perry received a request yesterday from state lawmakers and environmentalists to help block U.S. Army shipments of VX hydrolysate being trucked to the state from Indiana, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Aug. 22).

Transporting the chemical agent wastewater is illegal and poses a health hazard to residents of the working-class community in Port Arthur, Texas, said the activists.  The wastewater produced by VX neutralization at the Newport Chemical Depot is being incinerated in Port Arthur.

The Environmental Defense Fund says Jefferson County, where the Gulf Coast city is located, is among the top 10 percent of dirtiest U.S. countries due to existing chemical facilities and refineries.

“Port Arthur should not be a dumping ground for America's toxic waste,” said Hilton Kelley, a Port Arthur resident and community activist.

Twenty-eight state legislators signed a letter asking the governor to step in on the issue, AP reported.  The Sierra Club and other environmental groups also backed the message.

While the governor’s office does not intend to intervene in the dispute, the Texas Environmental Quality Commission is expected to monitor the waste shipments, said gubernatorial spokeswoman Katherine Cesinger.

The commission has informed Perry that the waste disposal operation “is not endangering public health or the environment,” Cesinger said.

Under a three-year waste disposal contract, Veolia Environmental Services plans to incinerate 2 million gallons of the VX hydrolysate, wastewater produced when the nerve agent is treated with sodium hydroxide and water.  Wastewater carried in 4,000-gallon containers travels nearly 1,000 miles and across eight states to the Port Arthur disposal facility. 

To allay concerns about waste disposal, Veolia has stated it possesses the permits, training and facilities to complete the operation smoothly, and has issued reminders it is only transporting wastewater and not the VX agent.  To date, the incinerator has received about 350,000 gallons of the hydrolysate.

“We're not posing any threat to the environment or the citizens around the plant,” said Veolia environmental health and safety manager Daniel Duncan.  “Everything is going fine” (Jim Vertuno, Associated Press/Martinsville, Ind. Reporter-Times, Aug. 23).

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