New command for U.S. chemical arms

This story was published Sat, Jan 18, 2003

By Karen Spears Zacharias
Herald Oregon bureau

UMATILLA -- An order from the Secretary of the Army to change the command for the nation's chemical demilitarization program and emergency preparedness program stirred little reaction from Oregon officials Friday.

They say they are too busy preparing for trial burns of surrogate materials for the deadly chemical agents stored at the Umatilla Chemical Depot.

"We don't know anything other than what's in the memo," said Mary Binder, the Army spokeswoman at the depot.

But environmentalists hailed the move as a step in the right direction.

"Nobody's been minding the store for a long time now," said Craig Williams, director of a Kentucky-based watchdog group, the Chemical Weapons Working Group.

"Finally, it appears ... there will be a serious effort to bring accountability. ... For the past 18 years (it) has been operating with impunity with no oversight, no accountability from no one," Williams said.

Dated Jan. 15, the memo from Army Secretary Thomas White says a new agency will be established.

He directed the Assistant Secretary of the Army to assume responsibility for all policy, direction and oversight of the two programs.

They had been under the leadership of Mario Fiori. The former director of the Department of Energy's Savannah River site created a stir late last year when he drafted a plan to shift blame for lack of emergency preparedness to local officials in Anniston, Ala.

"I think this came about because of the problems that existed in the beltway with Dr. Fiori," said Casey Beard, manager of the Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program for Morrow County.

White's memo said the new agency will provide oversight for construction, operation and closure of chemical demilitarization facilities and for storage of the munitions.

White didn't provide any more information about the new agency, saying only his order would be in effect Feb. 18.

Beard was unruffled by the idea of a new agency or leadership change. He said in the 10 years he's worked with the program, he's seen several reorganizations.

"It's sort of old hat by now. They'll probably reorganize it again in another two years. But as long as they continue to let us do what we need to do, we're making good progress," he said.

It does appear Umatilla is making good progress, said Sue Oliver, acting program administrator for the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. She said Friday that the Army's contractor, Washington Demilitarization Co., hopes to begin surrogate trial burns on the first of four furnaces Jan. 24.

"It looks at though they will be ready to start," Oliver said. Like Beard, Oliver found the Pentagon decision routine.

"Such changes don't seem to result in any changes at the site level. I don't get that excited because I've seen them flip-flop leadership several times in the nine years I've been with the program."

Binder said it's unlikely the change will have any noticeable effect at Umatilla.

"Our day-to-day operations will continue as planned," she said.

The upcoming surrogate trial burns differ from mini-trial burns in duration and purpose, she said.

Hazardous waste will be placed into plastic containers, similar to peanut butter jars, and shoved into a cardboard tube. Those tubes will be fed into the liquid incinerator, designed to burn deadly nerve agent.

The furnace will be tested during 12 sample burns for two different destruction temperatures, 2,000 degrees and 2,700 degrees.

If all goes well, the Army hopes to begin burning its sarin, VX and blister agents late this year.

 

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