Richmond Register
March 22, 2002

Depot nerve agent more potent, findings show; VX toxicity levels could result in more safety measures

by GILLIAN FLACCUS
Associated Press Writer

PORTLAND, Ore. -- A preliminary federal analysis suggests that nerve agent stored at six U.S. Army chemical weapons depots nationwide, including the Blue Grass Army Depot, is 10 times more potent than government regulators previously believed, officials said Thursday.

The new information means communities surrounding facilities storing VX may be forced to expand their emergency evacuation plans, officials said.

"The dose rate at which we thought people would just begin to have some health effects is now one-tenth of what we had previously thought, " said Tom Johnson, administrator with the Oregon Office of Public Health.

Local reaction to the new findings was mixed.

"We're still going to do what we do," said Michael Bryant, Public Information Officer at the Madison County Emergency Operation Center. "We will continue to provide protection to the public and alert the public. The only thing that might change is how we train for it."

Depot Public Affairs Officer Dave Easter said the nerve agent being more or less deadly doesn't change the fact that it has always been deadly.

"You have to keep in mind that the chemical was meant to be fatal," he said. "We've always had the highest level of security that exists at the instillation. The people that work with the chemicals have access to the most state of the art equipment available to monitor the agent. VX is pretty darn stable though, and much easier to work with than the other chemicals stored at the depot."

The preliminary findings are the result of a lengthy review by the Environmental Protection Agency of up to 400 hazardous chemicals. Most chemicals -- including the chemical agents GB and mustard -- didn't see a change in their toxicity rating, but Johnson said VX needs to be "substantially redone."

Final toxicity ratings for VX are expected this summer, when state and local officials will begin re-evaluating safety plans at each storage site, said John Yaquiant, spokesman at the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland, the headquarters for the Army's chemical depots.

A pinpoint-sized drop of liquid VX can kill in minutes. In a vaporized form, low levels of exposure cause pinpoint pupils, dizziness and a runny nose. Higher concentrations can cause confusion, and eventually, a coma.

Federal emergency management officials are expected to visit the six depots storing the nerve agents by November to review emergency plans in light of the new analysis, Yaquiant said.

The depots are located in Oregon, Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Utah and Richmond. The Utah site stores the most VX -- 1,300 tons -- while the Blue Grass Army DMW stores the least, with just over 120 tons.

Communities will likely have to rethink their emergency plans based on the information, officials said. Steps could include providing air filters to families living near the sites, increasing the number of people who would be evacuated and recalculating how fast residents should be evacuated.

"What we need to do next is take the information when it gets final and compare it to our situation here locally," said Cheryl Humphrey, spokeswoman for the Umatilla County, Ore., emergency preparedness program for the Umatilla Chemical Depot.

"There's lots of speculation about how we might need to change plans," she said.

The EPA has required the six sites to install a new computer modeling system by November that takes into account the terrain and minute-to-minute wind speeds when predicting where and how fast a chemical plume would travel into the community

The depots already had such systems, but they didn't use the EPA's new toxicity numbers when calculating the evacuation area.

At the Umatilla Chemical Depot, residents are supposed to "shelter in place" during a chemical release, sealing off one room with duct tape while they wait for more information on special tonealert radios.

Homes within 20 miles of the depot already have emergency kits that were supplied by local officials. Now one of three counties around the depot is also handing out small air filters as part of a pilot project inspired by the new numbers.

"In our world, it's a constant process of change," Humphrey said, "You can't just have one plan and just leave it there forever. You have to constantly go back and revisit it."

The EPA findings shouldn't have any effect on plans to destroy the Army's chemical weapons by 2008 under an international treaty. Four of the six U.S. storage sites holding VX plan to use -- or are currently using -- massive incinerators to burn the chemical weapons.

"Every study shows there's more risk in storage than in incineration itself," said Yaquiant. "If anything, this knowledge would encourage you to dispose of the VX as quickly as possible."

- Register News Writer Luke Bradshaw contributed to this article.