STATE AGENCY FINES ARSENAL, CONTRACTOR

By Bobbie Crockett/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF

The state has levied $22,389 in fines against the U.S. Army and Washington Group International for three permit violations discovered at the Pine Bluff Arsenal last year.

The Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality fined the Army and the group contracted to destroy the Arsenal's chemical weapons for incidents discovered in June 2003 and September 2003.

In the first incident in June, a leak of sodium hydroxide from a valve at the facility was found after a worker suffered a minor burn. The worker was treated locally and returned to work the same day. Sodium hydroxide, also known as lye, is commonly used in industrial applications to neutralize acids. The chemical leaked from the valve -- which had not been completely closed -- into Phillips Creek which empties into wetlands.

Between 835 gallons and 982 gallons of the diluted solution is estimated to have seeped into the creek between January and June before the leak was found. The material that leaked has a 18 percent concentration of sodium hydroxide.

Officials did not report the leak within the 24 hours as required when there is a spill that could impact the public health and the environment, said David F. Kern, a spokesman for the ADEQ.

"We feel that the Army and its contractor did not report the spill soon enough," he said.

Chris West, a spokesman for Washington Group International, said the leak was not immediately reported because it "took time to discover exactly what was going on."

The other permit violations, in June and September, involved two monitoring devices that were inoperable during test burns at two furnaces at the facility.

The inoperable devices would have monitored the feed rates of the hazardous waste into the furnaces. The monitoring is necessary for proper operation of the Automatic Waste Feed Cut-off systems. The AWFCO would discontinue feeding to the furnace if the feed rate exceeded the furnaces' capabilities

"There are numerous (AWFCO) cut off points throughout the three incinerator systems at the Arsenal." Kern said. "What we found is that a couple of them were not operating properly but there was no danger."

Kern added that he is glad that the problems were detected before the Arsenal actually started destroying chemical weapons.

At the time of the testing, the furnaces were burning surrogate materials - not chemical agents - that have proven harder to destroy than the agents the furnaces will eventually destroy.

The whole idea behind testing is to eliminate problems before the actual destroying of chemical weapons begins, said Barbara Slifer, a spokeswoman for the Pine Bluff Arsenal.

West said the Army and the Arsenal are committed to applying all the applicable environmental standards at the facility.

Officials at the Arsenal said the issues with the monitoring devices and the source of the leak have been corrected.

Washington Group International has paid $14,552 of the fines levied in November and January for violations at the Pine Bluff Arsenal. Under a state supplemental environmental project program, the company will provide $7,836 for local environmental ventures.

White Hall is scheduled to receive $5,000 for sewer overflow monitors and Pine Bluff will get $1,418 to help defray the cost of a household hazardous waste collection day. The company is waiting for state approval to give another $1,418 to Jefferson County to buy recycling equipment.