| On Tuesday Tooele City was graced with
the presence of one of the United States’ few four-star Army generals. Gen.
Paul. J. Kern, the senior military official over the nation’s chemical demilitarization
program, visited with a few members of Utah’s media, including the Tooele
Transcript-Bulletin. Kern said he has made about five trips to Tooele since 1998 when he was put in charge of the demilitarization program. Although he had seen “good times and bad times,” the general said he has seen steady progress. “I am pleased by what I have seen here and the team effort that has been made to stay in compliance,” he said. Kern said the local stockpile elimination program has made it through some significant periods, including the Olympics when a large influx of people from the U.S. and abroad visited Utah. “State and federal forces brought the event together extremely well,” he said. “Team work between the community, the national government, the state government and the armed forces made it possible.” Kern said the destruction of the nation’s chemical stockpile is a “critical operation” and noted that “Tooele has been an outstanding partner with the military.” Concerning the incineration processes he said, “We do it safely, not just do it.” When asked just how safe the community was, he said, “In my view, your community is safe. Operations are continuously getting better and emergency coordinators are in good standing ... The drinking water is safe, the air you’re breathing is safe ...” Kern said he’s “comfortable with the monitors we have now” but acknowledged that the government is always looking for better ways to do things.“The systems do work,” he said.However, last week a letter to the editor of the Transcript-Bulletin, that was written by an employee of Deseret Chemical Depot (Tom Cramer) argued that monitors that are in place may have never worked properly. Kern, said he wasn’t aware of the letter.But Col. Peter Cooper, who was also in attendance at the meeting, said the Community Action Group will address Cramer’s concerns at their meeting in March, but added, “I disagree with most of them.” Kern said the Tooele site is scheduled to finish chemical stockpile elimination operations in 2008. The remainder of the nation’s stockpiles are to be eliminated by 2012. “(That goal is) a challenging one, but I am encouraged by our progress,” he said. “I know there are challenges ahead I don’t know about.” He said one of the major challenges is that of continued security. Because it is the National Guard that typically provides force protection for the different stockpiles nationwide, Kern said it has become a major challenge with the deployment of more than 100,000 troops overseas. When all the nation’s chemical stockpiles have been safely destroyed, the general said all sites will be “cleaned up to standard,” but noted that each state has different standards.When asked if he would ever give this same open forum discussion opportunity to the general public, he said he didn’t know if that would fit into his non-stop schedule. However Kern felt confident that Col. Cooper and the facility’s outreach office would be able to answer any questions. e-mail: kscott@tooeletranscript.com |
photography / Troy Boman Four-star General Paul J. Kern met with members of Utah’s media Tuesday morning to discuss the current status of the nation’s chemical weapons stockpiles. Kern is the senior military officer in charge of the nation’s Chemical Demilitarization program as well as the Army’s Emergency Response Program. |