By Phil Wright of the East Oregonian UMATILLA -- The Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal Facility still intends to meet the April 29, 2012 deadline for disposal of chemical weapons, in spite of an announcement Tuesday by the U.S. Army that it's seeking an extension of the deadline. The Army said it won't be able to fulfill the international obligation to destroy the entire U.S. chemical weapons stockpile by the deadline afforded by the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC). Under the CWC treaty, the United States had 10 years from April 29, 1997, when the treaty entered into force, to destroy its declared stockpile of 31,500 tons (27,768 metric tons) of chemical agents. The 10-year window included a provision for a one-time, five-year extension. Recently, the Army submitted an extension request to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), the international body that oversees the implementation of the convention's provisions. The revised timeline would extend operations beyond the 2012 deadline at the Umatilla site, as well as sites in Alabama, Arkansas and Utah. Only CMA's Newport, Ind., facility is expected to complete disposal operations prior to the extension date. CMA has completed destruction of the stockpiles formerly located at Johnston Atoll and Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md. But Hal McCune, protocol manager for the Washington Group International, the agency the Army contracts to run the Umatilla facility, said employees and staff are planning on making the deadline. "As far as our day-to-day operating scheduling goes, nothing is changing," he said. "We'll meet (the deadline) as quickly as we can, but obviously we're not going to compromise public safety to meet a deadline." That also was part of the message from the Army. Michael A. Parker, the director of the Army Chemical Materials Agency, the organization charged with the safe storage and disposal of the weapons stockpile, said the Army will continue to seek opportunities to complete destruction as soon as possible without any compromise to safety of workers, communities or the environment. Still, McCune said, meeting the 2012 deadline is a "significant challenge." "We're moving to finish with rockets this fall and start up with bombs and move into VX after that," he said. Further out is the mustard gas, he said, which will be the last and most difficult chemical weapon the facility will destroy. McCune said there are 2,635 one-ton mustard containers stored at the Umatilla Chemical Depot. Eventually those containers will be moved to the chemical processing facility a few at a time. He explained mustard gas presents the least danger to the environment or the public, however, he said, "... It's old, been out there a long time, and has some heavy metals in the containers." The gas gels at 54 degrees, he said, and because it's been there so long, some of it has solidified in the bottom of containers. But Umatilla workers are already making plans for how to handle the stuff, McCune said, by studying what the Tooele Chemical Agent Disposal Facility in Tooele, Utah, is doing to dispose of mustard gas there. McCune also said he understands why the Army has moved back the deadline. From a program-wide perspective, it makes sense, he said. "The revised Army schedules are conservative program-wide estimates for budgeting and planning purposes," McCune said. Several factors contributed to the requirement for an extension request, including unanticipated delays in obtaining approval of environmental permits, lower than estimated destruction rates, work stoppages to investigate and resolve problems, deteriorating munitions, the development of operational safety protocols and community emergency preparedness requirements. The Army met its first two intermediate chemical weapons destruction deadlines early and is working to destroy 45 percent of the chemical weapons stockpile by December 31, 2007, the third intermediate deadline. As of May 3, 2006, the Army destroyed 10,125 metric tons, or 36.5 percent of its declared inventory of chemical agent, since the treaty took force McCune said the Umatilla facility has destroyed 567 tons of weapons, or about 15 percent of the total chemical agent stored there. He also said the recent fires haven't thrown production off schedule. Both processing lines are running now and on Tuesday the facility destroyed 434 rockets. "That’s a pretty good day," McCune said. |
|||||||
