It’s a
short trip for the M-55 rockets being destroyed starting this week in the
Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal Facility — from the K-Block igloos at right
to the drop-off point at the end of the complex. Staff Photo by Don Cresswell
A day after the Umatilla
Chemical Depot incinerated the first decades-old rocket loaded with deadly
sarin nerve agent, those living around the facility expressed a mixture of
support and concern.
And some weren’t aware that the process had begun.
“It doesn’t worry us,” said Jan Tompkins on Thursday, a retiree from
Hermiston. “They’ll do a good job.”
Adam Cline of Umatilla, who lives a mile from the fence surrounding
the depot, isn’t sure it’s worth the risk.
“If something goes wrong I’ll be the first one dead,” he said.
Cline plans to join up with the Coast Guard in January and leave
the area.
Workers dismantled and destroyed the first rocket on Wednesday, causing
some anxiety after a hatch leading to the 12,000-degree furnace failed to
open.
On Thursday depot officials reported that two more rockets were destroyed
without any problems. Eight more are slated for demolition through the weekend.
The draining, chopping and processing of the rockets Thursday was
finished in about 20 minutes, said Rick Kelley, spokesman for Washington
Group International, the contractor responsible for the incineration plant.
The plant is permitted to destroy 40 rockets per hour but officials are gearing
up slowly.
When Victoria Creek lived in Tooele, Utah, the nearby Deseret Chemical
Depot began destroying its share of the United State’s chemical weapons stockpile.
The stay-at-home mom and student from Hermiston wasn’t aware that Wednesday
was the starting date for the Umatilla Chemical Depot, but said she’s been
through this before and isn’t worried.
“I’m not really concerned, I’m sure they have it under control,”
she said. “There’s many more things we should be concerned about.”
Jason Beyers, an agricultural worker from Umatilla, doesn’t share
Creek’s relaxed attitude. He keeps an emergency kit in his home’s bathroom
just in case. But he’s skeptical there would be enough time to seal off windows
with duct tape if an accident sent the nerve agent into the air.
“How do they expect you to put plastic around your windows? There
wouldn’t be enough time,” he said.
Brent Alexander of Hermiston, a fruit grower who runs the Last Chance
Fruit Stand on U.S. Highway 730 in Irrigon, said it was “about time.”
“I live across from it and I want it out of my backyard,” he said.
“My mom works there driving trucks. She wouldn’t be working out there if
it wasn’t safe.”
Shaunna Harley, a health care professional from Echo, said she was
“very disappointed” to hear about the malfunction on Wednesday, which officials
say happened because a stop button was accidentally bumped by a worker.
“They need to get it together,” Harley said. “I’m not confident they
can do it right.”
Brian Gering, pastor of the Family Worship Center in Irrigon, was
glad to see the process had started in earnest.
“It’s safer to dispose of them than to let them sit,” he said. “Get
it done, get those things out of here.”
Ida Nassar wasn’t even aware that the depot was in the process of
destroying the weapons. She recently moved back to Hermiston from Washington
state with her husband and children.
“Do it somewhere far away from the community,” she said “There’s
lots of families, children and schools here. Do it somewhere else.”
