Oregon commission approves changes to chemical depot permit
This story was published
Wednesday, May 22, 2004
By the Herald staff
HERMISTON -- The Oregon Environmental Quality Commission voted 4-0 Thursday
to revise the Umatilla Chemical Depot's incinerator plant's permit so exhaust
samples can be taken after the vapors go through carbon filters in the pollution
scrubbing network, instead of being sampled before going through those filters. The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality's staff recommended that
change because the vapors from one of the depot's four incinerators -- the
deactivation furnace that burns chopped-up rocket parts -- would give too-high
heavy metal readings before the fumes are carbon filtered. The staff said the carbon filters would remove the heavy metals from the
vapors to provide exhaust clean enough to meet state standards. And without that change, the deactivation furnace would have to operate
at a drastically slower pace that could add five years and four months to
the incineration time. Depot watchdog organization GASP contends the change is a sign that the
federal and state governments are backpedaling from their assurances in the
late 1990s that all four incinerators could provide exhausts that meet legal
standards before adding carbon filters. The Army wants to begin incinerating 3,717 tons of poison gas later this
summer -- a process that is expected to take at least six years.