MARCH NEWS 2000
                  Should This City Be the Waste Dump
              for Chemical Weapons Residue??
         The Corpus Christi Experiment VX Nerve Agent Disposal by Bill Alling
              Bill Alling's Letter to The Caller-Times
             KEMPS RIDLEY TURTLE PRESS RELEASE FROM AUSTIN - 2/9/00
            KEMPS RIDLEY TURTLE UPDATE by Mina Williams &Venice Scheurich
           CBBEP   by Frank Hankins - see January 2000 Newsletter
           THE LEPC    by Edith Cosgrove- see January 2000 Newsletter

                               COASTAL BEND GROUP

• EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

         * Pat Suter                   852-7938              Chairman
            PHSUTER@aol.com

         * Randy Berryhill        883-0586        Vice Chairman

         * Judy Tor                  241-2605                Treasurer

         * Dorothy McLaren   883-0435                 Secretary

•   COMMITTEE CHAIRMEN
  
  * Henry Berryhill     883-0586            Conservation
   
  * Randy Berryhill    883-0586             Membership
  
  * Ken Jobe             993-3737             Recycling
  
  * Edith Cosgrove   241-2960             Air Quality
  
  * Cheryl McGrath   883-9778             Web Master
      cmcgrath@caller.infi.net

March Meeting: March   21, 2000

Art Community Center, 100 Shoreline
Lunch, 11:15 a.m., Business meeting, 12:15 p.m.
(You may bring your lunch to the business meeting if your
time is limited.)

PROGRAM: NERVE GAS HYDROLYSATE TREATMENT IN CORPUS CHRISTI
Bill Alling

•                  COMMENTS FROM THE CHAIR

Bill Alling and I went to Tooele, Utah in February to view the storage and early treatment to deactivate VX, a nerve toxin. Then on March 2 we were given an inspection tour of the local treatment plant which is still under construction. The grand opening will be sometime in late March. Finally in late April, the plant will be ready for the HYDROLYSATE. Some 100 drums are currently in storage at the plant with perhaps 40 more to come. The plant here is a pilot plant. If successful, the main plant will be built in Newport, Indiana where most of the nerve gas is stored.

On another subject, I received notice that Governor Bush is making plans to privatize some state parks. This is very disturbing and we will discuss the proposal at the meeting. Targeted parks include the Davis Mountains, Big Bend Ranch, Guadalupe River, Pedernales Falls, and a few others. Primary purpose seems to be revenue production. Be thinking about what you would like to have our state parks become in the future.