2005 News

June 1, 2005
Commissioners Oppose Transport of Nerve Agent Through Bucks

Today, the commissioners called on Governor Rendell to join with his counterparts in New Jersey and Delaware in opposing shipment of 1,200 tons of neutralized VX nerve agent for eventual disposal in the Delaware River. In a letter to the governor, the three commissioners pointed out that close to a year ago, they urged him to publicly renounce the Army's plan, in the health and safety interests of residents of the Commonwealth. They are again imploring Governor Rendell to engage Pennsylvania's Department of Environmental Protection, Department of Health and Office of Homeland Security to collaboratively stop the shipment.

In addition to the apparent homeland security issues surrounding a shipment of this nature, Commissioners Charles H. Martin, chairman; James F. Cawley, and Sandra A. Miller all share a strong concern about the effects the agent would have on the ecosystem and water quality of the Delaware River.

"As Commissioners in Bucks County," they wrote, "we share the responsibility for the public health and safety of our citizens as well as the quality of our communities' environments."

As it searches for possible routes, the Army is considering one option in which the agent would be off-loaded in Morrisville, loaded onto trucks and driven on either Routes 1 or 13 to the Pennsylvania Turnpike into New Jersey.

"As a former resident of southeastern Pennsylvania, you are aware of the high population density in this area as well as extraordinary truck traffic on these particular routes," the commissioners said to the Governor in the letter.