[Peace-discuss] Maybe we do need a weatherman, Bob...

[C. G. Estabrook]

[I'll explain the subject-line to colleagues under 40 at the next
meeting... --CGE]

	VX alarm goes off at Newport depot 
	Army says there was no release of nerve agent 
	into atmosphere during dismantling.
	Associated Press January 9, 2004

NEWPORT, Ind. -- A monitor detected the presence of VX nerve agent as
crews dismantled items Thursday in an enclosed area of the Newport
Chemical Depot where the deadly agent once was produced, the depot's
commander said.

After the monitor sounded an alarm, a lab test confirmed the presence of
the agent. There was no release into the atmosphere, and no special
precautions were ordered at Newport or off the base, Lt. Col. Joseph F.
Marquart said.

The alarm was unsurprising, given that the Army used the area being
dismantled to produce VX during the 1960s, Marquart said. The monitoring
system detects extremely low levels of VX, and a contractor hired for the
dismantling work routinely tests air and liquid samples.

The government has been dismantling the production site since August 1998.

The Army stores more than 1,200 tons of VX nerve agent at the depot in
Newport, about 30 miles north of Terre Haute.

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