Governor opposes shipping chemical weapons to Umatilla

SALEM, Ore. (AP) -- Gov. Ted Kulongoski urged the Army Wednesday to drop any consideration of shipping more chemical weapons to Oregon for disposal.

The Army is studying the feasibility of sending stockpiles from at least two other storage sites to up-and-running destruction facilities, including the Umatilla Chemical Depot in Eastern Oregon, where destruction of some of the 7.4 million pounds of deadly nerve and blister agents started in August.

Moving the weapons would "increase the likelihood of accidents and terrorist attacks" during transportation, and "threaten the health and safety of Americans nationwide," Kulongoski wrote in a letter to Army Secretary Francis Harvey.

"I cannot support a proposal that would put our citizens at risk," the letter said. "I urge you to reconsider any proposal that would change federal laws or policies to allow either the inter-state transportation of chemical weapons or increase the stockpile of weapons in Oregon."

Although federal laws prohibit moving chemical weapons across state lines, the Defense Department told the Army earlier this week to study whether moving weapons could speed up destruction.

The goal is to meet the 2012 Chemical Weapons Convention Treaty deadline for destroying chemical weapons.

If everything goes as planned, Umatilla will be finished destroying the weapons there by 2010, according to Mary Binder, the depot spokeswoman.

Kulongoski's letter was sent the same day that two U.S. Senators from Colorado introduced legislation to block funding to the Army's study.

Sens. Wayne Allard and Ken Salazar said the Pentagon assured them on Jan. 18 that the chemical weapons would not be moved from Colorado, but a day later the Defense Department announced the study to assess the option of moving weapons.

Army officials have said the study should be done by Feb. 18.

Binder said it's too early to comment on either the study or Kulongoski's letter.

Since August, there have been three incidents at the Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal Facility that have caused it to temporarily shut down.

On the first day, operations were halted because an emergency button had accidentally been pushed the previous day. Later, two employees entered a room without the proper type of protective clothing. And in December, workers unclamped the wrong door in a filter unit they shouldn't have been in, Binder said.

None of the mishaps resulted in injuries.