Tuesday June 8, 2004


New chief named for Tooele incinerator

He takes over as plant begins shift to new program      

STOCKTON, Tooele County — An expert who has had years of experience with the United States' prototype chemical arms incinerator is the new general manager for the incinerator near here.
     
Gary W. McCloskey was appointed vice president and general manager of the contractor's operations at the Tooele Chemical Agent Disposal Facility, the change taking effect Tuesday, the day it was announced. TOCDF, the Army plant built to burn chemical weapons stored at Deseret Chemical Depot, has been destroying the arms since Aug. 22, 1996.
     
The contractor is EG&G Defense Materials Inc., a division of URS Corp. The parent corporation bills itself as a "a global, full-service organization, approximately 26,000 strong, with offices in the Americas, Asia/Pacific and Europe." The EG&G side of the company is headquartered in Gaithersburg, Md., where the press release about McCloskey was issued.
     
Before joining EG&G, McCloskey served 32 years as a civilian engineer and project engineer, including 10 years overseeing various operations at the Army's Johnston Atoll Demilitarization System, prototype for the incinerator at Deseret Chemical Depot.

At Johnston Atoll, located in the mid-Pacific Ocean, one of McCloskey's jobs was overseeing plant closure. The closure process should begin at the Tooele incinerator within a few years.
     
The former general manager at TOCDF, Stephen Frankiewicz, took over the position early in 2003. He will be moving to EG&G's Homeland Security division, based in Washington, D.C.
     
Frankiewicz is originally from the East and will return to that region, said Mark Mesesan, communications specialist for the project.
     
McCloskey's immediate past job with EG&G was as technical director for chemical programs.
     
"Gary is the ideal person to lead TOCDF as we approach the end of the VX Agent Destruction Campaign and look forward to the complex Mustard Campaign," Guy Stevenson, EG&G vice president of Homeland Security and Advisory Services, said in a press release. VX is nerve agent, while mustard is a blister agent; both chemicals are lethal.
     
"We will benefit from the tremendous experience, remarkable credibility and strong leadership that Gary brings to this position."
     
McCloskey earned a master's degree in safety engineering from Texas A&M University and a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Renselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York state, adds the release.