Published: July 26 , 2007

Army admits fault after lawsuit

By Ronica Shannon
Register News Writer

INDIANAPOLIS -- Army officials recently have admitted to unsafe practices after being sued by several plaintiffs, including Berea's Chemical Weapon Working Group (CWWG).

The suit, filed against the Army and the U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency in May, stems from the Army’s shipment of VX nerve agent waste from a disposal site in Newport, Ind., to an incinerator in Port Arthur, Texas, to be burned.

Two senior Army officials admitted in federal court July 17 that the VX nerve agent byproducts had been transported.

The interstate shipment of chemical weapons is illegal, and the Army officials recognized that byproducts are not considered to be destroyed under the definition of the Chemical Weapons Convention.

The CWC is an international treaty, to which the U.S. is obligated to abide.

"Until this material is destroyed under the treaty definition, it is considered a declared chemical weapon," said Craig Williams, director of the CWWG.

Federal, Indiana and other states' hazardous waste laws and regulations require that hazardous waste be adequately tested and the chemical contents determined prior to shipment or disposal.

One Army witness and two Army contractors admitted in the July 17 testimony that during chemical neutralization operations at Newport, solids from the waste found in the neutralization reactor showed concentrations of VX nerve agent at 19 parts per million.

"Unfortunately, the Army only tests the liquid portion of the hydrolysate prior to approval for transportation," Williams said.

The analytical methods the Army is using to determine chemical agent concentrations are not necessarily reliable, said Michael Sommer, a forensic environmental chemist from Houston and an expert witness for plaintiffs in the hearing.

He called the Army's current analytical method "profoundly bogus."

Originally, the Army, the community and Indiana’s state government had agreed to treat the material on site.

However, the Army, claiming cost savings, unilaterally abandoned this approach and decided to ship it to a commercial facility for disposal.

First they tried Dayton, Ohio, but citizens and elected officials strongly refused to receive the shipments. New Jersey was the next target, but the opposition there was even worse -- turning back the Army once again.

"Plaintiff groups have for years advocated that the Army avoid transportation and improper treatment of the VX waste," Williams said.

Shipping the material to the Port Arthur community is exactly what the principles of environmental justice and the President's Executive Order were meant to prevent, said CWWG member Elizabeth Crowe. "Yet, our own government, our own military, sworn to protect all Americans, is consciously violating these principles. It is impossible to see this otherwise."

The CWWG has been plaintiffs in similar past lawsuits, including one against the Army addressing its attempts to ship VX nerve agent waste from a chemical stockpile in Newport, Ind., to commercial waste facilities in Ohio and New Jersey.

Other plaintiffs in the current suit include: The Sierra Club, Citizens Against Incineration at Newport, Community In-Power Development Association, Indiana residents Sara Morgan and Leonard Akers and Texas residents Hilton Kelley and Moya Green.

The Army agreed in June to temporarily suspend shipments of VX warfare agent by-products to Texas from Indiana until the trial's completion.

Ronica Shannon can be reached at rshannon@richmondregister.com or 623-1669, Ext. 234.