Despite Deseret Chemical Depot (DCD) being placed on the latest Base Realignment and Closure list, officials don't appear worried or astonished & in fact they seem quite placid.

"We found out that morning [Friday] that we were on the list," said Col. Raymond Van Pelt, DCD commander, but there was really "no surprise."

DCD is a limited-function installation pointed out Van Pelt. "We have no other activities here that are really beyond storage and demil."

He said the Department of Defense didn't see the value in keeping the site open beyond final chemical destruction processes and clean-up efforts. He also noted that the depot was already slated to be closed by 2012 & a deadline that was in place well before the most recent BRAC list was announced.

"Bottom line & we will complete the mission [which is to safely destroy the current stockpile of World War II era weapons] and then we will close," Van Pelt said.

Just over 1,000 contractors, 500 civilians and three military officials currently work at DCD. Being on the BRAC list will create options for government workers and military officials to transfer to a different facility, retire early or to receive job training for other types of occupations.

Doralee Speakman, a Stockton resident who works at DCD as a program analyst, said this is the second BRAC she has been through. She was employed by the Tooele Army Depot when the 1993 list was announced, and while that closure came as a shock, she said this one "is no big deal."

This is because DCD already planned to close in the next decade and because this time around she has more seniority. She could retire soon if she wanted to but she may also consider getting transferred to another depot. Speakman noted that being on the BRAC list "does give you a lot."

As far as what happens to the 1,000 plus contract workers who won't receive government help, it will be up to their individual employers to figure out just what will happen down the road. The largest of such employers at DCD is EG&G Defense Materials, Inc. EG&G Project Communications Specialist Mark Mesesan, said the BRAC announcement doesn't have a positive or negative effect on EG&G because the company has to finish the work it has been contracted to do before the plant closes.

"It doesn't have any impact on us at all. We will continue to work on eliminating the stockpile." The closure of the depot is something Mesesan says EG&G's management has had its Employee Transition Committee look into for the past several months. The committee was set up to "ensure that all the needs of the workers are taken care of," said Mesesan.

"We hope to be able to put everybody to work who wants to work." As jobs go away between 2006 and 2012, Mesesan said EG&G has the ability to place employees on a number of different projects elsewhere, adding "there is still a large amount of work to do" at DCD.

It will take whole year to convert the plant from processing VX nerve agent to mustard agent & the last of the three types of chemicals stored at DCD.

Tooele County Commission Chairman Dennis Rockwell said that overall he was glad the county's other military installations weren't placed on the list and said that while the chemical depot closure will have a "significant impact" on those who work there, they know enough ahead of time that they can prepare for the future. He noted that the last time a Tooele County military installation was on a BRAC list, some 4,500 people lost their jobs in a matter of just two years.

Rockwell said while it is unknown who will get possession of the depot property after closure, he speculated that it may go to the Bureau of Land Management, the county or perhaps the town of Ophir.

He hopes that if the county gets the land, those farmers who previously owned the land would have the first chance to buy back their segments of property.

He said another possibility would be for a private company to come in and buy up the land. Even so, not all of the land will be free and clear of military ties because many of the munition igloos at DCD are planned to be used by the Tooele Army Depot for additional storage. However, the Department of Defense has yet to approve this plan.

While DCD is on the list, the list is only a recommendation at this point. The Department of Defense recommendations will be reviewed by a nine-member independent BRAC Commission. The commission, chaired by former Secretary of Veterans Affairs Anthony Principi, must submit its final recommendations to President George W. Bush by Sept. 8.

The BRAC Commission will hold regional meetings to solicit public input prior to making its recommendations to the president. The commission may hold such a meeting in this area, but one has yet to be scheduled.

Once the president reviews the commission's recommendations, he then forwards the documents to Congress. Congress will then have 45 legislative days to act on the report. Under BRAC statute, actions to close or realign an installation must be initiated within two years after congressional approval, with completion in six years.

For more information on BRAC and how it affects installations nationwide, visit www.dod.mil/brac or www.hqda.army.mil/acsim/brac/braco.htm.

e-mail: kscott@tooeletranscript.com