Army to inform public about impending nerve agent destruction

After years of waiting, residents who live near a western Indiana military installation where a deadly nerve agent is stored will gather Thursday for a preview of the U.S. Army's impending plans to begin destroying the chemical weapon.\nThe meeting at the Newport Lion's Club will come only days before an Army contractor is scheduled to begin chemically neutralizing the first batch of more than 250,000 gallons of VX nerve agent stored at the Newport Chemical Depot.\nTerry Arthur, a spokeswoman for the depot about 30 miles north of Terre Haute, said the session will be the public's last chance to learn about the project before it begins sometime between May 5 and May 15.\n"We want to let them know what to expect when we start operations and answer any last-minute questions they might have," she said.\nThe depot's commander, Lt. Col. Scott Kimmell, will attend, as will representatives of the Army contractor handling the project. Officials from the offices of Rep. John Hostettler, Sens. Richard Lugar and Evan Bayh might also be on hand, she said.\nAcross the street, at the depot's outreach office, there will be an open house with food and beverages.\nOnce the evening session ends, Newport residents will await the beginning of the end of the threat that has loomed over their small community for decades.\nSometime in May, the Army will open the first of the depot's 1,600 1-ton steel containers of liquid VX -- a single pinpoint droplet of which is deadly.\nFor security reasons, the public will not be told in advance the date of the first container's opening.\nBut they will be informed once the first one is in place in the multi-million-dollar complex built to destroy the VX by mixing it with heated water and sodium hydroxide in chemical reactors.\nAfter the first batch is neutralized, its byproducts will be kept in the reactor until tests confirm that no VX remains, Arthur said. The plan is to initially neutralize the VX one container at a time, she said.\nThis week, the Army and its contractor is working on a final walkthrough of the neutralization complex. When it's complete, the Army's Chemical Materials Agency at Aberdeen Proving Grounds will be informed that the contractor is ready.\n"Then we'll start going through the checklist of the countdown and getting ready," he said. "Once we feel we're ready to go, we'll go."\nArthur said that when the neutralization project begins depends in part on the weather. Under the complex's protocols, the VX containers cannot be moved from a concrete bunker in severe weather or if it is raining.\nAnd they can only be moved during daylight.\nSara Morgan, a teacher who led a campaign that forced the Army to drop its original plans to incinerate the material, will not be able to attend the meeting because she has out-of-state plans.\nShe said she is happy the neutralization project is about to begin, although she hopes the Army contractor and its 500 employees will proceed at a slow pace.\n"As long as they start slowly and don't get in a hurry, I'm fine with it," Morgan said. "I just don't want them to go too fast, too soon"