PORTLAND -- The state of Oregon has fined the operator of the Umatilla Chemical Depot weapons disposal facility $41,600 for permit violations.
The Washington Demilitarization Co. operates the incineration facility at the depot to destroy aging stockpiles of chemical weapons dating from the Cold War era.
The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality said Thursday that the company agreed to pay the fines and take steps to ensure compliance with its hazardous waste treatment facility permit after two violations.
State officials said the violations did not result in any reported public health hazards or direct environmental harm.
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Umatilla chemical weapons contractor fined
Umatilla chemical weapons contractor fined
Oregon environmental regulators have assessed a contractor destroying chemical weapons in Eastern Oregon nearly $47,000 in fines for violations that occurred before it finished incinerating mustard agent stored at the Umatilla depot.
Umatilla chemical depot contractor fined $47,000
Umatilla chemical depot contractor fined $47,000
Oregon environmental regulators have assessed a contractor destroying chemical weapons almost $47,000 in fines for violations that happened before it finished incinerating mustard agent stored at the Umatilla depot.
The state Department of Environmental Quality said Tuesday that the violations were in June and September, and the fines were for carbon monoxide emissions greater than allowed and failing to do required air monitoring and maintenance of air monitoring equipment.
Workers at the depot burned the last of its store of chemical weapons in October, finishing seven years of that work.
OREGON: Umatilla chemical weapons contractor fined
OREGON: Umatilla chemical weapons contractor fined
PORTLAND — Oregon environmental regulators have assessed a contractor destroying chemical weapons in Eastern Oregon almost $47,000 in fines for violations that occurred before it finished incinerating mustard agent stored at the Umatilla depot.
The state Department of Environmental Quality said Tuesday the violations were in June and September, and the fines were for carbon monoxide emissions greater than allowed and failing to do required air monitoring and maintenance of air monitoring equipment.
Workers at the depot burned the last of its store of chemical weapons in October, finishing seven years of that work.
Umatilla depot to deliver last chemical containers
Umatilla depot to deliver last chemical containers
HERMISTON -- The Umatilla Chemical Depot plans to take its final containers of chemical weapon agent to the Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal Facility on Oct. 20.
A ceremony for workers is planned that day to mark delivery of the last mustard ton containers to the incineration facility.
The final shipment of chemical weapons will occur 70 years after the depot's formation Oct. 14, 1941. The depot received its first conventional weapons that year, and chemical weapons were brought to the depot in 1962 and have been stored there since.
Chemical depot contractor faces fine
Chemical depot contractor faces fine
A defense contractor has been fined more than $800,000 over the past 12 years while incinerating a stockpile of leftover Cold War chemical weapons stored at the Army's Umatilla Chemical Depot in northeastern Oregon.
The latest fines from the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality were for lapses such as failing to inspect pollution control equipment before putting it back into operation. They amounted to $38,400, bringing the total to $853,600.
Department environmental law specialist Sarah Wheeler said none of the violations resulted in environmental or public health harm.
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