Mercury gets a rise from governor
By Donna Kemp
Spangler
Deseret Morning News
Gov. Olene Walker doesn't want the nation's mercury stockpile to
end up in Tooele County.
"No way, absolutely not," Walker told the Deseret Morning News Wednesday.
"It doesn't provide many jobs. It creates a hazard."
Last week the Pentagon officially announced plans to consolidate into one
location all 4,890 tons of excess mercury now stored at four Department of
Energy warehouses in New Jersey, Ohio, Indiana and Tennessee.
Owners of the Utah Industrial Depot want to take all of it. So do the operators
of the Hawthorne Army Depot in Nevada.
Consolidating the mercury has been one of the Pentagon's preferred alternatives
because it would make the material easier to manage. But the possibility
of storing it in Tooele prompted Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, to extend the
public hearing process to give Utahns a chance to comment on it.
"I'm delighted he tried to delay the decision," Walker said. "I think, as
a state, that isn't what we want to have here."
Last week's official announcement set off a chain of events that needs to
occur before a final decision is made next year on the selection of a consolidated
site.
First, the Defense National Stockpile Center (DNSC), a Defense Department
agency charged with storing the materials for national emergencies such as
war, must prepare a report to Congress by June 1. A provision in federal law
prohibits the agency from doing anything until 180 days after the report.
That means the DNSC doesn't anticipate soliciting proposals until late December.
So far there are five finalists for the consolidation — all of which have
been evaluated in environmental studies. Besides Utah and Nevada, current
Department of Energy warehouses in New Jersey, Ohio and Indiana are being
considered.
Another facility could emerge as a potential site, in which case additional
environmental analysis would be needed, officials said.
"We don't anticipate a decision on the consolidation until early spring 2005,"
said Robert Jones, a DNSC spokesman. "From there, once a decision is made
it will take a year or two to move the mercury."
Tooele County residents have mixed feelings about the issue.
On the one hand, some people aren't convinced mercury is all that bad and
figure the defunct military depot in Tooele is a good place to store it.
DNSC estimates it would cost $29 million over the 40 years of storage.
Others point out that mercury is toxic. It can pose a health risk to people
and ecological damage to the environment if it vaporizes at room temperature.
For more than 50 years, however, the federal government has safely stored
mercury in steel flasks inside 30-gallon drums for extra protection.