by Karen Lee Scott
Staff Writer

Despite reassurances from the Army, activists continue to seek alternative agent monitoring systems at the various chemical weapons stockpile sites across the nation, including Tooele.

During a nationwide telephone press conference on Tuesday, members of the Chemical Weapons Working Group (CWWG) and other anti-incinerator activists spoke about infrared monitoring systems currently being used in Iraq.

The group said such systems should be installed at all the stockpile sites to provide “real-time” chemical agent monitoring, which they said can give accurate analysis of airborne chemicals in as little as 20 seconds.

The group noted that agent monitors currently in place at the different sites can take 8-12 hours to confirm the presence of chemical agent.

They requested that the Army put in place a system called the Open-path Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) Spectrometer at all the sites.

However, Chuck Sprague, public affairs officer for Deseret Chemical Depot, said such monitors were designed for battlefield conditions to monitor large amounts of agents.

He said the Chemical Materials Agency requires much higher standards of monitoring at the stockpile sites.

“There is nothing on the market better than what we have,” said Sprague. “To date, based on the results of our ongoing evaluations, no new technology has demonstrated an ability to detect and alarm with greater sensitivity or fidelity than our current operating systems.”

But Pine Bluff, Ark. resident Evelyn Yates who lives near the Arkansas site, insisted that installing advanced monitors is a step the Army could easily take to make workers and communities safer.

“We all should have the best protection through fast, accurate detection of these chemicals,”she said. “Not just at some chemical weapons sites, but at all weapons sites.”

CWWG Director Craig Williams said the FTIR monitoring systems are off-the-shelf technology that could be deployed at chemical weapons sites within months of secured funding.

Sprague said the Army, in conjunction with the Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical and Biological Defense, “regularly evaluates emerging and commercial off-the-shelf technologies for their applicability to our chemical agent monitoring systems,” adding that the collaborative effort has been successful enough to allow the Army to remain “on the forefront of chemical agent monitoring.”

CWWG asked that legislators from all the areas surrounding the sites add their support for the “advanced monitors” noting that last fall Congress included in the 2003 Defense Bill a “Sense of the Congress” statement which urged the Army to deploy advanced monitors. Recently, Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.) requested funds from Congress toward monitoring systems at the chemical weapons site in Richmond, Ky.

Sprague said the Army also works with Congress as well as the National Research Council, and many other independent oversight agencies in implementing its chemical agent monitoring program.

“All currently employed systems and procedures have been independently reviewed and verified by the Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as well as the National Academies of Sciences National Research Council to ensure that they meet or exceed all public and worker safety standards,” Sprague said.

Williams said the total cost for the systems is “less than one-tenth of one percent of the current $25 billion price tag for the chemical weapons disposal program.”

“The government is spending billions to protect U.S. citizens from the threat of elusive weapons of mass destruction overseas, but we think that protection needs to begin here at home,” he said,

Sprague said “safety remains the cornerstone of the Army’s program in eliminating the chemical weapons stockpile and the threat these weapons pose to the community. The Army’s current system of monitoring is effective and fully provides for the protection of its workers, the community and the environment. The current monitoring system approach exceeds all required standards for monitoring for chemical agents.”

At this point, the Army will continue using the monitors it currently has in place.

e-mail: kscott@tooeletranscript.com