An incinerator in Port Arthur, Texas, will be used to destroy 8,000 gallons of wastewater produced by the chemical neutralization of sarin nerve agent held in leaking containers at the Blue Grass Army Depot in Kentucky, the Richmond Register reported yesterday (see GSN, Nov. 11).
The same facility was used to burn off waste produced from disposal operations at the Newport Chemical Depot in Indiana, raising the ire of environmentalists and community activists in Port Arthur (see GSN, Dec. 10, 2007).
This disposal effort involves only 157 gallons of sarin to be neutralized using a mobile system, as Blue Grass does not yet have a standing disposal plant. It would produce enough waste to fill two transport containers, while the entire Indiana project filled nearly 400 containers.
“The situation in Kentucky is that there are leaking containers of GB (sarin) agent contaminated liquid that must be destroyed immediately and there is no capacity to deal with the resultant liquids at this site,” said Craig Williams, head of the Kentucky-based watchdog Chemical Weapons Working Group.
“Although we don’t desire any more of this material to be brought here to our community, we recognize at the same time, these are special circumstances,” said Hilton Kelly, who leads the Community In-Power Development Association in Port Arthur. “Our fellow citizens in Kentucky are under the gun, being at risk due to these leaking containers and we feel it is our duty to step up and assist them in their time of need. However, this should not be interpreted as opening the door to such shipments in the future. If the Army believes we are willing to accept more, they are sorely mistaken.”
The Veolia Environmental Services plant now has the only permit to conduct operations of this kind, according to the U.S. Army.
This shipment program should not be taken as a sign that the Army intends to transport waste that will someday be produced through the full program to neutralize 523 tons of chemical warfare material stored at the Kentucky site, said program manager Kevin Flamm (Richmond Register, Dec. 9).