A hearing began on Monday that will determine if the waste product created by VX nerve gas can be shipped to a Port Arthur disposal facility before and during the trial questioning the legality of the U.S. Army's disposal method.

Several public interest groups, including Community In-Power Development Association, a Port Arthur-based environmental group, are suing to stop the Army from disposing of the waste product called "hydrolosate" at the Veolia Environmental Services facility in Port Arthur.

The Army agreed to halt shipments to Southeast Texas on June 19, pending the outcome of Monday's pre-trial injunction hearing.

The matter is being adjudicated in the U.S. District of Southern Indiana in Indianapolis under Chief Judge Larry McKinney. The case was filed in Indiana because the hydrolosate shipments originate at the Newport (Ind.) Chemical Depot Chemical Agent Disposal Facility.

Two witnesses were called Monday: Col. Jesse Barber, the Army's project manager for the disposal, and Jeff Brubaker, the site manager at the Newport facility.

Craig Williams, director of the Chemical Weapons Working Group, a group suing the Army, said the witnesses made two significant admissions.

"(Barber) did admit that even though, the (Army) notified communities in Ohio and New Jersey before they signed a contract with a treatment facility in those states, they did not notify the general public in Port Arthur that they were planning on shipping (hydrolosate)," Williams said. "The colonel frankly didn't notify the (Port Arthur) public until after the shipments began."

The second admission Williams said the Army made deals with the legal definition of a chemical weapon. "Under the International Chemical Weapons Convention, the (hydrolosate) traveling from Indiana is designated a chemical weapon," Williams said. "According to U.S. federal law, the U.S. Army is prohibited from the interstate transportation of chemical weapons."

Army spokesman Gregory Mahall said he would not debate the case in the media. "I'm not going to debate in the court of public opinion with Craig (Williams). That is something that the judge had to decide," Mahall said. "I'm not going to point and counterpoint with Craig (Williams)."

The hearing is scheduled to last until Wednesday when a ruling is expected.

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