U.S. Defense Department officials indicated recently that they could support on-site treatment of wastewater produced through neutralization of chemical warfare material stored at the Pueblo Chemical Depot in Colorado, the Pueblo Chieftain reported Friday (see GSN, Jan. 9).
Transporting hydrolysate has proved to be a controversial matter, as shown by unsuccessful attempts to prevent the caustic material from being shipped from the Newport Chemical Depot in Indiana to an incinerator in Texas (see GSN, Feb. 11).
The Pentagon has argued that it can save money by treating the waste at an existing facility, while Colorado officials have expressed concerns about delays to the demilitarization program that could result from transport mishaps or other problems.
Members of the Colorado Chemical Demilitarization Citizens Advisory Commission traveled to Washington to discuss the matter with high-level defense officials.
"We got the definite impression that they want to do it here in Pueblo, to get rid of everything here in Pueblo. (But) they still will not take the (off-site) option off of the table," said former U.S. Representative Ray Kogovsek.
The Defense Department would prefer to avoid another court battle over shipment of hydrolysate, he said.
Chemical neutralization of 2,611 tons of mustard agent at Pueblo could begin as late as December 2016 and be completed within four years, reports have indicated.
If the waste is kept at Pueblo, it would be processed at a small facility akin to a sewage treatment plant, the Chieftain reported. Nonhazardous solid material that would result from biotreatment would be sent a landfill.
Defense officials noted that the on-site scenario involved largely unproven technology that if unsuccessful would leave no money to treat the waste at another plant, said Gail Klapper, director of the Colorado Forum.
"There has always been the acknowledgment that if it doesn’t work, whatever ‘it’ is, we’re going to have to come up with Plan B but that has to be proven after they’ve tried to get it to work," said citizens commission head Irene Kornelly (John Norton, Pueblo Chieftain, April 10).