June 26, 2000
Controversy and questions
continue to swirl some six
weeks after a nerve agent
leak forced the Army to shut
down the chemical weapons
incinerator in Tooele County.
Among the mysteries: Is
it possible some deadly nerve gas actually drifted off
base into the countryside? Environment Specialist
John Hollenhorst explains what the experts say.
Two investigations are complete; at least two more
are on the way. Experts from the state and from the
Centers for Disease Control say it's extremely unlikely
nerve agent drifted over the fenceline. But they can't
absolutely rule it out.
And the plant's critics are
jumping on that uncertainty.
The Army said from the start, the tiny amount of nerve
gas that escaped from the incinerator stack on May
8th dissipated harmlessly and almost instantly. Experts
later concluded it traveled less than 3 feet from the
stacks.
But investigators have now revealed something the
Army didn't mention publicly: A mysterious positive
reading on a nerve-agent monitor a half-mile away.
Perimieter monitors are arranged to detect nerve agent
moving across the Army's fenceline. During a 12-hour
period that included the leak, one of those monitors
detected something with the chemical signature of
nerve agent.
Investigators concluded it couldn't be
nerve agent from the incinerator because the wind was
blowing steadily in the wrong direction.
MARTIN GRAY/UTAH DEPT. OF
ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY: "THE
MODELING THAT WAS DONE SHOWED THAT
IT COULDN'T POSSIBLY HAVE GOT
THERE."
Experts say pesticides or herbicides sprayed on
nearby land are believed to cause frequent false
alarms. They think that's what happened,
coincidentally, during the same 12 hours as the nerve
agent leak.
MARTIN GRAY/UTAH DEPT. OF
ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY: "IT'S NOT AN
AMAZING COINCIDENCE. IT'S VERY
POSSIBLE THAT THAT WAS FROM ANOTHER
SOURCE."
Critics say it's more likely shifting winds took nerve
agent to the fenceline.
JASON GROENEWOLD/FAMILIES AGAINST
INCINERATOR RISK: "THERE WAS ALSO
LIGHTNING OCCURRING, INDICATING A
STORM WAS PRESENT. ANYONE WHO'S
BEEN IN A STORM KNOWS THAT WIND CAN
CHANGE DIRECTION AT A MOMENT'S
NOTICE."
If the Army had checked a second monitoring device
at the same location, they could have proven
conclusively whether agent crossed the fence.
MICK HARRISON/ATTORNEY FOR CRITICS:
"RATHER THAN DOING WHAT WE WOULD
HAVE DONE, WHICH IS RUSH TO GET THE
CONFIRMING EVIDENCE, THEY MADE A
SPECIAL EFFORT NOT TO DO IT,
BECAUSE THEY REALLY DON'T WANT TO
KNOW."
Critics have a poor track record in court. But they're
planning a new lawsuit, with the May 8th leak as
exhibit A. They likely won't rely on experts from the
state and the Centers for Disease Control, who
concluded the incident posed no risk to human health.
