LATEST NEWS
Friday, April 08, 2005
Mustard agent may contain
mercury
By ANDREW BINION
of the East Oregonian
abinion@eastoregonian.com
HERMISTON — The Army is
monitoring the chemical weapons incineration process at the Toole Chemical
Depot in Utah before deciding what to do about the possibility that mustard
agents at the Umatilla Chemical Weapons Depot contain mercury.
The revelation that mustard agents at the Toole facility have amounts
of mercury, a toxic pollutant, came from a congressional hearing earlier
this week, said Umatilla Chemical Depot Spokeswoman Mary Binder.
The depot has yet to begin destroying its more than 2,600 ton containers
of mustard agent, which is in storage and has not been loaded into rockets
or other weapons, Binder said.
When the furnace and filters were built, tests were run to ensure
that the amount of nickel, lead and other toxic chemicals released into the
environment would not exceed air quality limits.
Management at the Tooele facility is testing whether the chemical
weapons that contain mercury can be destroyed without violating limits on
mercury pollution, Binder said, a move Umatilla may take in the future.
Currently, representatives of the different agencies and contractors
involved in the incineration at Umatilla are discussing the issue, Binder
said.
“Although its several years down road, we’ve started that process,”
she said.
The Umatilla Chemical Depot will begin destroying its cache of mustard
in about 2008, after the sarin agent and nerve gasses are destroyed, Binder
said.