Global Security Newswire

A U.S. Army contractor should not be allowed to dispose of a chemical weapons destruction byproduct in Montgomery County, Ohio, unless the Army resolves some existing quality control problems, an environmental consultant recommended this week (see GSN, Sept. 18).

County commissioners hired Northwestern University environmental engineering professor Bruce Rittmann to study the safety of the disposal project and a public hearing on the findings is scheduled for today.

Rittmann concluded that defense contractor Perma-Fix should resolve its current odor release and air pollution issues before processing a chemical byproduct of the Army’s effort to neutralize its VX nerve gas stockpile in Newport, Ind. The company plans to treat the byproduct — hydrolysate — and then transfer the resulting material to the county’s wastewater treatment system.

Rittman’s report also recommends that Perma-Fix begin with small amounts of hydrolysate and increase the volume if the effort proceeds safely. Rittmann wants the early phases of the process to take place at the Army stockpile in Newport, Ind., to decrease the danger to the nearby Dayton community.

“The real test is how they respond to this input and whether they can take a constructive approach,” Rittmann said of defense officials. “If they think they can’t improve on it, maybe they need (to take) another path,” he added.

The Montgomery County commissioners voted against the Army’s plan in June, but there is a chance the Pentagon could push forward with the disposal work anyway (Jim Debrosse, Dayton Daily News, Oct. 5).