for more information contact:
Craig Williams: 859-986-7565
for immediate release: Tuesday, August 20, 2002
The Army and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today confirmed that VX nerve agent was released into the environment more than a week ago at the Army's Pacific Island chemical weapons incinerator. Yesterday morning the Chemical Weapons Working Group (CWWG), a grassroots coalition advocating safe, non-incineration disposal of chemical weapons, received an anonymous tip that such a release had occurred. By late afternoon they had received an Army press release, via a third party, dated August 16, 2002 confirming the incident occurred on August 12th. However, the Army press release did not specifically address whether the deadly VX had actually escaped to the environment.
The release to the environment was confirmed by additional internal Army documents obtained today by the CWWG which stated that VX agent was detected at 45 times higher than the permitted limit, though the document states that "the specific size of the release is being investigated." Citizens living near chemical weapons sites point to this incident as the latest proof that incineration cannot reliably destroy chemical agent. The CWWG and their allies continue to call for safer, more controllable non-incineration approaches for weapons disposal.
The latest chemical agent release occurred as the Pacific incinerator -- located roughly 800 miles from Hawaii on Kalama Island [Johnston Atoll] -- is going through the "closure" process, which requires that all agent-contaminated wastes and the incinerator components themselves be dismantled and decontaminated. Sludge-like wastes from a chemical agent tank were being burned in the metal parts furnace, then passed through a discharge airlock and out onto a cooling pad in the open air. Only after the smoldering material was on the cooling pad did chemical agent alarms ring inside the airlock. Three workers who were closest in proximity to the area were tested for chemical agent exposure; Army documents say those workers did not exhibit symptoms of exposure. However, no other workers were tested even though the agent-contaminated waste reportedly smoldered in the open air for more than 15 minutes.
Perimeter monitors were checked for VX agent detections, but, according to the Army's internal documents the monitors tested proved "negative for GB (Sarin) and HD (Mustard) but were inconclusive" for VX. The following day samples were taken from the waste and "...again confirmed VX."
The internal documents also show that on at least one other occasion -- in December 2000 -- a similar event took place, also resulting in an agent release to the environment. The EPA issued a "Notice of Violation" in June 2001 for that release. Earlier, in October 2000, VX agent was detected in the exhaust cyclone ash from a furnace burning VX agent-filled land mines.
Workers at the Army's Tooele, Utah incinerator have also identified agent detections and releases from waste that already been processed through furnaces there. That facility is currently shut down due to a July 15, 2002 incident in which workers were exposed to GB nerve agent.
Craig Williams, CWWG director, said, "The pattern of detecting chemical agent in material that has been run through the incinerator is very disturbing. It calls into question the fundamental destruction capability of the whole incineration approach and should be of great concern to communities where incinerators are scheduled to operate."
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