Editorial
Posted on Fri, Nov. 16, 2007
Scary breaches
More vigilance needed at weapons depot
If you live anywhere near Kentucky's WMD, you fervently want to believe that your U.S. government is running a shipshape storage operation.
A state agency has found otherwise.
A yearlong investigation by Kentucky's Department for Environmental Protection uncovered disturbing examples of sloppiness at the Blue Grass Army Depot near Richmond.
Who would have imagined, for example, that rain water sluices through storage igloos, weakening the pallets on which rockets are stored? In at least one case, a deteriorating pallet caused a rocket to crack and leak a substance that was probably a chemical agent but was never properly analyzed.
The investigators raised concerns that workers and managers are not receiving the training necessary "to prevent releases of chemical warfare agents to the environment" or to protect themselves from exposure.
The department's Division of Waste Management issued four notices of permit violations. It also referred nine allegations related to alleged cover-ups and falsified data to criminal investigators.
The report prompted a stern letter from Sens. Mitch McConnell and Jim Bunning and Rep. Ben Chandler demanding immediate action and a briefing from the director of the Pentagon's Chemical Materials Agency.
The letter cites troubling allegations that the Blue Grass Army Depot's culture "stifles internal discussion and punishes those who raise concerns" about safety practices. The letter urges "precautions to ensure that whistle blowers and other internal dissenters (including security personnel) are not only protected from retribution, as required by law, but also that their input is included in efforts to remedy the safety problems."
"With so much at risk, 'business as usual,' will not suffice," say McConnell, Bunning and Chandler.
Part of what's at risk is the health and safety of the 800 workers who will be building the facility for disposing of a million pounds of chemical agents stored in Madison County.
Those in charge of the depot have always had a cavalier attitude about air monitoring, even when Bunning got them $1 million to upgrade the monitoring system.
As the long-awaited disposal of our domestic WMD moves closer to reality, an attitude adjustment is in order.