LOCAL
Saturday, August 14, 2004

Agencies promise vigilance

By AMYJO BROWN of the East Oregonian
ajbrown@eastoregonian.com


HERMISTON — Troubles with the power supply are continuing at the Umatilla Chemical Depot, and regulators overseeing the startup of incineration of chemical weapons on its grounds next week said they will be keeping their eye on the issue.

They will also be interested in the results of an investigation into an incident at the chemical weapons incinerator in Tooele, Utah, Dennis Murphey, program administrator for the Department of Environmental Quality, reported to the Oregon Environmental Quality Commission Thursday.

The EQC held a special meeting Friday in Hermiston, and gave the Army the go-ahead to begin incinerating weapons filled with more than 7.4 million pounds of nerve and blister agent. The weapons have been stored at the depot since the early 1960s and must be destroyed to comply with both a Congressional order and the mandate of an international treaty.

Hot days and increased activity at the depot in preparation for its startup of incineration have been causing problems for its electrical system since early July. While the power outages do not affect the Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal Facility — the plant which will process and burn the weapons and chemical agent has its own generator — outages have affected the administrative area of the depot, including a computer program which sends important weather data to the local Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program. Without it, local emergency responders would not be able to predict the path of a plume of chemical agent, if a catastrophic accident happened at the depot involving the chemical weapons.

Although the risk of such an accident occurring is low, “the most important thing we do is the modeling (with the software),” said Casey Beard, manager of Morrow County’s Emergency Management. “For it to work, it has to have constant input on the weather patterns around the depot.”

Murphey told the EQC members that DEQ has asked those in charge at the depot to send the department detailed information on the power situation. He said he has assurance that all incineration activities at the depot would be suspended any time there is an interruption of power.

“I think we’re well on the way of getting that situation resolved,” Murphey said.

Col. David Holliday, the depot’s commander, also said he is “not quite sure yet” what is causing the disruption in power, and does not know when the problem will be fixed.

Murphey also told EQC members that local regulators were interested in an incident which occurred recently at the Tooele Chemical Agent Disposal Facility in Utah, an incinerator similar to the one being operated at the depot.

Recently, two critical monitors in the stack of the Utah facility were disabled by an employee on at least three separate occasions, for up to 30 minutes each time, according to Martin Gray, manager for the chemical demilitarization program of Utah’s Department of Environmental Quality.

There were also other instances where at least one of the monitors was shut down for a span of three minutes at a time, Gray said.

“It’s a big deal because nobody should manipulate that equipment,” Gray said. “This monitoring equipment is the final monitor before the incinerator gases are emitted into the environment. It’s the last check.”

Gray added that he doesn’t believe any harm was done to the environment because other monitors in ducts leading to the main stack were working correctly and didn’t detect anything unusual.

An employee at that facility has been suspended pending the outcome of an investigation by the Utah site’s contractor, EG&G Defense Materials, Inc. A team from the Army’s Chemical Materials Agency in Aberdeen, Md., will also review the investigation. In the meantime, VX chemical agent destruction operations are continuing at the plant, according to a news release from the Deseret Chemical Depot.

Utah’s DEQ is also starting its own investigation of the incident, Gray said.

Murphey, told the EQC plans were in the process to ensure such an incident was avoided at the Umatilla depot.

“We will stay appraised of the investigations and see what measures will be implemented there,” Murphey said. “There will definitely be lessons learned from this experience. I’ve had discussions with the site here and there will be measures implemented (at the Umatilla depot) to reduce the likelihood of it happening here.”