Emission problems halt depot test burns

This story was published Fri, Oct 4, 2002

By Karen Zacharias
Herald Oregon bureau

UMATILLA -- All test burning has been halted at the Umatilla Chemical Depot because heavy metals emissions continue to exceed allowable levels -- some as high as double the amount, state officials said.

"They are shut down," said Wayne Thomas, program manager for the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality.

The regulatory agency issued the order Wednesday stopping the Army from continuing with any more hazardous waste burns until further notice. The order came after results were analyzed from a four-hour test burn of industrial solvents spiked with heavy metals Tuesday. The depot, seven miles west of Hermiston, stores 220,604 munitions and containers filled with 7.4 million pounds of deadly nerve and mustard agents.

Levels of chromium and lead released from the incinerator's stack surpassed the amount determined by the regulatory agency to be safe for the public. The lead values were slightly more than allowable limits, but the chromium was double the allowabel limit. Army officials are testing the efficiency of the incinerator, its capacity and the ability of the scrubbers to remove hazardous materials before they go out the stack.

However, regulatory officials said there was no harm posed to the public because the duration of the test was so short. Exposure to lead or chromium have been found to cause birth defects, cancer and other ailments.

"We were really surprised" by the test results, Thomas said.

The Army has had problems with emissions on earlier test burns, and this time had reduced the amount of heavy metals in the industrial solvent by 85 percent.

"That's like if you have two scoops of Raisin Bran, and you have a 100 raisins. Then you cut it down to only 15 raisins in your bran," Thomas said. "This is not the result we were expecting."

The Army had hoped to begin more prolonged test burns this summer, but now officials don't know when that will happen.

In a letter Thursday, Thomas gave the Army until Monday to come up with an assessment plan of what the problem may be and how to address it.

Thomas said the Army must meet with the agency weekly until the problem is fixed, and burns could not continue without regulatory approval.

Don Barclay, the Army's program manager, said the recent test results were just another "bump in the road." He said experts from around the nation were being called upon.

Barclay said several changes have been made to the incineration process since the Aug. 18 burns when emissions of five heavy metals exceeded limits. Army officials reduced incineration temperature and made other adjustments.

Barclay said reducing the metals amounts wasn't a significant change.

Craig Williams, director of the Chemical Agent Working Group, an anti-incineration crew based in Kentucky, didn't agree.

"If he doesn't think an 85 percent reduction is significant, how about we reduce his salary by that much," Williams said. "How can it not be significant? That's remarkable."

Williams maintains the Army will continue to reduce the amount of metals it burns until it passes the regulatory standard, then, he said, the Army will ratchet the rate back up once agent destruction begins.

 

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