Mission
“To protect people and the environment by overseeing the
safe destruction of the chemical agents at the Umatilla
Chemical Depot as soon as possible.”
Current Issues
Program
The Umatilla Chemical Depot (UMCD) began receiving and
storing chemical munitions between the years 1962 to
1969. The chemical warfare agents VX and GB (nerve
agents) and HD (blister, or "mustard" agent) are stored
as liquid in various types of munitions and containers,
including rockets, bombs, projectiles, mines, bulk
containers, and aerial spray tanks. The chemical weapons
stored at the UMCD represent approximately 12% of the
United States' original chemical weapons stockpile.
In 1985, Congress directed the Army to destroy the
entire U.S. chemical agent stockpile per the Chemical
Weapons Convention treaty, which requires signatory
countries to completely destroy all chemical agent
stockpiles by the year 2007. Since that time an
extension has been granted giving the sites until 2012
to destroy the stockpiles. There are eight stockpile
sites located in the continental United States and one
located in the Pacific on Johnston Atoll. The Umatilla
Chemical Depot (UMCD) is located eight miles west of
Hermiston, a community of over 14,000 residents, and is
the site for the Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal
Facility (UMCDF). The UMCDF is scheduled to begin
destruction of the chemical stockpile in 2004.
In February 1997 the Environmental Quality Commission
(EQC), the DEQ's governing body, issued environmental
permits to the U.S. Army to construct, operate, and
ultimately close down the UMCDF. Prior to the EQC
approval the DEQ had a Pre-Trial Burn Human Health and
Ecological Risk Assessment ("Pre-RA") conducted in 1996.
A work plan for a Post-Trial Burn Risk Assessment
("Post-RA") was completed in 2003. The Post-RA is
scheduled to be completed when results from the first
agent trial burn on the first furnace are compiled and
site-specific emissions data are available.
Permittees
The chemical weapons stockpile at the Umatilla Chemical
Depot (UMCD) is controlled and maintained by the U.S.
Army Soldier and Biological Chemical Command (SBCCOM).
UMCD is the permittee responsible for permitted
hazardous waste storage operations at the Depot,
including the conventional hazardous wastes generated
from base operations, the waste chemical munitions in
storage, and the agent-contaminated wastes generated
from maintenance of the stored chemical munitions. In
addition to having sole responsibility for most of the
storage operations that are subject to regulation under
State or Federal environmental authorities, UMCD is also
one of the three entities that are named as Permittees
in the UMCDF Hazardous Waste Permit.
The Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal Facility (UMCDF)
is headed by the U.S. Army Program Manager for Chemical
Demilitarization (PMCD) and is operated under contract
by Washington (formerly Raytheon) Demilitarization
Company. Washington is responsible for the construction
and operation of the UMCDF. Along with UMCD, both PMCD
and Washington Demilitarization Company (WDC) are
Permittees named in the UMCDF Hazardous Waste Permit.
Additional Resources
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