Published: Saturday, September 2, 2006
Workers sickened cleaning up WWII-era
mustard gas cylinders at Tulalip depot
TULALIP - Digging has stopped at an old chemical weapons storage site on the Tulalip Indian Reservation after four workers reportedly suffered effects from mustard gas buried there 60 years ago.
There is no danger to people outside the site and steps have been taken to contain any risk, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers spokesman Steve Cosgrove said Friday.
Crews unearthed damaged cylinders and broken glassware that once held mustard gas, phosgene and chlorine - all chemical weapons dating to the late 1940s.
One container still had a bomb attached, said John McCoy, a spokesman for the Tulalip Tribes and a state legislator.
Others from several Snohomish County safety and health agencies said they weren't aware of the dig or of what's been found.
"We haven't been contacted, and that's the thing that kind of amazes me at this point," said John Pennington, director of the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management. "We haven't been formally engaged at this point, and obviously we would want to be."
The old chemical weapons materials were found on the former Backup Ammunition Storage Depot, which was operated by the U.S. military until 1947.
Discovery of old chemical weapons means the cleanup costs likely will jump from an estimated $2 million to $4 million.
Because of that, the Corps must receive more funding from the federal Department of Defense before work resumes, Cosgrove said.
The storage depot at Tulalip is one of more than 9,000 sites throughout the country the Corps has decided should be cleaned because they were used by the military for training or storage.
The Corps began working at the Tulalip site in June, trying to determine whether anything toxic was left behind.
The depot is located less than a mile west of Quil Ceda Village.
On Aug. 15, workers contracted by the Corps detected mustard gas residue and uncovered broken containers that appear to have held the chemicals, Cosgrove said.
Mustard gas, phosgene and chlorine were introduced as chemical warfare agents during World War I. Exposure can cause blindness, severe blisters and cancer, according to the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta.
So far, crews haven't dug up actual caches of mustard gas. The chemical compound was detected on items removed from the ground, as well as in the air at the work site, Cosgrove said.
Workers complained of a strange odor, and one said his eyes were stinging. They were hospitalized and released later that day, Cosgrove said.
Work at the site stopped immediately. It won't resume until October, after the Corps increases protection and security at the site, the Corps said.
Meanwhile, the site is being protected by guards stationed around the clock, Cosgrove said.
Protective tents erected over the area will ensure nothing escapes into the air.
There is no chance of mustard gas, or of the residue that's been detected, escaping into the environment, Cosgrove said.
"We found the residue when we started digging," he said. "If nobody digs, it won't be in the air. It's just a residue, so it's not like there was mustard gas released into the air. It isn't anything that would be active."
Cosgrove said the Corps has notified county, state and federal agencies of the finding. That wasn't required, however, because the site is located on the federal land of an Indian reservation.
Spokesmen for the state Department of Labor and the Snohomish Health District said they had not been contacted by the Corps.
The Tulalip Tribes chose the federal Environmental Protection Agency to oversee the project. Agency spokesman Tony Brown said his organization is aware of the situation.
Part of the Tulalip Indian Reservation was once used as a chemical dump by the military, said McCoy, a tribal member and general manager of Quil Ceda Village, the tribes' retail center near the site.
"They just dug a hole and buried a bunch of stuff," he said. "We don't know what all they put in. There is material constantly being sent off for analyzing, to determine what's there and what has to be done."
Tribal members know about the findings, McCoy said.
Plans now call for the excavation to resume in October. When that happens, air will be filtered in and out of site to protect the crews, Cosgrove said.
Hazardous materials will be transported to a chemical incineration site in double-thick drums.
During World War II, the federal government claimed more than 2,000 acres of Tulalip land for its own use. Bombs and chemical weapons were stored on a 676-acre section of the site, according to federal documents. The rest of the land was used for training, sometimes involving chemical weapons.
Several years ago, a 1946-vintage photograph was found showing a soldier at the storage depot. In his hands was a sign that read, "Danger. Poison Gas."
The military kept poor records of how the Tulalip site was used, and few people are still alive who remember what happened there. The Corps conducted an investigation between 1994 and 1997 and determined that chemical agents were probably buried there.
Mustard gas has been found at old military sites all over the country, Cosgrove said.
"Wherever there was chemical storage, there's a likelihood that there will be a residue from mustard gas," he said.
Reporter Krista J. Kapralos: 425-339-3422 or kkapralos@heraldnet.com.