East Oregonian
August 30, 2003
Here's the facts on incinerator
Category: Opinion
Last Modified: 1:43:15 AM on 8/31/03
Archived: 1:43:15 AM on 8/31/03
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Publication: East Oregonian
Publication Date: 8/30/03
Page and Section: 6 A
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Here's the facts on incinerator
I want to clarify some statements Mr. Stuart Dick made in his Aug. 25 commentary
entitled, "Public being deceived by incinerator."
Regarding incineration as the technology choice for the Umatilla Chemical
Depot chemical weapons stockpile, here, as well as the Army's other stockpile
sites, the technology choice was based on composition of the stockpile at
the site, maturity of the available technology at the time the decision was
made and input from regulators, local officials and the public.
Critics and proponents of the various technologies have described them as
"better, safer, quicker or cheaper," but the Department of Defense and the
Army haven't applied those labels to any technology, nor will they. No one
technology is viewed as safer than another. Assessments conducted to date
have shown no measurable environmental benefits exist among the technologies
chosen for the stockpile sites. Each technology works. I know this from first-hand
experience.
For more than eight years, I was the Army's project manager at its chemical
weapons test facility near Tooele, Utah. During those years, I had responsibility
for working with and testing several disposal technologies, including incineration
and neutralization. I have seen changes, developments and maturing in both
incineration and neutralization. While neutralization is not as mature a
technology as incineration, testing has shown it can safely destroy chemical
warfare agent.
Regarding progress at the Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal Facility, the
facility is built and in the systemization and testing phase. This is a slow,
step-by-step process to ensure the "people, plant and procedures" are ready
for agent disposal operations.
Currently, the facility's four furnaces are in various stages of the surrogate
trial burn process. During this process, we are putting greater demands on
the furnaces than they will face during actual operations to prove their
efficiency and safety. That is why, for example, we use industrial chemicals
as surrogates -- substitutes -- for chemical warfare agent. They are more
difficult to destroy than actual agent.
Once we have the Oregon Environmental Quality Commission's (EQC's) approval
to destroy chemical warfare agent, we'll go through the same step-by-step
testing process with the agent to ensure the "people, plant and procedures"
are working properly. This process is standard for industrial facilities
such as the UMCDF. Safety for our workers, and ultimately the community and
environment have been and remain our No. 1 priority. Contrary to Mr. Dick's
statement "the state of the art brine reduction area ... no longer exists
at Umatilla," we have built the Brine Reduction Area (BRA) facility at the
UMCDF. It is operating and we have successfully demonstrated it can safely
and effectively reduce liquid brine to salt. We recently briefed the Oregon
Chemical Demilitarization Citizens Advisory Commission on the BRA at one
of its monthly meetings. Also, the Oregon EQC recently approved a permit
modification request from the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality
that solidifies the Army's commitment to use the BRA. The permit modification
specifies that the "UMCDF is now required to process all incinerator pollution
abatement system (PAS) brines in the BRA, except when it can be shown that
limited shipment of the PAS brines for off-site treatment and disposal at
a permitted hazardous waste management facility is necessary to avoid inhibiting
the destruction of chemical agent and munitions." Bottom line, we have been
and continue to be committed to using the BRA at UMCDF.
Regarding the dunnage incinerator Mr. Dick references, the UMCDF does not
have this furnace. Original plans had UMCDF using a dunnage incinerator for
secondary waste associated with the chemical weapons disposal process. That
has changed. This waste can safely and effectively be destroyed using the
furnaces in the UMCDF.
Building a facility such as the UMCDF, bringing all its systems on line and
then testing it, and taking advantage of lessons learned from other operating
disposal facilities are challenging processes. At times, these require modifications
to our original permit to build, operate and take down the facility. These
challenges and modifications are expected, and reinforce our commitment to
safety as our No. 1 priority.
We are making progress. As I've shared recently at public meetings and in
presentations, I am projecting the "people, plant and procedures" will be
ready for disposal operations in December. There are, however, other outside
administrative procedures that will most likely still need to be completed
after December, e.g., Department of the Army approval and ultimately EQC
approval.
Looking at the disposal program overall, the year 2003 has shaped up as one
of the best ever for the chemical weapons disposal program.
We started disposal operations at Aberdeen, Md., on April 23, and at Anniston,
Ala., on Aug. 9. We began Agent VX disposal at Tooele, Utah, which has destroyed
all its GB agent. We have completed final secondary waste disposal at Johnston
Island and are close to finishing demolishing the facility. The Pine Bluff.,
Ark., and Newport, Ind., facilities are in testing stages and projecting
to start within a year.
Further, the Army awarded contracts to begin work on new disposal plants
for the final two sites, Pueblo, Colo., and Lexington, Ky. Both sites will
involve our contractor at Umatilla, the Washington Demilitarization Co.
At Umatilla, Washington Demilitarization Co. recently achieved 3 million
man hours without a lost-time accident. That is equivalent to one person
working for 1,500 years without losing a day of work to injury.
Without strong support from citizens, elected officials and regulators at
Umatilla and around the country, we would not have achieved so much. With
their continued support, we look forward to starting the Umatilla Chemical
Agent Disposal Facility.
Finally, I encourage anyone with questions or interested in knowing more
about our UMCDF project, to call or visit the Umatilla Chemical Disposal
Outreach Office, 190 E. Main, Hermiston. It is a great repository for information,
and the staff is available and willing to assist in providing information.
The staff also now includes a Spanish-speaking outreach specialist.
The phone number is 564-9339. Office hours are 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday
through Friday, and arrangements can be made with the staff to have the office
open at other times.