LATEST NEWS
Wednesday, August
25, 2004
Holliday provides
reassurances of incineration safety
By BROOK GRIFFIN
of the East Oregonian
bgriffin@eastoregonian.com
HERMISTON — People at
the Hermiston Chamber of Commerce luncheon wanted reassurance that incineration
of chemical weapons at the nearby Umatilla Chemical Depot could be done safely.
Lt. Col. David “Doc” Holliday gave it to them.
The questions were all ones the depot commander has heard before,
but they are especially pertinent on the eve of start-up for the incineration
complex. How safe is moving weapons from the storage igloos to the incinerator?
What will be released into the air when they are burned? When will the burning
start?
There is still no word yet on exactly when the process will begin,
Holliday said. The Army had intended to start last week, but those plans
were put on hold after a trace amount of surrogate vapor from test burns
was detected in the plant’s air filter system.
That issue is expected to be resolved soon, which means the first
rockets could be moved to the incinerator as early as this week.
Holliday’s objective Tuesday was to assure the public that incineration
will be safe.
“We want to make sure we take things slow enough and methodical,
so we don’t make any mistakes,” Holliday said. “This is going to be a slow
process.”
For instance, only one pallet of rockets will be moved initially.
Those munitions are placed in a sealed truck for the short trip from K Block
to the incinerator complex. One rocket will go through the system first to
ensure all systems are operating correctly, and afterward the process will
continue cautiously while the operation builds up speed.
Holliday stressed that the first 90 days after start up will be slow
and deliberate, while every bit of data is analyzed.
“We have no production schedule,” Holliday said.
Holliday will only be in command for a fraction of the time weapons
are incinerated at the depot. His two-year stint as commander ends next July,
when he will be replaced by Lt. Col. Donna Rutten, now stationed at Fort
Lewis, Wash.
Mary Binder, information officer for the depot, said she’s confident
there are “a good percentage of people who have good information” about the
incineration process and proper safety precautions. “There was no question
that I heard today that I have not heard numerous times in the past, and
that’s OK.”
One question Holliday would not answer had to do with the no-fly
zone over the depot and whether or not it would be safe to fly a plane over
the site. Holliday said it was against policy to discuss security matters
in public, but did say, “You would not want to do that.”
