DE Forum: 7 Groups ask Feds to stop US chem weapon waste dispoal plan for DuPont:

[cyberpj]

Groups sue to stop Army nerve agent disposal plan
By JEFF MONTGOMERY, The News Journal
Posted Thursday, December 21, 2006 at 11:45 am

Seven environmental groups have asked the federal courts to stop a U.S. Army plan to have a Delaware River plant treat millions of gallons of wastes from a VX nerve agent disposal site in Indiana.

The Delaware Riverkeeper Network and six other national and state groups filed the action in the U .S. District Court for Washington, D.C. Details of the complaint include a claim that federal law bans the transportation of chemical weapons across state lines, and accusations that the Army failed to complete a required environmental impact study.

snip...
“The law is very clear that all chemical weapons are supposed to be destroyed in the state where they are located,” said Tracy Carluccio, a member of the Delaware Riverkeeper Network. “They’re not supposed to be transported out of state.”

snip...
DuPont and Army officials have said the process poses little risk either during transport or treatment. The company overhauled its treatment process last year after Delaware officials pointed out that DuPont’s commercial wastewater plant would have little effect on some potentially hazardous chemicals left by the breakdown of VX liquids. Those chemicals would have passed virtually untreated into the Delaware River.

http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061221/NEWS/61221012/1006/NEWS

[jberryhill]

1. Ummm....

I hope they are going to do better than to hang their hat on a requirement that "chemical weapons are supposed to be destroyed in the state where they are located".

The material proposed to be treated by DuPont is no longer a chemical weapon. They are proposing to further treat the leftover chemicals from the destruction of the VX as a chemical weapon. The "chemical weapon" *was* destroyed in Indiana.

What else do they have in the complaint?