Oregon seeks comments on depot risk plan

This story was published Fri, Nov 21, 2003

By Kathleen Gilstrap
Herald Oregon bureau

HERMISTON - The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality will replace its 1997 risk assessment plan for the Umatilla Chemical Depot.

The risk assessment plan sets guidelines for acceptable levels of emissions from the incinerators at the depot as they burn nerve agents, and the munitions and canisters that hold them, possibly beginning this summer.

The depot, 35 miles south of the Tri-Cities, stores 220,604 canisters and munitions holding 7.4 million pounds of nerve and mustard agents.

DEQ held a hearing on the new plan Wednesday but received no public comment. Written comment on the plan will be accepted until Dec. 1.

The plan is designed to estimate risk to people and the environment at the maximum allowable emission rates.

When the plan was developed, there was no regional meteorological data available, and emissions information from other sites where chemicals are being destroyed was used.

Now, the DEQ has six years of weather data as well as some of its own emissions information from the surrogate burns. Oliver said there also is better technology available and new federal guidelines.

Karyn Jones, a representative of GASP, a local group that opposes the incineration of the chemicals, attended the meeting but did not speak. She said her group plans to file extensive written comments to DEQ.

Jones said her group is very concerned that DEQ is not factoring chemicals that already exist in the environment - such as fertilizers and pesticides and even fall-out from Hanford - into their risk assessment. The agency is not looking at how those chemicals would interact, she said.

"There's still a lot of unanswered questions in the risk assessment that need to be addressed," Jones said.

The new risk assessment won't be complete until trial burns of the different chemical agents, which will be done at the beginning of the incineration process.

As that happens, DEQ officials will compare the emissions data from the trials to emission information from other chemical incineration sites and make adjustments to the plan, Oliver said.

For information about submitting written comments, call 541-567-8297, Ext. 26.

 

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