Depot given OK to burn

This story was published Sat, Aug 14, 2004

By Jeannine Koranda
Herald Oregon bureau

HERMISTON - Almost two decades after it was conceived, the incineration facility at the Umatilla Chemical Depot got the final go-ahead Friday from the Oregon Environmental Quality Commission to start burning chemical weapons.

The announcement was followed by applause from the standing-room only crowd at Good Shepherd Hospital in Hermiston, where the commission met.

"It's a great day and momentous decision," said former Hermiston Mayor Frank Harkenrider, pointing out that the incinerator was first discussed in 1984.

The approval by the governor-appointed, five-person civilian commission was the final task on a list of about 80 requirements that had to be met before burning of the depot's chemical weapons stockpile could start. It means that soon, the first pallet of M55 rockets containing GB nerve agent will be entering the container bay at the depot incinerator to be drained, chopped up and burned.

The depot, 35 miles south of the Tri-Cities, stores 220,604 munitions and containers filled with 7.4 million pounds of deadly nerve and mustard agents.

Mustard agents stored at the depot date to World War II. All the nerve agents were brought to the depot for storage between 1962 and 1969.

Depot site project manager Don Barclay said he expected the first pallet of rockets to enter the incineration facility on Wed-nesday, and on Thursday the first rocket would be destroyed.

He said the moment has been a long time coming. "It's nice to see everyone's hard work come together," he said.

Barclay said he was not worried about an injunction sought Thursday by incineration opponents GASP in Multnomah Circuit Court asking a judge to postpone the startup.

The injunction motion by GASP asks that incineration be halted until a 1997 court case, referred to as GASP I, is heard on appeal. The case has been in appellate court for five years and is set to be argued Aug. 20.

The case asks that the permits for the incinerator facility at the Umatilla Chemical Depot be revoked. If a judge ruled in GASP's favor, it would mean the facility would be shut down.

Karyn Jones, a founding member of GASP, said she found the commission's decision "very predictable but also very sad."

While commission member Lynn Hampton of Pendleton said the people in the region she talked to supported incineration, Jones believed if those people had re-searched the issue like she had, they would have a different opinion.

Jones remained hopeful that GASP I would be successful. And she said even if startup proceeds at the depot, GASP will continue as a watchdog group. The group also was looking at filing another lawsuit, although Jones did not give details.

 

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