Defense Environment Alert
February 26, 2002

In moot case
ARMY HEEDS CITIZENS' POSITION ON DESTROYING GELLED MUNITIONS

The Army has asked Utah regulators to revoke a permit modification for its chemical weapons incinerator that allowed it to bum rockets and other munitions with gelled chemical agent -- a move citizen activists say settles an administrative legal challenge the citizens had brought against the Army and Utah regulators over the modified operating conditions for the incinerator. Activists say they'll point to the Army's decision if it attempts similar permit modifications elsewhere.

But the Army doesn't view its decision to ask the state to revoke the modified operating conditions as a settlement, according to a spokesman for the Army's program manager for chemical demilitarization (PMCD). The spokesman says the revocation request was made simply because the Army no longer needs to process rockets containing gelled GB agent at its Utah facility; it is nearly done with destroying munitions and containers with GB agent. The decision, however, does reference the citizen's challenge.

Revoking the modification effectively ends an administrative legal challenge to permit modifications brought by citizen activists in January 2000. That challenge alleged that the Utah Division of Solid and Hazardous Waste "illegally approved operating conditions that allowed the Army to incinerate undrained munitions in a manner that was never intended and under conditions that had never been tested," the Chemical Weapons Working Group (CWWG) says in a Feb. 14 press release on the matter. CWWG, a petitioner in the legal appeal, says that the "settlement" includes assurances by the Army that for any remaining GB munitions or containers that hold gelled agent, the Army will neutralize the agent, rather than incinerate the materials, the press release says.

At issue were two permit modifications the state approved in 1997 that allowed the Army to incinerate munitions and containers that had not been fully drained of chemical agent or other residues. While the Army had planned to drain liquid agent, it discovered in some cases that agent had gelled and couldn't be drained. The activists' petition charged, "Permit modifications have allowed for the processing of gelled munitions in the Metal Parts Furnace and the Deactivation Furnace, but these modifications were inappropriately classified and these new operating conditions have not been tested to assure that incinerating munitions in this manner can be done safely."

Allowing incineration of undrained rockets "led to the first admitted nerve agent release out of the Tooele incinerator['s] main smokestack in May 2000," CWWG charges in its press release. The PMCD spokesman contends though that undrained rockets weren't being processed at that time, but an activist source maintains they were.

"It's unfortunate that it took a lawsuit to correct the situation, but we are happy to finally negotiate an agreement that puts an end to this particular experiment," said Jason Groenewold, director of Families Against Incinerator Risk (FAIR), in the Feb. 14 press release. FAIR was one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit.

The Army in its revocation request says it doesn't oppose revocation of the permit modifications, stating that it has "no future plans to rely on" a permit modification that allowed rockets to be burned in the deactivation furnace without punching and draining them. The Army also is taking this position because it "never relied" on a second permit modification that allowed it to incinerate ton containers in the metal parts furnace with a greater than 5 percent residual heel of agent, the revocation request says. This second permit modification was not just restricted to ton containers, but also applied to other munitions processed through the metal parts furnace such as projectiles, according to Army documents.

The Army has now completed destruction of the GB rockets and with regard to ton containers, the PMCD spokesman says about 70 of them have quantities of sludge that because of mercury content won't pass regulatory requirements. The spokesman says these containers did not contain gelled agent. The Army now plans to use other non-incineration treatments to remove the sludge. And the state in a letter to the citizen activists says any remaining munitions that can't be drained will be addressed following procedures for dealing with mercury-tainted containers.

Activists, however, are concerned about attempts by the Army to try to get regulatory permits for processing gelled rockets at other chemical weapons demilitarization sites. They say that particularly at facilities being built in Alabama and Oregon, they-will point to the Army's recent decision to back down from the operating modifications at Tooele. At Tooele, the Army admitted it didn't follow the regulatory process as required, the CWWG spokesman says. And the Army has yet to demonstrate the capability of incineration to perform within regulatory parameters while processing gelled munitions, he says.

In response to these comments, the PMCD spokesman refutes the statement that the Army didn't follow the regulatory process. The Army is on the verge of eliminating all of the GB stored at Tooele and has been "very successful" in eliminating that stockpile, he says. He points out that incineration at Tooele "has worked well."