Community activist Hilton Kelley thinks Veolia Environmental Services and the US Army are putting Port Arthur residents in danger for $49 million.

As part of a contract between Veolia and the Army, shipments of VX nerve gas wastewater will cross eight state lines from Indiana on their way to Port Arthur’s Veolia plant on TX 73 for incineration.

The caustic wastewater will arrive in Port Arthur Tuesday morning.

Kelley, the director of Community In-Power Development Association, said due process did not take place and citizens’ Civil Rights were violated because neither party involved notified the community of the hazardous material’s arrival.

“I feel our community is getting taken advantage of,” Kelley said at a press conference on Monday. “We didn’t have an opportunity to voice our opinions. There was no public notice given to community. People have not been warned. It’s not right to the citizens of Port Arthur.”

“Why didn’t the government or Veolia let us know,” Kelley asked. “We are sick and tired of being the toxic gas dump for the United States.”

Daniel Duncan, Environmental, Health and Safety Manager for Veolia, however, said his company “did a fairly comprehensive public outreach” over the past three months to inform community groups of the potential contract, which was only signed few days ago.

Meeting with the Commissioners Court, Rep. Allan Ritter and Rep. Joe Deshotel’s offices and the Port Arthur Industrial Group, Duncan said Port Arthur leaders have heard the story of the caustic wastewater coming to the area at least two times.

“We have the permits, our crews are trained and we feel we did reach out to the community,” Duncan said.

Kelley said toxic chemicals have come to Southeast Texas before, but local environmental agencies have looked the other way because the chemicals were not considered as dangerous as this wastewater. The VX nerve gas caustic wastewater, though, brings serious concerns, he said.

According to the US Army Chemical Materials Agency (CMA), the chemical agent that will be transported to Southeast Texas will no longer be considered VX nerve gas, but wastewater that is no more toxic than drain cleaner.

But Kelley said those reports are false and that Veolia was not given the full truth. According to him, an inside source at the Indiana facility where the VX wastewater is currently stockpiled confirmed that the chemical by-product is more toxic than what the Army told Veolia.

“Individuals at the site, who wish to remain anonymous, have conveyed detailed information to the CWWG (Chemical Weapons Working Group) alleging that reformation of VX has occurred during storage leading to higher concentrations than are being relayed to the public and emergency responders,” a statement released by Kelley stated.

Duncan said he doesn’t believe that to be the case.

“The Army tested each container two times for VX and added more sodium hydroxide to make sure there was no chemical reaction,” he said. “The only thing that’s left is caustic wastewater because of the high pH level. It’s got potassium and sodium salts but it no longer contains the chemical agent.”