LATEST NEWS
Saturday, January 22, 2005
Depot may
be targeted for storage, destruction of more chemical weapons
By AMYJO BROWN
of the East Oregonian
ajbrown@eastoregonian.com
UMATILLA — Causing both
disbelief and concern locally, the U.S. Army announced this week that it
is considering relocating chemical weapons stored across the country to facilities
already constructed for the weapons’ destruction.
Since only four such facilities exist across the country, the Umatilla
Chemical Depot could find itself with more nerve and blister agents to destroy.
But state and local officials say they plan to oppose any move to
bring more toxic agents here.
“Oregon will not accept any chemical weapons from another site,”
said Robert Flournoy, chairman of the Citizens Advisory Commission, a local
watchdog group for Umatilla Chemical Depot. “I can assure you that will never
happen. We don’t want outside chemical weapons brought in.”
Dennis Murphey, manager for the state Department of Environmental
Quality’s chemical demilitarization program, said he would oppose the idea
as well.
“I personally don’t see any likelihood that there would be serious
consideration of moving weapons here,” he said, adding that the state has
two permits allowing the Army to store and destroy weapons in the state.
Both permits expressly prohibit bringing chemical weapons or any other hazardous
waste into the state.
“Any change of the two permits would be of such significance that
the Environmental Quality Commission would want to take those under consideration,”
Murphey said. “I would vigorously recommend that they do not approve any
such modification.”
Craig Campbell, a spokesperson for Gov. Ted Kulongoski’s office,
said moving the weapons is not a good idea.
“We would be strongly in opposition of changing the permit for that
to happen,” he said.
But not everyone was so quick to jump on the no more agents bandwagon.
State Sen. David Nelson, R-Pendleton, said he would need more information
before opposing the idea.
“I think there’s two continuing interests,” he said. “One, is this
going to be a safe venture? On the other end of the coin, what does this
do to affect jobs and the economy in our community?
“We’d have to weigh the risk and the reward.”
Karyn Jones, founder of GASP, the local opposition group to incineration
of chemical weapons, said she is worried that despite reassurances by many,
the relocation of weapons could soon be a reality.
“Laws were made to be changed,” she said. “It’s my hope that the
state of Oregon, the officials, would rally and say ‘not in Oregon, you’re
not doing this to us.’”
The Depot, one of eight sites around the country storing the nation’s
stockpile of chemical weapons, has about 7.4 million pounds of deadly nerve
and blister agent in a variety of munitions.
The Depot began destruction of its weapons last fall under orders
by Congress and an international treaty. The Army is also destroying weapons
stored in Utah, Alabama and Maryland. Storage sites in Arkansas and Indiana
are scheduled to start destruction within the year. Sites in Colorado and
Kentucky are in the early stages of construction for their weapons disposal
facilities.
Earlier this week, U.S. the Department of Defense directed the Army
to consider alternatives to destroying those weapons at those sites in order
to maximize the use of funding and to more effectively meet a 2012 deadline
for weapons destruction.
But federal law prohibits moving the weapons across state lines.
To relocate weapons, the law would have to be amended by a presidential
order or act of Congress. States with disposal facilities, too, would have
to agree to accept the weapons.
The first meeting on the possibility of relocating weapons was held
Thursday, according to Greg Mahall, spokesperson for the Army’s Chemical
Materials Agency, which oversees the chemical demilitarization program.
A final report on the feasibility of such a move is expected Feb.
18, he said.
The Umatilla Chemical Depot is the furthest from other storage sites.
Chemical weapons transfers
The last time the U.S. Army moved chemical weapons:
Operation Steel Box, 1990. It involved moving more than 100,000 rounds
from a U.S. storage location in West Germany to Johnston Island, an island
in the Pacific Ocean.
The last time the Army moved chemical weapons within U.S. borders:
In 1981. Weteye Bombs were transported from the Rocky Mountain Chemical
Weapons Arsenal outside Denver to the Deseret Chemical Depot in Tooele, Utah.