DuPont dealt setback on VX plan

[cyberpj]

Posted to Delaware Forum - with a BIG YAY!!

New Jersey requires review before wastewater can be treated at Deepwater
By JEFF MONTGOMERY / The News Journal
05/21/2005

New Jersey on Friday barred the DuPont Co. from treating chemical weapons wastewater at a plant near the Delaware Memorial Bridge unless the plan clears a separate state environmental review.

Acting Gov. Richard J. Codey ordered that the ruling be included in a draft five-year permit renewal for DuPont's industrial wastewater treatment plant, part of the Chambers Works chemical complex in Deepwater.

DuPont is trying to win a lucrative Army contract to treat millions of gallons of wastewater from a VX nerve agent disposal operation in Newport, Ind. The company had said its previous treatment plant discharge permit -- still temporarily in effect -- allowed handling of the Army's waste.

"At my direction, issued a new draft permit for the facility that precludes acceptance of the nerve agent waste unless and until the proposal is subject to rigorous and independent review," Codey said in a statement.

"He did his homework and he's taking the right position at a time when it's still meaningful," said Maya K. van Rossum, who directs the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, a multistate environmental and conservation group. "The Army has been pushing very hard to grease this project through."

http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050521/NEWS01/505210308/1006/NEWS