Officials at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland plan to spend $9 million to build reinforced “igloos” for storing mustard gas, officials said yesterday (see GSN, Oct. 2).

The corrugated-steel structures covered with earth will hold 1,815 canisters of gas that have been stored in an open yard at the facility since the end of World War II, according to the Associated Press.  Construction will take eight months, said Edgewood Chemical Activity Commander Maj. William Huber.

The igloos will be built in the same area where the gas is now, which means the canisters will only be moved “very, very short distances,” said Edgewood spokeswoman Kathy DeWeese.  Destruction of the gas is scheduled to begin in 2004 and is expected to finish in 2006, DeWeese said.

Surrounding residents were pleased with the new mustard gas storage plan, the AP reported.  “I think it’s an excellent idea,” said Glenda Bowling, vice president of a local watchdog group.  “It should have been done a long time ago.  We’ve had concerns all along about the way it’s currently stored” (Associated Press, Dec. 11).

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