WEDNESDAY April 21, 2004

Chemical monitors could be improved

By Dawn House
The Salt Lake Tribune

A citizens coalition is calling on the U.S. Army to install advanced monitoring systems around the perimeters of chemical weapons stockpiles and disposal facilities in Tooele and elsewhere.
   
On Tuesday, members of the Chemical Weapons Working Group chastised the Army in a national telephone news conference for failing to use advanced monitoring systems they say can provide accurate analysis of airborne chemicals in as little as 20 seconds.
   
The monitoring systems in use, developed in 1986, can take up to 12 hours to detect the release of chemical agents, endangering depot workers and surrounding communities, the group contends.
   
"Current systems have significant problems in identifying and quantifying agents -- coupled with an unacceptable time frame within which to warn depot workers and communities of a possible release of agent," said Craig Williams, director of the group based in Berea, Ky. "This is completely unacceptable."
   
The newer systems, called Open-Path Fourier Transform Infrared Spectromoters, are routinely used by U.S. troops in Iraq.
   
"Today, the U.S. is spending billions in Iraq, based on the perceived threat to Americans posed by weapons of mass destruction," said Williams. "But right here at home millions of Americans are at risk from our own WMDs while the government drags its feet on deploying adequate monitors to protect its citizens -- and the Army says it can't afford such capabilities."
   
The price tag for installing the devices, according to Williams, is $25 million, a portion of what the Pentagon is spending to destroy the nation's aging chemical weapons stockpile.
   
Chuck Sprague, spokesman for the Deseret Chemical Depot in Stockton, said the Army's monitoring system "is effective and fully provides for the protection of its workers, the community and the environment."
   
Jason Groenewold, a member of the coalition and director of Healthy Environment Alliance of Utah pointed to an incident at the Tooele incinerator to show the need for an advanced monitoring system. In 1998, a bomb filled with Sarin agent was inadequately drained and fed into the furnace. The Army contended no agent escaped, but Groenewold said the system was unable to determine exactly what substance had set off alarms.