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FEDERAL COURT IN INDIANAPOLIS REFUSES TO STOP VX HYDROLYSATE DESTRUCTION -- This past August, Plews Shadley Racher & Braun prevailed in a highly publicized attempt by several citizen groups to halt the U.S. Army's management and destruction of wastewater generated from the destruction of VX nerve agent stored at the Army's chemical weapons depot in Vermillion County, Indiana.  VX nerve agent is one of the most lethal chemicals ever created.  Pursuant to international treaty obligations, the United States is in the process of destroying its stockpiles of VX and other chemical weapons.  Following the 9/11 attacks, the Army investigated ways to speed up the process and determined that the best way to proceed was to chemically destroy VX supplies in Indiana and ship the resulting hydrolysate wastewater to the hazardous waste incinerator owned by Veolia ES Technical Solutions LLC near Port Arthur, Texas.  The Veolia incinerator manages a wide array of hazardous wastes including highly caustic liquids similar to VX hydrolysate.  The VX hydrolysate contains no detectable levels of VX but has a high pH, similar to drain cleaner.  To date more than 200 shipments of hydrolysate have been trucked to Texas for incineration, all without incident.  Nonetheless, certain citizen groups, including the Sierra Club and the Chemical Weapons Working Group, filed a lawsuit last spring against the Army and Veolia to stop the process, claiming among other things that terrorists might try to intercept hydrolysate shipments.  At an evidentiary hearing in July, plaintiffs presented no evidence that hydrolysate contains any VX or any other nerve agent at concentrations that could possibly be of human health or environmental concern.  To the contrary, Veolia's evidence showed that transporting hydrolysate is not a terrorist risk (whereas maintaining large stocks of VX in Indiana is a potential terrorist target) and incinerating the hydrolysate is safe and in the best interest of protecting human health and the environment.  The case raised interesting Daubert issues. Veolia successfully challenged the admissibility of the testimony of the Sierra Club's three expert witnesses; both on the basis of lack of qualifications and on the lack of a scientifically defensible basis for their conclusions. On August 3, 2007, U.S. District Court Judge Larry McKinney in Indianapolis entered a 58-page order denying the plaintiffs' motion for a preliminary injunction.  Judge McKinney ruled that there was no demonstration that the plaintiffs had a likelihood of success on any of their claims.  The case remains pending.  No trial date has been established.