No public hearings set on nerve agent disposal

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New Jersey
COURIER POST
No public hearings set on nerve agent disposal
Contract to bring waste to S.J. not a done deal
By Lawrence Hajna
Monday, January 12, 2004

Don't expect any public meetings on a U.S. Army proposal to send the
byproduct of a Cold War-era nerve agent to South Jersey - at least not
until DuPont gets the disposal contract.

DuPont, which would treat the waste at its sprawling Chambers Works
complex in Salem County, says it is not a foregone conclusion that it
will get the contract.

Army officials, meanwhile, say it's much too early to consider holding
public meetings.

"Until there is a contract with DuPont, we don't have the right to go
into an area and talk about something that is still in the procurement
process," Terry Arthur, an Army spokeswoman, said last week.

But environmentalists, who believe the Army and DuPont had hoped to slip
the plan past the public to avert backlash, argue a hearing should be
held before a contract is awarded.

"Once they get the contract, it's too late," said Jeff Tittel of the
Sierra Club's New Jersey chapter.

The liquid VX nerve agent, one of the deadliest substances ever made,
first would be rendered nonlethal at the Newport Chemical Depot in west
central Indiana, where it has been stockpiled for decades.

This article can be viewed at:
http://www.courierpostonline.com/news/southjersey/m011204c.htm

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