Umatilla Chemical Incinerator Ready to Burn

The U.S. Army’s Umatilla Chemical Depot in Oregon is expected to be ready as early as August to begin incinerating the first of more than 220,000 munitions containing nerve and mustard agent, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, June 17).

On Aug. 13, the Oregon Environmental Quality Commission is set to render a final verdict on the project when it considers the results of three years of testing.

“It’s time,” said Frank Harkenrider, mayor of nearby Hermiston from 1990 to 2000. “It’s time to say yes to the incinerator,” he added.

Destroying the Umatilla stockpile and is expected to take six years — three years past the initial 2007 deadline set by the Chemical Weapons Convention — and cost $24 billion (Jeff Barnard, Associated Press/Albuquerque Tribune, July 12).

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