Neutralization draws skepticism

Hermiston Herald
April 2, 2002
By Frank Lockwood (F. Ellsworth Lockwood)
Staff writer

HERMISTON - The Army can speed up the destruction of chemical agent and perhaps save money by using neutralization on the mustard agent at the Umatilla Chemical Depot, an assistant secretary of the Army says. However, he said, "If the community doesn't want to do it, that's fine."

Mario Fiori, assistant secretary of the Army for Installations and Environment, spoke at the PMCD Outreach Office last Tuesday about accelerating chemical weapons destruction. "I'd like decrease the time that it would take to get rid of (the nerve agent) by about four to five years," he said.

To speed incineration, the Army could go to three shifts, and employ "reconfiguration," and change procedures at the incinerator in order to process weapons faster.

"I find this a little confusing," said Morrow County Judge Terry Tallman, "when we have been told that incineration is state of the art and the best way to take care of this."

"I'm a believer in incineration," Fiori responded. "Neutralization is fairly straight forward."

Hermiston community leaders, encouraged by the Army, have repeatedly spoken for incineration but against neutralization for this site. Fiori anticipated reluctance to accept the changes. "I have read ... 'We are on this path, let's stay on it, don't deviate.' Well, we can do that if that's really what the community wants. It won't get rid of that (agent) five years earlier though."

Umatilla County Commissioner Dennis Doherty questioned the turn around. "Speedy neutralization wasn't recommended six years ago, particularly by the Army," Doherty said, and "What has changed that makes it of interest now?"

The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks added motivation for speeding weapons destruction, Fiori said, but, otherwise, "Nothing has changed. I am just interested in speeding up the process." On the other hand, the Army could save several years by modifying incineration procedures, employing alternate technologies, including neutralization of mustard, and by addressing unspecified "regulation issues."

Incineration opponents have been alert for any indication Fiori would seek a "Consent Decree," which amounts to a waiver of past permit decisions. DEQ's Wayne Thomas said Friday that the state is not considering a Consent Decree.

And neutralization would not delay or slow incineration, Fiori said. "I want to accelerate the throughput of that very safe incinerator. I want to make sure that we are operating the most efficiently that's possible. I want to investigate all presumptions in the way we work. I challenge the contractor to come up with a whole bunch of ways to accelerate, if he could, and I think it could easily save five years." Fiori said.

Neutralization is touted as a safer, faster way to destroy 2,635 tons of mustard stored in Umatilla, which makes up about 64 percent of all the chemical agent stockpile at the depot.

Comfortable With Incineration
"It has taken 11 or 12 years to get our people who are here somewhat comfortable with the incineration process," said Umatilla Mayor George Hash. "Now you want us to tell them differently." 


Hash and others questioned adding alternative technologies to the budget when cash is short for present safety programs. "Present radio system can't keep contact with uptown and downtown Umatilla," Hash said. "If we throw in anything new that (citizens) even perceive as delaying the startup, we are going to have some unhappy people here," Hash said. "Don't do anything that's going to delay the startup of this incineration process."


Fiori, however, said his goal was to speed up incineration, not to slow it down.

Impacts Questioned
Morrow County Judge Terry Tallman suggested that running two plants at once would aggravate a boom-bust cost to his community. He inquired as to whether adding another facility - and the impacts on the communities it would bring - would make federal impact aid any more likely.

"That's a valid issue, but I don't think you will get impact aid," Fiori said.

Tallman had concerns about the environmental impact, and about waste management. "The depot is in a critical groundwater area," he said, "and what we have been told about this technology is that it demands tremendous amounts of water. One of the things we do not want to see is people's private wells and the city's' wells be impacted because of this greater demand for water."


A release from Chemical Weapons Working group, however, challenged that notion, saying that neutralization might use less water than incineration.


Tallman asked about the disposal of contaminated water which would be generated by neutralization. "We don't have the facilities in Oregon to handle it - the infrastructure," he said.

"The waste that comes from neutralization is fairly benign," Fiori noted. "You will drown in it before you are poisoned by it." But Tallman responded that he was concerned about the "sheer volume," not the toxicity of the neutralization waste.

Other Interests
Increasing incinerator operations to three shifts, seven days per week, would increase the need for on-duty CSEPP personnel, but money is not budgeted for that, county commissioners said. Army spokesmen replied that they needed round-the-clock response capabilities anyway, and that moving munitions would only occur during daylight hours, under specific weather conditions.

Morrow County Commissioner John Wenholz suggested that funding for safety should be tied to any changes that would impact emergency preparedness. "You say ... for the safety of the United States it is important that we move this program ahead," Wenholz said. "I am saying, that for the safety of the citizens that live in this area, we need whatever funding it takes to provide for their safety."

"If you need more resources, I can't imagine not doing it," Fiori told those present.

Goals the Same
Citizens Advisory Commission Chairman Bob Flournoy voiced a recurring theme when he said, "If we do bring in new technology, we are not going to (want to) slow anything down. Because that's what everyone's interested in. Getting rid of this stuff."

"Yes sir," Fiori said. "We certainly agree with the goals that you just said. And (incineration and neutralization) would be simultaneous operations, if it ever happens. I am not slowing down incineration."

Frank Lockwood may be reached at 567-6457 or by e-mail at
flockwood@hermistonherald.com.


http://www.cwwg.org/hh04.02.02.html

Chem Demil could lose $Millions (Columbia Basin Media article lifted from CWWG)

Author's note:  Chemical Weapons Working Group (CWWG) preserved this story on their web page at http://www.cwwg.org, on Dec. 19, 2005. Thank you to CWWG

-----------------------------

Story by F. Ellsworth Lockwood

The Pentagon has targeted new "alternative" chemical weapons programs for budget cuts, disappointing anti-incineration groups which view "alt-tech" as cleaner, safer, faster and cheaper than the present technologies.

Anti-incineration groups such as Chemical Weapons Working Group, GASP, Sierra Club and Oregon Wildlife Federation had hailed the new programs in Colorado and Kentucky as proof that the Army had now approved and accepted other methods of destruction besides so-called "baseline incineration" which they believe is dangerous to health and the environment. CWWG indicated the budget changes will eliminate disposal activities at sites important for demonstrating that alternative technologies are indeed viable.

The reports should be credible if the past is any indication: CWWG has at times been even better at projecting such things as cost overrides and scheduling changes than the Army's own press relations department. Pentagon documents showed that for 2006 the Pentagon is planning to allocate only $30 million for both Colorado and Kentucky, although those programs had been estimated to cost at $250 million or more. CWWG says completion of weapons disposal at Colorado and Kentucky would require $2 billion between 2006 and 2011, but that the Pentagon plans to cut funding for these programs down to a little more than $300 million for that time period.

Cuts of that size would likely halt alternative demolition of chemical weapons at storage sites in Richmond, Kentucky and Pueblo, Colorado. The Army apparently had the budget cutting plans before Christmas. Along with local, state and federal elected officials, the CWWG distributed a Pentagon decision document dated 21 December 2004, which referred to the possible delay of the program at both sites due to "external constraints the program must address." The same document is also being circulated in Colorado now. CWWG's Director, Craig Williams, denounced the planned cuts, calling them the Defense Department's “blatant disregard for the safety of tens of thousands of Americans due to extremely poor funding priorities.

The plans, if implemented, have international implications. "This funding approach makes compliance with the 2012 Chemical Weapons Convention deadline impossible, and is an admission by the United States that it is backing off its obligations regarding the Treaty," said Williams. Williams also questioned what he termed an Army “flip-flop” in regard to safety and security of communities living near the Kentucky stockpile. "Communities ... have been told for 20 years that the military will do whatever it takes to get rid of these weapons, because the risks (of continued storage) are so high,” Williams said, “And now that they (the Pentagon) are in a financial crunch we are being told that they have to let the weapons sit."

Williams also said that a 2002 classified report to Congress by the Secretary of the Army indicated Kentucky is considered to be the chemical weapons stockpile site at the highest risk for terrorism after 2007. Already, in 2004,the Pentagon pulled funds for chemical weapons disposal in Pueblo, Colorado, although Congress, fearing that the weapons sites could be terrorist targets, had requested the Army to accelerate the weapons disposal process, CWWG reported.

Pueblo resident and environmental activist Ross Vincent today said, "These funding cuts are a slap in the faces of our elected officials and the citizens of Colorado, who are working together for a safe disposal of these weapons. To the Pentagon we may be a number on a defense budget line item, but this is a real community facing real problems and risks."

Kentucky Senior Senator Mitch McConnell, in a prepared statement read by his representative at a press conference in Kentucky said, "The Department of Defense has an obligation to the citizens of Central Kentucky to dispose of chemical agents at the Blue Grass Army Depot in a safe and expeditious manner, and I will continue to devote my energy to ensuring that it lives up to that obligation."

Other presenters at Wednesday's press conference echoed the Senator's resolve, committing to fight for the funds necessary to move forward and not allow these weapons of mass destruction to languish in their community for another decade.

The cuts come twenty years after Congress ordered the U.S. Army to destroy its stockpile of obsolete chemical weapons, and at a time of concerns about terrorist threats. The Pentagon plans if implemented would cut funds for disposal of more than 3,134 tons of chemical weapons, according to CWWG, and this number represents 15 percent of the U.S. stockpile that remains to be destroyed.
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