Hermiston Herald
February 19, 2002

Officials concerned about permit revocation

By Frank Lockwood
Staff writer

HERMISTON - Community leaders have started to express concerns lest
anti-incineration groups succeed in stopping incineration of chemical
weapons at Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal Facility.

The Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal Facility is scheduled to light up
natural-gas burners for testing today. On Thursday, Hermiston Mayor Bob
Severson alluded to the Chemical Weapons Working Group, GASP, the Sierra
Club and others involved in lawsuits in an attempt to stop incineration. The
groups are attempting to have the facility's permits revoked.

"I sure hope that nothing they do will be able to succeed in holding up this
project," Severson said.

Site Project Manager Don Barclay said Wednesday that the project is still on
schedule according to the projections made earlier this year.

"The GASP hearings will not change the process unless the permit is
revoked," Barclay said.

Press releases from Chemical Weapons Working Group (CWWG) indicate they
still hope to stop some or all incineration. Of concern to Severson and
other community leaders:
· An Oregon circuit court has ruled that citizens were wrongfully denied
certain formal processes which would have allowed them to challenge facts
presented to the DEQ and EQC and to submit additional evidence.
· The Oregon Supreme Court refused to hear what what would have amounted to
an appeal by DEQ/EQC.
· In Anniston, the governor of Alabama recently announced that he intended
to sue the Army to block chemical agent incineration until his safety
concerns are addressed.
· The Bush administration's budget request to Congress on Feb. 4 used the
word "ineffective" to describe the incineration program, in view of costs
that increased over 60 percent from $15 billion to $24 billion. In addition,
CWWG claims that when the program began in 1985, the projected cost was $1.7
billion. CWWG figures the program is now 1400 percent over budget.
· On Feb. 14, the Army agreed to stop certain chemical weapons incineration
practices in Utah. CWWG called the practices "experimental."
A January 1999 lawsuit by Families Against Incinerator Risk (FAIR), with
Sierra Club and Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation, claimed that Utah
illegally approved letting the Army incinerate undrained munitions "in a
manner that was never intended and under conditions that had never been
tested." (CWWG)

Tooele was supposed to separate liquid nerve agent and explosives from the
munitions casings and treat each component in a different furnace under
"very specific" operating conditions, CWWG reported.

However, when they discovered some of the nerve agent had "gelled" or become
more dense in some weapons, the Army asked permission to feed rockets
containing agent, explosives and propellants into a single furnace.

CWWG says the deactivation Furnace System (DFS) was designed to burn
explosives and "a very small amount" of residual agent, and that the
experiment with undrained rockets led to the first admitted nerve agent
release out of the Tooele incinerators main smokestack in May 2000.
As a result, more weapons will be neutralized rather than incinerated. If
they find more gelling problems in Tooele's GB campaign, the Army will
neutralize the agent instead of trying to incinerate.

The threat of terrorism has also caused the Army to turn to neutralization,
in order to expedite demolition of some weapons. the Army recently announced
plans to expedite neutralization of Mustard Agent in Maryland and to to test
neutralization of VX nerve agent stored in ton containers in Utah.

But while some sites will see more neutralization, others will likely use
more incineration for gelled rockets. CWWG Director Craig Williams
criticized the Army for plans to allow gelled rockets to be burned in
Alabama "at a rate 20 times greater" than attempted in in Utah.

"I don't control lawsuits, I don't control CSEPP readiness, and I don't
control funding," Barclay said. "Our focus is to provide the solution that
has been suggested."

The suggested solution to which he referred is to incinerate the stockpiled
chemical weapons now stored at the Umatilla Chemical Depot. The project is
on schedule, Barclay said, and he cannot allow other issues to distract him
from performing his assigned duties. If the permit were revoked, however,
the project would have to stop, he said.

Frank Lockwood may be reached at 567-6457 or by e-mail at
flockwood@hermistonherald.com.