CorruptoCo Blogfest: Army & DuPont To Dump VX In Delaware River
Lily at LOSE THE NOOSE says next week is "Corporate Appreciation Week" and asks us all to do our part.
THE PROBLEM:
VX gas is one of the deadliest of all the nerve agentsever developed by man. In its normal state, it is
odorless and tasteless, and is usually delivered as an aerosol. The
agent can do its work through skin contact, eye contact or inhalation.
During the Cold War, the Army created more than 1,200 tons of VX, which
has been stored at the Newport Chemical Depot in Indiana since President Nixon ordered a ban on chemical weapons in 1969.
Now, due to concerns about reducing targets
for terrorism attack after September 11th, 2001, the Army has decided
to rid itself of its chemical weapons stocks. The way to neutralize VX
is to mix it with hot sodium hydroxide and hot water. This process,
used on the 1,200 tons of toxin will result in two to four million
gallons of caustic wastewater known as hydrolysate. This is where the
Army decides it needs to borrow a river.
Once the bulk of the neutralization takes place in Indiana, the Army Chemical Materials Agency wants to transport the wastewater to the DuPont Company's Deepwater Plant in New Jersey to complete the rest of the treatment on the hydrolysate. Once the wastewater has been treated, the Army and DuPont want to release the water into the Delaware River - Deepwater sits about 25 miles downstream from Philadelphia.
NIMBY or RECKLESS ENDANGERMENT
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency won't
oppose the U.S. Department of Defense and DuPont Co.'s plan to dump a
wastewater byproduct of a deadly nerve agent into the Delaware River.
The agency said it's assured of a safe
treatment for up to 4 million gallons of caustic wastewater created in
the treatment for VX, a chemical weapon with a pinhead-size potency to
kill a human. DuPont is treating VX for disposal at its Newport
Chemical Depot in Indiana.
The agent, once neutralized, would be shipped to DuPont's Chambers Works plant in Deepwater, N.J., for discharge into the river.
"EPA believes that all of our previously
identified ecological concerns have been resolved," said Walter Mugdan,
director of the agency's Environmental Planning and Protection division
in New York, in a letter released Friday to CNN and obtained by The
News Journal in Wilmington, Del.
The agency's position angers opponents of the
disposal plan. They're concerned the wastewater would harm the
Delaware, which supplies drinking water to millions. Furthermore,
opponents say the EPA's opinion is premature and raises more questions
about the wastewater's effects on river health.
The EPA forwarded its findings to the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention, where analysts are considering
health risks posed by the Army and DuPont's plan. A final report from
the CDC is expected to go to the region's congressional delegations in
April. An earlier study by the agency was inconclusive as to the health
effects of the discharge.
Tracy Carluccio, a spokeswoman for the Delaware Riverkeeper based in Washington Crossing, criticized the EPA for its action.
"This report [by the EPA] is not conclusive in any way," she said Saturday.
Leaking the report "interrupted the normal
procedures," and injected the EPA's bias into what was supposed to be
an independent review of the data. She's concerned the EPA's publicized
opinion in favor of the disposal plan would unduly prejudice any
independent review of the data for the CDC.
"It's important from a scientific point of view
is that the cumulative impact of all of these chemicals is known before
you start discharging," she said.
Maya van Rossum, who heads Delaware
Riverkeeper, also was critical. "Its premature release smacks of
strong-arm politics to push the Army's and the present [Bush]
Administration's biased agenda."
Delaware Riverkeeper bills itself as "vigilant protectors and defenders of the river."
Facing a large and skeptical crowd, the Army and the DuPont Co.
struggled Friday night to ease public apprehension over a proposal to
treat chemical weapon disposal wastes at a riverside plant near
Wilmington.
The
sometimes heated session, which drew more than 150 residents to
Delaware Technical and Community College in Wilmington, mirrored
reactions during a larger meeting Wednesday in New Jersey.
Several environmental groups have announced opposition, though others said they are still studying the idea.
"The
safest and most responsible route is to dispose of it on site" in
Indiana, said Tracy Carluccio, special project director for the
Delaware Riverkeeper Network, a regional conservation and environmental
group. "Don't cheap out for a quick fix."
The
Army wants to begin destroying the VX nerve agent this year to reduce
risks from terrorist attack on weapons stockpiles and to keep the
nation in compliance with a global treaty.
Under
the proposal, one or two truckloads of the caustic wastewater would be
shipped daily to Chambers Works. Once it arrives, the company would add
a chemical to break down one compound known to cause foul odors, then
process the liquid through a patented system.
Delaware's Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control is examining several concerns about the plan, including:
A
report that even very low VX levels can cause high death rates among
striped bass exposed to wastewater containing the nerve agent.
Risks from chemicals formed during the neutralization that would pass untreated through DuPont's process.
Calls for more study into the effect that one byproduct - phosphorus - could have on algae blooms in the river.
John Kearney,
who directs the Clean Air Council in Delaware, said Chambers Works
already releases more than 1 million pounds of toxic chemicals into the
Delaware River each year. Approval of the nerve agent wastewater
disposal plan would only increase that pollution, he said. "If they get
this contract, you can guarantee they'll get more," Kearney said.
It's obvious that dumping the waste isn't completely without risk — nothing ever is — and so the question is what level of risk is acceptable for the people living along the river?.
I suspect for the company that answer is something like 1 in 1,000.
For the people living along the river it's probably a lot closer to Zero.