Their's not to reason why - Their's but to do and die

We Found the Weapons of Mass Destruction!

What follows is an email from the Clean Air Council http://www.cleanair.org/ in the state of Delaware. In this email to the Delaware State Representatives Mr. Kearney, Director for the Clean Air Council, speaks to the federal government's plan to move VX nerve gas from Indiana to New Jersey. VX nerve gas is one of the most dangerous chemicals ever created. It is used in chemical warfare. VX gas was developed at the Porton Down Chemical Weapons Research Centre http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porton_Down, in Wiltshire, England in 1952 and its devastating effects were tested. The British traded the technology of VX with the United States of America for information on thermonuclear weapons http://www.chem.ox.ac.uk/mom/vx/VX.htm.

So now we know. One of the many Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) was developed by DuPont http://www.dupont.com/ and is housed in Indiana! Since moving the gas is a matter of public record, isn't this infinitely more dangerous than anything Iraq ever contemplated?

Dear Representative,

Enclosed below is a resolution concerning the proposed DuPont VX nerve gas project. Please consider cosponsoring and/or supporting this resolution in the Delaware General Assembly. The resolution below outlines many of my concerns with this project. I have also enclosed here the proposed route this deadly toxic nerve agent will take through Delaware.

This project can be done safely in Indian where the entire stockpile of this deadly weapon has been stored without incident since 1969. If it was done in Indiana it may still require DuPont's help. DuPont helped build part of this facility in Indiana and produced products for the U.S. Army there in the past. The risk associated with transporting VX hydrolysate off-site through Delaware and to New Jersey far outweigh any potential benefits. According to the U.S. Army's own assessments, if an accident occurred while transporting this material through Delaware an evacuation may be needed.

This waste product that will be shipped from Indiana can also be used by a terrorist to reconstitute the deadly VX nerve agent itself.

This project is nothing like the Mustard gas hydrolysate DuPont has processed at Chambers Works in the past. Mustard gas hydrolysate does not contain EA-2192 or EMPA (see below). These toxic substances are found in VX hydrolysate and DuPont still does not understand how to break their very strong phosphorous bonds. If this can not be done, these toxic substances will end up in the Delaware River, and possibly even into Delaware communities.

The risks for Delaware, the region, and America are too high. Please take the time to learn about this issue. Please read the below resolution to learn more.

Please call or email me if you can help get this resolution introduced and passed.

I would be happy to brief you on this project at length.

Thank you!

Sincerely,

John M. Kearney

Clean Air Council Delaware Director

100 W. 10th St., Suite 106

Wilmington, DE 19801

(302) 691-0112

A Concurrent Resolution calling on DuPont to be a good neighbor

and not process the highly toxic nerve gas agent, VX hydrolysate, at its Chambers Works, New Jersey facility.

WHEREAS, E.I. DuPont DeNemours and Company (DuPont) is currently considering whether to treat millions of pounds of a deadly nerve agent, VX hydrolysate, at their Chambers Works Facility in Deepwater, New Jersey at the base of the Delaware Memorial Bridge across from the City of Wilmington, as part of a federal program to reduce the nation's chemical-weapons stockpiles; and

WHEREAS, VX hydrolysate is a diluted form of VX nerve gas, one of the most toxic substances ever made, and one of the weapons of mass destruction the United States used to justify war against Iraq, and where a fraction of a drop of VX on the skin could be fatal; and

WHEREAS, there are grave security implications associated with transporting this toxic substance from Newport, Indiana through the State of Delaware for processing in New Jersey because VX hydrolysate could be used to reformulate VX nerve gas; and

WHEREAS, trace amount of VX liquid will still be found in this diluted mixture along with a number of other toxic organic constituents, including S-(Diisopropylaminoethyl) methylphosphonothioate (EA-2192), Ethyl methylphosphonic acid (EMPA), Methyl phosphonic acid (MPA), and 2-diiso-propylamino ethanethiola, a thiol with a strong skunk-like odor; and

WHEREAS, the February 25, 2003, Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) for VX hydrolysate indicates this mixture is military unique, that it contains no established toxicity threshold limit value nor a permissible exposure limit, it contains a number of hazardous organic constituents for which there are also no known threshold limit values, and the MSDS indicates that inhalation of VX hydrolysate can lead to possible coma; and

WHEREAS, EA-2192 a constituent in VX hydrolysate has been demonstrated to contain an acute toxicity only somewhat less than that of VX nerve gas itself, creating a significant public health threat in transport, storage, and handling; and

WHEREAS, EA-2192 contains characteristics causing it to be considered both environmentally persistent and sufficiently toxic to be a significant ground-water contaminant; and

WHEREAS, due to the caustic and toxic properties of VX hydrolysate, an accidental spill during transport could cause disruption and possibly require an evacuation; and

WHEREAS, according to the U.S. Armys Environmental Assessment for this proposal, [h]ydrolysate storage and treatment leads to emissions of toxic air pollutants but no estimates are available on the specific types and quantities of toxic organic compounds that would be released. (EA p. 3-5);

WHEREAS, a fire or accident associated with VX hydrolysate could result in toxic material being carried offsite of the DuPont Chambers Works facility and into the surrounding New Jersey or Delaware communities; and

WHEREAS, U.S. Department of Defense assessments of alternative technologies for the demilitarization of assembled chemical weapons, as reviewed by the Assembled Chemical Weapons Assessment Program, have indicated that biotreatment of organo-phosphorus compounds found in VX hydrolysate has shown unsatisfactory or inconclusive results, and assessments have not demonstrated with an adequate level of scientific certainty that biodegradation could be used to completely destroy toxic constituents found in VX hydrolysate, including EA-2192, EMPA, and MPA; and

WHEREAS, VX hydrolysate has significantly different constituents and destruction characteristics than the Mustard gas hydrolysate that DuPont Chambers Works has processed previously using its biodegradation system; and

WHEREAS, the failure of DuPonts biodegradation system to adequately destroy the organo-phosphorus compounds found in VX hydrolysate will result in toxic and harmful chemicals in trace amounts being dumped into the Delaware River; and

WHEREAS, chemicals that will end up in the Delaware River, including EMPA, could result in significant impacts to aquatic life; and

WHEREAS, A fire involving hydrolysate would create a difficult situation requiring firefighters to be protected against any toxic hazards as well as the fire; and

WHEREAS, to store VX hydrolysate safely weather and temperature changes must be tracked; and

WHEREAS, a review conducted by the Commission on Engineering and Technical Systems for the National Academy of Sciences indicated that the U.S. Army has not demonstrated the basis for defining as acceptable a residual level of less than 20 ppb VX in hydrolysate to be safe enough for release off-site for final treatment, and that level of VX may be present in the hydrolysate being shipped to DuPonts Chambers Works facility; and

WHEREAS, The U.S. Army has done feasibility studies evaluating the possibility of completely destroying VX hydrolysate onsite at the Newport Chemical Depot outside Newport, Indiana, and has done extensive pilot testing of potential disposal technologies that could be used onsite at the Newport facility; and

WHEREAS, the U.S. Armys entire stockpile of VX nerve gas was created at the Newport Chemical Depot in the 1960s and the current stockpile has been safely stored at this location without incident since 1969; and

WHEREAS, the risks associated with transporting VX hydrolysate off-site to New Jersey far outweigh any potential benefits, including the time needed to construct new processing technologies at the Newport facility and

WHEREAS, the Indiana facility is located in a relatively rural setting with limited inhabitants within a three mile radius; and

WHEREAS, federal law, P.L. 99-145, Section 1412, 50 U.S.C. 1521, requires that, in destroying chemical weapons agents the Secretary of Defense shall provide for maximum protection for the environment, the general public, and the personnel who are involved in the destruction of the lethal chemical agents and munitions, and adequate and safe facilities designed solely for the destruction of lethal chemical agents and munitions;

NOW THEREFORE:

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the 142nd General Assembly of the State of Delaware, the Senate concurring therein, that we hereby encourage DuPont to not process VX hydrolysate anywhere in the Delaware Valley.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that we encourage DuPont and the U.S. Army to see that all VX hydrolysate is safely destroyed at the Newport Chemical Depot in Indiana, ensuring maximum protection for the environment, the general public, and the personnel who are involved in the destruction of the lethal chemical agent.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that suitably prepared copies of this Resolution be forwarded to DuPont, the U.S. Army, the Governor, and our Honorable Delegation to the United States Congress.