Published: March 22, 2006 11:16 pm         

IDEM to allow more VX waste storage at Newport

The Indiana Department of Environmental Management intends to issue two permit modifications to Newport Army Chemical Depot to allow storage of VX waste and expand four additional hydrolysate storage areas on depot grounds.

The modification, requested last fall by the Army and its contractor, Parsons Technology Inc., will permit storage of the waste in containers for an undetermined period of time.

Currently VX hydrolysate, a caustic hazardous waste, is stored in one area of the Newport Chemical Agent Disposal Facility in special intermodal containers, said Jeff Brubaker, Army site project manager.

“We currently have 177,428 gallons of neutralized VX waste water stored in 49 intermodal containers,” Brubaker said Wednesday.

The Army plans to store up to 2 million gallons of hydrolysate at Newport until a decision is made on where the hydrolysate will be further treated for final disposal, he said.

A letter Monday from IDEM gave the Army temporary authorization to use a second intermodal container area for additional storage providing the permit regulations are followed, said Victor P. Windle, IDEM chief of Hazardous Waste Permit Section, permits branch, Office of Land Quality.

A second permit modification that has been requested allows the Army and Parsons to modify a 2001 building to store barrels filled with solid hazardous waste exposed to nerve agent VX.

The proposal to modify the building was discussed by representatives from the Army and Parsons at a public meeting Jan. 17 in the Clinton Public Library.

The hazardous waste will be materials such as pipe, disassembled pumps, spill cleanup materials and protective clothing worn by employees, Brubaker said. He said the waste will be placed in sealed drums and stored inside the building until its final disposition is determined.

The two Hazardous Waste Management Class 3 Permits have no time constraints.

“There is no limitation on the length of the storage of the [VX hydrolysate] or solid waste,” he said.

The drafts for the modification of both permits will be issued Monday, Windle said. A public comment period begins Monday and ends May 11, he said.

“About one month after the public comment period, we will issue the permit modifications, Windle said Wednesday. “I don’t expect to receive many public comments.”

After a public meeting last fall on the request for additional storage for hydrolysate and the meeting Jan. 17 requesting to use a containment building for container storage, IDEM didn’t receive one comment, Windle said.

Copies of the permit modification applications, draft permit modification and fact sheet are available for review online and at three different public sites, Windle said — Clinton Public Library, IDEM’s public file rooms in Indianapolis, the Newport Chemical Stockpile Outreach Office and at www.IN.gov/idem/land/permits/notices/index.

Patricia Pastore can be reached at (812)231-4271 or pat.pastore@tribstar.com