Army to start destroying VX; DuPont plan still pending

[cyberpj]

I wouldn't be surprised to see some new amendment attached to a bill giving the Feds rights over State's for this, too. They're doing it regarding the LNG terminals!

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Army to start destroying VX; DuPont plan still pending

By JEFF MONTGOMERY / The News Journal
5/3/2005

The Army will start destroying a huge stockpile of deadly VX nerve agent Thursday in Indiana, while keeping on hold plans to ship wastes from the process to a DuPont Co. treatment plant near the foot of the Delaware Memorial Bridge.

Army Chemical Materials Agency officials said today they still hope to use DuPont’s industrial wastewater plant in Deepwater, N.J., to treat about 4 million gallons of caustic liquids from Indiana’s Newport Chemical Agency Disposal Facility. State and community objections in Delaware and New Jersey sidetracked that proposal last year, prompting DuPont to rework its treatment process to reduce pollution releases to the Delaware River.

The governors of Delaware and New Jersey urged the Army to abandon plans for cross-country shipment of the neutralized VX wastewater in favor of disposal in the Indiana facility. Delaware’s Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control and environmental groups raised concerns about the effect of trace chemicals on the river and its aquatic life, as well as the possibility that VX residues could survive the treatment process.

DuPont and the Army have said they are awaiting reviews of the plan by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Environmental Protection Agency. Wastewater from the Indiana neutralization site will be stored in temporary containers pending a ruling on final treatment at Deepwater.

http://www.delawareonline.com/updates/Armytostartdest.html