LATEST NEWS
Friday, July 22, 2005

Depot on track to meet deadline
By HAL McCUNE of the East Oregonian
hmccune@eastoregonian.com



Dale Ormond, a deputy assistant secretary of the Army, addresses concerns about the destruction of chemical weapons at the Depot with local officials Thursday at the Outreach Office in Hermiston. Also photographed are Depot Commander Lt. Col. Donna Rutten, Army Public Affairs Officer Mary Binder and Umatilla County Commissioner Dennis Doherty. Staff photo by E.J. Harris
HERMISTON — The person in charge of the elimination of the country’s chemical weapons said Thursday the Umatilla Chemical Depot and five others under Army management are on line to meet the 2012 deadline for destroying the supply.

Dale Ormond, a deputy assistant secretary of the Army, also told local officials at the Umatilla Chemical Disposal Outreach Office on Hermiston’s Main Street that he expects Congress to continue to provide the funding necessary to complete the task, and that now is the time to start planning what to do with the Depot when the Army is gone.

Umatilla and other depots under the Chemical Materials Agency (CMA) have been “fully funded in the past, and I expect them to be again,” Ormond said. Because the CMA is funded separately from the military, the destruction of chemical weapons shouldn’t be affected by the war in Iraq, he added.

While Umatilla and other chemical depots have had hiccups along the way — such as the rocket fires that shut down the Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal Facility for three weeks this spring — all six under the CMA are operating now, Ormond said.

Compared to two years ago, when only one plant was operational, significant progress is being made in reaching the initial international treaty deadline of having 45 percent of the nation’s chemical weapons destroyed by the end of 2007 and the remainder by April of 2012.

For instance, the Tooele facility in Utah has destroyed all of its GB (sarin) and VX (nerve agent) weapons, Pine Bluff, Ark., is incinerating weapons at a “rate that’s really extraordinary,” and Umatilla seems to have worked through its issues and is back on track, Ormond said.

However, the two chemical depots not under CMA oversight — Pueblo, Colo., and Richmond, Ky. — will likely struggle to reach the 2012 completion date, Ormond added. Those plants, which will use water neutralization rather than incineration, are still in the planning and construction phase.

But overall, especially considering the safety and environmental records the CMA has achieved, Ormond said he’s pleased with the program’s progress.

However, he said the Army will continue to work with state regulators to refine and improve the incineration process to speed up the operation as much as possible while keeping public safety and the environment the top priority. In Oregon, which has a reputation for tough environmental oversight, any changes to the operating permit would be a very public process, Ormond added.

It’s up to the community to decide what’s the best use for the Umatilla Chemical Depot once all the chemical weapons are destroyed, he said. While the Depot is yet to be officially added to the Army’s base-closure list, it’s expected to be, probably by fall.

There will be no incineration plant when the Army’s gone, because the state permit requires it to be torn down when incineration is complete. But there will be considerable infrastructure remaining, such as storage buildings, roads and power and water connections, plus about 20,000 acres of land.

Because the future of the Depot will be determined by several entities, including the tribes, state and county governments, “the sooner all those groups come together the easier it will be for the Army to march forward” regarding closing the base, Ormond said.

Umatilla County Planning Director Tamra Mabbot and Casey Beard, Morrow County emergency management director, urged Ormond and Depot commander Lt. Col. Donna E. Rutten to push to have a person assigned to Umatilla to act as a liaison between the Army and community on closure issues and future plans for the Depot. That suggestion was seconded by commissioners from Umatilla and Morrow counties.