Morrow County, Army reach deal on incinerator

This story was published Wed, Sep 27, 2000

By Mary Hopkin
Herald Oregon bureau

HERMISTON - Morrow County will now have experts oversee permits and licenses for the Umatilla chemical incinerator, and the Army has agreed to pay for it.

After several years of negotiations, the Army and Morrow County reached an agreement on the issue last week.

"We are very pleased the Army has finally recognized its obligation to provide funding for costs incurred by the county in the permitting and licensing process," said Morrow County Judge Terry Tallman.

Tallman said the money will allow the county to protect itself by hiring an expert to wade through the bureaucratic jargon and technical elements of the various permits and licenses needed before the incinerator can begin operation.

The incinerator, which is 87 percent complete, will be used to destroy 7.4 million pounds of deadly nerve and mustard agents stored at the depot, seven miles west of Hermiston.

So far, Morrow County has had to sign off on only one permit for the incinerator, said County Planner Tamra Mabbott. That was the original permit issued by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality.

"They required that we sign off on that before it was issued," Mabbott said. "But that permit has been modified 80 times."

Mabbott said the county really wants to review each permit modification and sign off on each one before it's allowed.

"The DEQ will not issue a permit for a local septic system until it has been signed off by the county," Mabbott said. "We think the same process should apply for the Umatilla Chemical Depot. If it's important enough to do for a personal septic system, it's important enough to do for a hazardous waste incinerator - or any modifications of it."

But Mabbott doesn't want to be the one looking at those permits.

"I understand our local ordinances, but I am not a chemical engineer," she said. "That's why we need someone to do that for the county."

The agreement allows the county to hire someone specifically for that task. The Army will pay the actual costs for permitting or licensing work done by Morrow County employees or independent contractors for as long as the incinerator is being built and operated. The agreement does not cap the amount Morrow County can spend.

Mabbott said the problem is not that the county doesn't trust the DEQ to do its job, the county wants a closer look at what each modification or new permit means for the county.

"One of these days that 20,000-acre parcel of land is going to be handed over to the people," Mabbott said. "If we get relatively clean land, that's one thing, but we don't want an albatross."

Wayne Thomas, with DEQ, said he understands that Morrow County has its interests to look after, but he said the state is doing a thorough job.

"The Army has to satisfy state environmental requirements, and the DEQ has the authority of overseeing that," Thomas said.

 

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