Activists protest chemical burn plan Mustard gas:
They say Army's method at Tooele facility will release mercury into
the air
By Judy Fahys
The Salt Lake Tribune An environmental group
says the U.S. Army has a safer way than incineration to destroy mustard gas
at the Tooele Chemical Agent Disposal Facility.
But the Army is pushing forward with its plan to burn the blister agent,
which is expected to release between one and 21 pounds of toxic mercury over
18 months.
The state Division of Solid and Hazardous Waste has set a second public hearing
on the proposal for 6 p.m., May 31, at the Tooele County Courthouse, 47 South
Main St., Tooele.
Trace Salmon, deputy project manager at Deseret Chemical Depot, said the
mustard gas campaign involves 6,400, one-ton containers. Only those with
the lowest mercury contamination - just over 5,000 containers - will be included
in the first phase of the stockpile reduction program set to begin in August
and end in early 2008.
Minimizing the mercury will cost about $50 million, he noted.
"We're spending a lot of money on this mercury," Salmon said.
But Jason Groenewold, director of the Healthy Environment Alliance of Utah
(HEAL) said a safer, lower-mercury technology is being used by the Army in
four other states to destroy the chemical weapon. And that technology - chemical
neutralization - is already set to be used later in Tooele to get rid of
the more highly contaminated batch of mustard gas.
"We maintain there could be virtually no [mercury] release if the Army implemented
non-incineration techniques to destroy our stockpile of mustard agent," Groenewold
said. "Yet, they have chosen not to, and regulators are prepared to say that's
OK."
Statewide, Utah companies reported
releasing 120,847 pounds
of mercury into the air, land and water, according to the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency's tally for 2004.
Dennis Downs, director of the hazardous waste division, noted the projected
output is tiny compared to other mercury sources. But he indicated that further
comments by HEAL would be considered as part of the continuing public review.
"We do make changes [based] on comments we get," said Downs.
Mercury became a big, sensitive issue in Utah last year following reports
that the Great Salt Lake had some of the worst contamination ever measured.
Later in the year, state health and environment officials warned against
eating too many sport fish from three water bodies. They also said contamination
was so high in two duck species - the northern shoveler and the common goldeneye
- that they should not be eaten at all.
Salmon noted that the worst-case scenario of 21 pounds of mercury released
is about one-fourth the amount allowed under federal environmental regulations. fahys@sltrib.com
