Comment period open on incinerator filtering

This story was published Wed, Jul 21, 1999

By Theresa Goffredo
Herald Oregon bureau

HERMISTON - The state Department of Environmental Quality has opened a public comment period to give citizens a chance to express their opinions on the chemical weapon incinerator's special air filtering system.

Though the public comment period started Monday, the bigger question remains: How will it end?

The answer lies in the hands of members of the Environmental Quality Commission, which along with members of the DEQ issued permits to the Army to operate the incinerator at the Umatilla Chemical Depot near Hermiston.

On Aug. 18, EQC members will meet in Portland to review public comments and any other new information regarding the incinerator's carbon filter system. It's anybody's guess what the EQC will decide after that daylong work session.

"They will take the information and study it and make some sort of decision; either, 'We think the carbon filter system is fine,' or 'This new information has changed our outlook about the carbon filter system,' " said Misti McDowell, DEQ spokeswoman in Hermiston.

The $604 million incinerator now under construction will burn the 3,717 tons of lethal chemical agents stored at the depot. All of the five incinerator furnaces have a standard pollution abatement system to ensure gases released from the furnaces meet environmental standards.

Before leaving the furnaces, the exhaust gases are channeled through carbon filter beds for a final cleansing before being released to the atmosphere.

Though state environmental specialists have said the incinerator is designed so the gases coming out of the stacks are clean enough to breathe even without the carbon filter beds, members of the EQC required the incinerator have the filters to provide an extra measure of safety.

State agencies then issued permits in 1997 with the carbon filter requirement. But since that time, new information regarding the carbon filter systems has come to light.

That information, developed by the Army and the National Research Council, has been part of the impetus to hold the new public comment period, McDowell said.

Also, on Dec. 6, Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge Michael Marcus issued a ruling saying the EQC failed to make clear to what extent the incinerator's safety depends on the carbon filter in the emissions control system.

So, the EQC's August work session also is being held in response to that ruling.

The judge's opinion was issued in response to a lawsuit filed in August 1997 by the Sierra Club, the Oregon Wildlife Federation, the citizens group GASP and 22 depot-area residents. The suit claimed operating permits that allow the Army to burn chemical weapons were issued without sufficient proof the incinerator would work safely.

The suit also claimed state authorities erred by not considering alternative technologies - such as chemical neutralization - to destroy the aging weapons.

Incinerator opponents have said the carbon filters are unproved and potentially dangerous. They say the filters suffer from pressure buildup that can lead to fires or even explosions.

During the public comment period, EQC members are interested in information on effectiveness of the carbon filters, how to dispose of the filters after incineration is complete and the risks involved in using the carbon filter systems should a catastrophic accident occur at the incinerator.

Written comments should be presented to the DEQ by 5 p.m. Sept. 20 and addressed to: Wayne Thomas, Umatilla Program Manager, DEQ-Hermiston Office, 256 E. Hurlburt Ave., Suite 105, Hermiston, 97838.

 

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