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Saturday, November 05, 2005

Environment - NW Ind. air; nerve gas; endangered species; ag park

NW Indiana Air. Both the Munster (NW Indiana) Times and the Gary Post-Tribune report today that Gov. Daniels has "announced plans to petition the federal government to change the ground-level ozone air quality designation for Lake and Porter counties to attainment, which means the area is meeting Clean Air Act standards." The NWI story contiues:

Indiana's petition to be considered separately from the Chicago metro area for purposes of Clean Air Act attainment will include a long-term maintenance plan to ensure the area meets national standards for ground-level ozone in the years to come. The public will be able to view and comment on the state's plan once it is developed and before it is submitted to the EPA in about a month.
Nerve Gas. Troubles at Newport. Tammy Webber of the Indianapolis Star writes, in a lengthy story headlined "VX destruction shaky: Problems at plant delaying process to eliminate nerve agent," that:
A $533 million western Indiana plant built to destroy the world's deadliest chemical has been idle nearly half of the time since it began operations six months ago, plagued by equipment and other unforeseen problems.

The latest problem at the U.S. Army's Newport Chemical Depot in Vermillion County, near the Illinois border, occurred Oct. 29 when an as-yet-undiagnosed problem caused a spill of almost 500 gallons of the caustic chemical byproduct created during destruction of the Cold War-era nerve agent VX.

The spill, the plant's third, forced officials to halt operations for the second time since the process began May 5. Work also had come to a stop most of the summer, triggered by a June 10 spill blamed on faulty valves. The facility remained closed after a second, smaller spill in July during a testing procedure and the discovery that the byproduct was more flammable than thought. Operations resumed in late August, after the valves were replaced and officials learned how to reduce the byproduct's flammability

Meanwhile, the Terre Haute Tribune Star reported yesterday that "Contractor employees threaten to leave job at Newport." The story by Patricia Pastore begins:
Modifications in a contract between the Army and Parsons, the contractor the Army hired to build and operate the Newport Chemical Agent Disposal Facility, have employees threatening to walk off the job.

These are highly trained employees who are responsible for operating and maintaining the plant that destroys the deadly nerve agent VX, said Scott Rowden, environmental director for Parsons Technologies Inc. * * *

The destruction of VX won't be halted, however, if those members of the work force leave, said Col. Jesse L. Barber, project manager for the Army's Alternative Technologies and Approaches Project.

Endangered species. "Endangered Species Act in cross hairs" is the headline to a lengthy story today in the Chicago Tribune.

Ag park. I commented on Kemplog.com that I'd like to actually see a copy of the proposed/now final zoning ordinance for the Delaware County Agricultural Bio-Enterprise Zone. Here it is, via the Indiana Pork Advocacy Commission website. And here it is, via the Delaware County website.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on November 5, 2005 10:58 AM
Posted to Environment