Oregon Public Broadcasting 02/19/04

February 19, 2004

Citizens Concerned About Weapons Incineration Change

By Ley Garnett

HERMISTON, OR 2004-02-19 (Oregon Considered) - The Army contractor in charge of the Umatilla chemical weapons incinerator is asking for a last minute change in its state permit.

It wants to shift the location where emissions from the incinerators are measured to comply with state environmental laws. That requires a new round of public hearings.

Last night the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality heard from people in Hermiston who live close to the Umatilla Chemical Depot.

As Ley Garnett reports, the community is sharply divided about the permit change and the incinerators that would burn the depot's huge stockpile of cold war weapons.

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The majority of people who turned out for the hearing testified against the permit modification, but many of them admitted they were more opposed to the concept of incineration itself.

Stewart Dick: "My name is Stewart Dick. I'm a resident of Pendleton. I'm a father, a grandfather, third generation citizen of Eastern Oregon"

His native credentials firmly established, Dick unloaded on the weapons depot, the incinerator and anything connected to them.

Stewart Dick: "In the beginning when the weapons first came here we were lied to and deceived because we weren't told. No one told the citizens of eastern Oregon that the weapons were coming. They came secretly."

Dick said when the Army finally admitted the weapons were buried at the Umatilla Depot; the general in charge assured the community that it was in no danger.

Stewart Dick: "And the fact of the matter is we've been lied to every step of the way. There are over 150 to what, 300 permit modifications that we've had? So what we've been sold, we don't get. So for the first time, honor your rules! Honor the commitment that you've made. No more modifications!"

On the surface, the proposed permit change might appear insignificant. As the DEQ's Sue Oliver explains, it involves a carbon filter on the incinerators' smokestacks.

Sue Oliver: "When the permit was first issued there was a requirement that all emission limits must be met before the final stage of the pollution abatement systems. And the final stage of that system is a carbon filter unit similar to what people use in water filters."

But now Oliver says the Army contractor wants incinerator exhaust measurements to be taken after filtration instead of before.

Sue Oliver: "This permit modification is very important to the facility because in part it affects how quickly they'll be able to process many of the munitions."

Those munitions include three kinds of deadly nerve gas: serin, VX and mustard or blister gas used in World War II.

The gas is wrapped in the tips of rockets, and in bombs and mortar shells.

Oliver says the permit change would make it possible to finish the dangerous job at least five years sooner, saving millions of dollars. Supporters of the permit modification rallied around that argument.

Umatilla County Commissioner Dennis Doherty: "If you're going to expose the community to an extra 64 months or whatever of exposure there needs to be a compelling reason."

Dennis Doherty: "Show me how it makes the community less safe if the modification is granted. Show me how it makes the community more safe if it's denied. I don't think that can be done."

Most of the other supporters of a permit change work at the depot.

Cynthia Bounds said she was recently hired by the contractor.

Cynthia Bounds: "And I started working directly with these munitions, the agent and the material casings. What I found was is that the agent itself is not deteriorating. It's still just as persistent as it was 40 years ago when we created these. And what's happening is the casings and the components are deteriorating, creating a situation that makes them very unstable."

Bounds said she's against any delay in burning the weapons.

But Irrigon resident and schoolteacher Marilyn Post said speed should be the last consideration.

Marilyn Post: "I don't believe that Oregon needs to lower its own standards to suit any business or the Army or our federal government. I think that we need to look out for our own citizens, our children. And if not burning the rockets as fast as they want to be burned is part of that implication, then let it be so."

DEQ says it hopes to crank up the incinerators this summer. But the project could be stopped dead in its tracks by a lawsuit.

A Multnomah County judge is holding a hearing next week on a bid from opponents to revoke the incinerators' state permit altogether.