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Delaware, N.J. Governors Oppose VX Disposal Plan
The governors of Delaware and New Jersey yesterday criticized a U.S. Army plan to dispose in their states a byproduct of neutralized VX stockpiles at the Newport Chemical Depot in Indiana (see GSN, April 8). The Army plans to ship up to 4 million gallons of hydrolysate byproduct to a facility in New Jersey for final treatment. The material would then be dumped into the Delaware River, the Associated Press reported. In a letter sent yesterday to acting Army Secretary Les Brownlee, Delaware Governor Ruth Anne Minner and New Jersey Governor James McGreevey said it is “in the best interests of the citizens and natural resources of the states of Delaware and New Jersey” that the entire VX destruction process occur in Indiana. Army officials are reviewing the letter and will respond, Chemical Materials Agency spokesman Jeff Lindblad said (Randall Chase, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, April 8). Meanwhile, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention agreed yesterday to review the Army’s plan to ship hydrolysate to New Jersey (Lawrence Hajna, Camden, N.J., Courier-Post, April 9). In Indiana, state environment officials and the commander of the Newport Chemical Depot said there would be little chance of an accidental release of VX during the destruction process. “There won’t be a release from this plant unless there is a catastrophic incident,” such as an airplane crash into the facility, said Tom Linson, chief of the permits branch of the Indiana Department of Environmental Management Office of Land Quality. “Chances of any incident are very small,” he said (Patricia Pastore, Terre Haute, Ind., Tribune-Star, April 8).
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