Raytheon Watch

Its Not the Crime in the Streets,
Its the Crime in the Corporate Suites

The following article appeared in the 
Project Censored Recognizes EF! Journal
 
#10 CENSORED: ARMY'S PLAN TO BURN
NERVE GAS TOXINS IN OREGON 
THREATENS COLUMBIA RIVER BASIN

Despite evidence that incineration is the worst option for destroying the nation's obsolete chemical weapons stockpile at the Umatilla Army Depot, the Oregon Environmental Quality Commission (EQC) gave the green light to the Army and Raytheon Corporation to spend $1.3 billion of taxpayer money to construct five chemical weapons incinerators. Despite strong protests, on February 7, 1997, the EQC made its final decision to accept the United States Army's application to build a chemical weapons incineration facility near Hermiston, Oregon. 

Some examples of the chemicals to be incinerated include nerve gas and mustard agent; bioaccumulative organochlorines such as dioxins, furans, chloromethane, vinyl chloride, and PCBs; metals such as lead, mercury, copper and nickel; and toxins such as arsenic. These
represent only a fraction of the thousands of chemicals and metals that will potentially be emitted throughout the Columbia River watershed and from the toxic ash and effluents which pose a significant health threat via entrance to the aquifer. 

Contrary to what incineration advocates claim, there is no urgent need to incinerate, since the stockpile at Umatilla has small potential for explosion or chain reaction as a result of decay. A 1994 General Accounting Office report estimates that the actual number of years for safe weapons storage is 120 years rather than the 17.7 years originally estimated by the National Research Council. Thus, the timeline for action could conceivably be lengthened until all the alternatives-such as chemical neutralization, molten metals, electro-chemical oxidation, and
solvated electron technology (SET)-are considered. A delay is supported by a National Academy of Sciences report, entitled Review and Evaluation of Alternative Chemical Disposal Technologies, which states that there has been sufficient development to warrant
re-evaluation of alternative technologies for chemical agent destruction. 

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