East Oregonian
March 7, 2002

Incineration may be pushed back

By HEIDI SODERSTROM
of the East Oregonian

HERMISTON -- Incineration of chemical weapons at the Umatilla Chemical Depot could be delayed again if the Oregon Environmental Quality Commission pushes ahead with permit changes being asked of the Army, according to a letter sent Tuesday from Army officials to the EQC and the state Department of Environmental Quality.

The DEQ has asked the commission to require the Army to state in writing what will happen to "secondary" or "inconsequential" waste generated by incineration. Depot officials argued that to do so could cause delays to the already tight schedule.

"As it stands today, we are on schedule and foresee no technical issues that will delay startup of the facility. However, the permit conditions addressing management of secondary waste will result in a delay of agent destruction startup time," wrote Lt. Col. Fred Pellissier, depot commander. The letter also was signed by the project manager for the incineration, Don Barclay, and Washington Demilitarization Co. project manager Loren Sharp.

"We want to resolve this secondary waste management issue in a timely manner and are writing this to offer a means of achieving the intent of these permit conditions without schedule impact," the letter said.

Right now, destruction of the depot's supply of chemical weapons is scheduled to begin in February 2003 and be done by December 2008. The Umatilla depot stores more than 220,500 chemical munitions and containers of nerve and mustard agents.

Wastes expected to be created during incineration include 500 tons of agent-contaminated carbon and dunnage, such as wood pallets, packing cases, paper, cleaning rags, small metal items, plastic, glass and carbon filters.

Mary Binder, depot spokesperson, said several letters between the state and the Army have discussed the issue, culminating in Tuesday's letter.

Things will come to a head Friday morning at the commission's regular meeting, said Tom Beam of the DEQ. He said DEQ staff will present the permit modifications to the commission, which will then decide to adopt the DEQ's recommendations, adopt them with changes or veto them altogether.

"It should be remembered that the risk posed to the public by secondary waste is inconsequential when compared to that of agent storage," the letter stated. "We think these issues don,t warrant schedule slippage because they can be addressed in another manner."