Dumping Liquid VX Gas into the Delaware River. Be Afraid.

VX, the most toxic nerve agent known, is being treated, then dumped into the Deleware river at a New Jersey Du Pont facility.

The 250,000 gallons of liquid VX is being mixed with a solution of water, and caustic sodium hydroxide. Then the dangerous liquid is then transported 760 miles from the Indiana facility to New Jersey, where it undergoes further treatment at the Du Pont facility, who then dumps it into the Delaware river.

I am afraid.

VX a liquid the consistency of motor oil, is the deadliest nerve agent ever made. Just 1 drop can kill - making it 170 times deadlier than sarin. The only known countries to possess VX are U.S. France and Russia.

VX gas was developed in the Porton Down Chemical Weapons Research Centre, Wiltshire, England in. The British traded the technology of VX with the United States of America for information on thermonuclear weapons.
During the 1950s the E.I. Du Pont de Nemours & Company manufactured heavy water at Newport Indiana. In 1961the U.S. Army contracted FMC Corporation to produce liquid VX at the Newport Indiana Chemical Depot 70 miles west of Indianapolis. Munitions such as land mines, spray tanks and rockets were shipped to Newport by rail, filled with chemical agent, then shipped to U.S. Defense sites worldwide. Production was stopped in 1969 after which the stockpile was left to rust under guard.

A treaty that the U.S. signed with the U.N organization, (The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons), became in force as of April 29, 1997. The teaty requires the destruction of chemical weapons by the year 2007.

On February 18, 1999, the Army awarded the $295 million contract to Parsons Infrastructure and Technology Group, Inc., and its partnership team headed by AlliedSignal to complete the facility design; build, operate and close the disposal facility. Within a year, construction was scheduled to begin on this new facility that will destroy 1,269 tons of liquid VX stored in carbon steel ton containers.

Testing was done, and it was finally agreed that Mason & Hanger Corporation , ( who is known for the large fines and penalties it receives from breaking the rules) would use a method of treatment and distruction which consists of adding the agent to a solution of water and heated sodium hydroxide, a highly caustic liquid. The resulting reaction neutralizes the VX and creates a corrosive byproduct called hydrolysate. Four million gallons of hydrolysate are expected to be created over the course of neutralizing the entire stockpile. The Caustic “Wastewater” will be held until the Du Pont Company is ready to take control for the next step in the neutralization process.

This does not mean that the VX hydrolysate will not contain any VX. The detectable limit being used by the Army is 20 ppb, therefore the Army will allow VX nerve agent to be shipped off site and to New Jersey as long as the VX in the hydrolysate is less than 20 ppb.

According to an Ohio EPA study, VX at a level of 20 ppb after 17.4 hours killed half of the striped bass exposed. As a result of this and numerous other concerns, an agency toxicologist “strongly recommended” against discharge of treated VX hydrolysate into the local POTW and waterbody until there was “more information about the possible toxic effects of the treated hydrolysate discharge on aquatic life”. (Interoffice Memo from John F. Estenik, DSW, Toxics Advisor, Subject Treated VX Hydrolysate Discharge Recommendation Technical Report, October 10, 2003, Ohio EPA)

Further, in an August 26, 2003 article in Chemical & Engineering News (“Destroying Chemical Weapons, Army’s Problem-Plagued Program More Costly than Originally Planned”, Lois R. Ember) Terry Arthur, a Newport spokeswoman said that while the Army committed not to ship VX hydrolysate off-site unless the VX levels were less than 20 ppb, it couldn’t now honor such a commitment. She went on to say, “As measured, caustic neutralization produces a hydrolysate containing 40 to 80 ppb of VX.”

In the next step, the neutralized VX would be loaded into hazardous materials tanker trucks for the 760-mile trip to a New Jersey Du Pont facility for “further” treatment. Upon completion, the VX “wastewater” will be dumped into the Delaware river. A move the CDC warns raises concerns and questions about potential impacts on public health and the environment.

Despite public outcry, CDC, and academic warnings, after testing Congress was notified that the neutralization process was ready, and workers began chemically “neutralizing” 1,269 tons of VX nerve agent in May 2005. “Neutralizing” all the VX should take about 2 ½ years it was announced.

The Oct. 29, 2005 A gasket failure caused 490 gallons of caustic wastewater to spill at the Newport Indiana facility. But not to worry, officials say there was no cause for alarm. The spill was cleaned up, the gaskets changed, and now neutralization is underway again, as of today Saturday Nov. 20, 2005.

Be Afraid.

References:
hosted.ap.org...
www.globalsecurity.org...
www.globalsecurity.org...
www.google.com...
maps.google.com...,-87.424479&spn=0.007574,0.020385&t=h&hl=en
www.google.com...
www.3dchem.com...#
www.delawareriverkeeper.org...
www.nap.edu...


[edit on 11/20/05 by makeitso]

As additional information, it should be emphasized that the CDC was not very happy about the dumping of the mix into the Delaware river.

CDC Report
The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) analysis indicates that the DuPont risk assessment does not contain adequate information to determine that the aquatic ecologic risk from the discharge of treated CVXH to the Delaware River is acceptable. Further, the EPA expressed concerns that the 20 ppb clearance criterion for VX in CVXH is based “solely on the protection of humans from a drinking water source and may not be protective of aquatic organisms through ingestion or dermal exposure.”

Consequently, CDC cannot recommend proceeding with the treatment and disposal at the DuPont SET facility until EPA’s noted deficiencies are addressed

In addition, the dumping will go on despite The full Delaware House of Representatives passing Senate Concurrent Resolution 32, opposing the shipment of VX nerve poison wastes to the Delaware Valley and urging treatment in Newport, Indiana, by a unanimous voice vote at 3:39 on April 8, 2004. Discussion was not considered necessary.

Despite this and other public outcry, the Army seems determined to have Du Pont dump the chemical in the Delaware River.

The budget for the Newport Site remains at the 1.1 billion dollar.

Wow, I just happen to come across something relevant that shocked me recently, apparently they are still dumping a variety of things, or at least it is not unheard of.

Check out this link:

www.drms.dla.mil...##A

Read about condition D:

"MLI(SME). Total destruction of item and components so as to preclude restoration or repair...(As an alternate, burial or deep water dumping may be used when coordinated with the DOD Demilitarization Program Office.)"

Wow, I just happen to come across something relevant that shocked me recently, apparently they are still dumping a variety of things, or at least it is not unheard of.

You are right. It is not unheard of. Earlier this month The Daily Press in Newport News, Va., reported that the Army extensively disposed of nerve and mustard agents in the nation's oceans, including off New Jersey's coast, between World War II and the early 1970s.

The army confirmed the report.

www.courierpostonline.com.../20051104/OPINION/511040326/1046