For More Information:
Jason Groenewold (801) 364-5110
Craig Williams (859) 986-7565
For Immediate Release: February 14, 2002
Today the Army and Utah Division of Solid and Hazardous Waste
(DSHW) settled a lawsuit filed against them by citizen groups
by agreeing to remove operating conditions that allowed the Army
to burn chemical weapons in an experimental manner.
The lawsuit, filed by Families Against Incinerator Risk (FAIR),
the Chemical Weapons Working Group (CWWG), Sierra Club and the
Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation in October 1999, alleged
that the Utah DSHW illegally approved operating conditions that
allowed the Army to incinerate undrained munitions in a manner
that was never intended and under conditions that had never been
tested.
When the Tooele incinerator was built, the plan was to separate
liquid nerve agent and explosives from the munitions casings so
that each component could be treated in a different furnace under
very specific operating conditions. However, nerve agent had gelled
in a significant portion of the weapons, and was no longer drainable.
The Army asked the State for permission to feed fully loaded rockets
containing agent, explosives and propellants into a single furnace
that was not designed to perform this task. The Deactivation
Furnace System (DFS) was only designed to burn explosives and
a very small amount of residual agent. This experiment with
undrained rockets led to the first admitted nerve agent release
out of the Tooele incinerators main smokestack in May 2000. In
1998 burning an undrained bomb led to a major chemical release
that the Army asserted was not nerve agent but has yet to identify
what was released.
FAIR Director Jason Groenewold stated: "It's unfortunate
that it took a lawsuit to correct the situation, but we are happy
to finally negotiate an agreement that puts an end to this particular
experiment." Groenewold stated that past nerve agent releases
could have been prevented had the Army not engaged in this unlawful
experiment.
Part of the Utah settlement includes assurances that if the Army
encounters gelling problems in the rest of the GB campaign they
plan to neutralize the agent instead of trying to incinerate it.
However, as CWWG Director, Craig Williams points out, "The
same approach the Army has now abandoned in Utah they are attempting
to get permitted in Alabama. They are trying to modify that incinerator
permit to allow fully loaded gelled rockets to be burned there
at a rate 20 times greater than ever attempted in Utah. This
is a very dangerous situation for the people of Alabama, especially
since it has never been verified as safe even at a much lower
rate."
FAIR and the CWWG support the Army decision to neutralize gelled
agent in Utah and continue to advocate for use of neutralization
and other advanced technologies which, unlike incineration, are
able to control the agent and all byproducts throughout the disposal
process.
Agent neutralization has received increased attention since the
terrorist attacks of September 11. The Army recently announced
plans to expedite neutralization of Mustard Agent in Maryland,
which would allow agent destruction there three years ahead of
schedule and $200 million under budget. The Army has also announced
plans to test neutralization of VX nerve agent stored in ton containers
in Utah. In a public notice, the Army stated, "This testing
is being conducted in the interest of national security and to
establish the efficacy of this treatment process for use with
VX ton containers."
"We support non-incineration approaches to safely and efficiently
remove the risk that these chemical weapons pose to our community,"
said Groenewold. "There are over 14.7 million pounds of
VX and mustard agent still waiting to be destroyed at Tooele.
VX is much more lethal than GB, mustard is much more persistent
and both are more difficult to incinerate than GB. We expect the
Army will recognize that using the advanced alternatives is the
best solution for destruction of our remaining stockpile."
Williams added, "The Army got away with burning gelled rockets
in Utah by subverting the permitting process in order to avoid
having to prove the process works within the regulatory requirements.
Their doing this same experiment at an increased rate in a populated
area such as Anniston, Alabama should not be allowed to happen."
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