Defense Environment Alert 06/15/04

Defense Environment Alert

an exclusive biweekly report on defense policies for cleanup, compliance and pollution prevention

Vol. 12, No. 12--June 15, 2004

ARMY, CONTRACTOR AGREE TO PAY FINE FOR 2002 JACADS VX RELEASE

The Army and its contractor have agreed to pay nearly $52,000 for an August 2002 release of VX nerve agent from the Army's Johnston Atoll Chemical Agent Disposal System (JACADS) facility in the Pacific Ocean. The settlement resolves an EPA complaint over the release.

"This settlement resolves one of the few outstanding issues standing in the way of a complete closure of the JACADS facility," Jeff Scott, EPA Region IX director of waste programs, said in a May 26 statement. "The Army can now focus on the final steps toward returning Johnston Atoll to a thriving wildlife habitat."

JACADS in November 2000 completed disposal of the chemical weapons stockpiled at the site and then began destroying secondary wastes, such as contaminated worker protective suits and spent decontamination solution, in the incinerator as part of its closure activities. Presently, the Army is in the process of conducting final cleanup sampling on Johnston Atoll, where it has demolished the JACADS facility, in preparation for turning control of the atoll completely over to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service as a wildlife refuge.

During the destruction of secondary waste in 2002, a tray of VX-containing sludge was improperly loaded and therefore was not completely destroyed in the incinerator. "This resulted in a potential release of an unknown quantity of untreated VX to the environment," according to EPA Region IX. Internal Army documents indicated the levels of VX in the sludge coming out of the incinerator may have been 45 times the permitted limit, but an Army spokesman, at the time, said it was unclear whether it was VX or something else that triggered the monitoring alarms (Defense Environment Alert, Aug. 27, 2002, p7, and Sept. 24, 2002, pl6).

EPA found that the Army and its contractor, Washington Group International Inc., "failed to maintain and operate the facility to minimize the possibility of a release and failed to implement the contingency plan during an imminent emergency situation," EPA Region IX says. The settlement, in which the Army and its contractor will pay $51,699, resolves EPA's complaint against the two parties, "which neither admit nor deny the allegations," according to EPA Region IX.