By James R. CarrollContact Jim Carroll at jcarroll@gns.gannett.com .
The (Louisville, Ky.) Courier-Journal
Posted : Friday Dec 7, 2007 10:54:40 EST
ArmyTimes
WASHINGTON — Officials are investigating what may have been the largest leak ever of deadly nerve agent from chemical weapons stored at the Blue Grass Army Depot near Richmond, Ky.
The leak of GB, also called sarin, was discovered Aug. 27 in a storage igloo at a level nearly 85 times the military’s safe exposure limit for the public, according to documents from the Kentucky Department of Environmental Protection, obtained by The (Louisville, Ky.) Courier-Journal under the Kentucky Open Records Act.
It is unclear how much, if any, of the chemical escaped from the igloo, or how long it took for the leak to be discovered. Army officials said Wednesday that it posed no health risk to employees at the depot, which is southeast of Richmond, or to the public.
But depot spokesman Richard Sloan said that at the time the leak was discovered, vents on top of the igloo used to control humidity were open.
Anthony Hatton, assistant director of the state’s Division of Waste Management, said that it had the potential to be a “serious incident,” especially if people could have been exposed to the deadly chemical.
The sarin that leaked from the container within the igloo was a liquid, some of which then vaporized.
Sloan and Army Chemical Materials Agency spokesman Greg Mahall both said there was no risk to human health and safety. Sloan said the leak was contained within the igloo shortly after it was found.
Hatton said he had to rely on the Army’s assurances, though he added that he has had disagreements with the Army over its assumptions about where the sarin vapor might have spread if it escaped the storage igloo.
But the Army’s analysis suggests that the highest possible concentrations of the vapor did not go far from the igloo, he said. “I can only lean on what they’ve provided,” he said.
“As far as we know here in the division, this is the largest liquid release we’re aware of.”
Sarin, originally developed as a pesticide in Germany, can work to prevent proper respiratory function. Exposure may come through contact with the skin or by breathing air containing sarin, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Three members of the Kentucky congressional delegation discussed the leak Wednesday with Dale Ormond, acting director of the Army Chemical Materials Agency. Sens. Mitch McConnell and Jim Bunning, both Republicans, and Rep. Ben Chandler, D-Ky., whose district includes the depot, said in a letter to Ormond that “some agent apparently escaped the storage igloo into the atmosphere.”
The letter described the incident as “deeply disturbing” and said it “demands prompt action and accountability.”
“A number of questions remain unanswered as to the specific time, duration and concentration of the leak and what effect, if any, it may have on the local community,” the letter said.
The lawmakers also said they, the public and the news media were not alerted to the leak. “... The safety and well-being of the local community is paramount and demands full transparency on this matter,” the letter said.
Bunning and McConnell declined through spokesmen to elaborate on the letter, and Chandler couldn’t be reached.
Mick Harrison, an attorney for the Sierra Club and the Chemical Weapons Working Group, a citizens group based in Berea, said that the Army is understating the risk of the leak and that officials need to take a closer look at what happened.
“They don’t know how high the exposure was because they haven’t collected the correct data,” he said.
Craig Williams, director of the working group, said in a statement that “it is troubling that the details of the incident were not made available to the public in a timely manner and that, as best can be told, still have not seen the light of day. Whether this is an occurrence that placed depot personnel or the general public at risk seems to be a matter of differing opinion.
He added that when “authorities responsible for safeguarding the public are less than forthcoming with information, suspicions are raised and this serves no good end.”
The leak was discovered at 3:49 p.m. Aug. 27 during an inspection of an igloo holding one-ton containers of sarin, a liquid that vaporizes in the air.
The first reading on the nerve agent came in at nearly 74 times the military’s safe exposure limit for the public, according to a Sept. 19 letter to the state from Army Col. Richard Mason Jr., commanding officer of the depot.
At 4:15 p.m., a second reading reached nearly 85 times the safe exposure limit, he said.
The storage igloo was checked a week earlier and no abnormal readings were detected, Mason said. “Based on the information currently available, we have no reasonable basis to conclude that any person(s) were potentially exposed to agent,” he said, adding that there have been no reports of any symptoms. Local officials were notified just before 5 p.m. that day, the letter states.
Madison County Judge-Executive Kent Clark said he knew about the leak less than two hours after it was discovered. “To tell you the truth, I didn’t have any concerns,” he said. “ ... It was never a danger to the residents of the county.”
Michael Bryant, the county’s director of the Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program, agreed. “I don’t think it was that big a leak,” he said. “It did not get off-post.”
Sloan said the Army is working under what it calls “an emergency condition” in dealing with the leak, but insisted that “we have no reason to believe that any (sarin) got out.”
The state asked the Army to run computer modeling of where sarin plumes might have gone. In a 56-page response, the Army sent back maps showing that the most lethal doses, ones that would cause permanent disability or even death, would not have gone far from the igloo.
Asked whether the state may take enforcement actions against the depot, Hatton said “it’s always an open option.”
Over the years, numerous leaks from chemical weapons have been reported by the depot. In all, 523 tons of chemical weapons containing sarin, VX and mustard gas are stored at the facility.
McConnell recently authored a legislative provision requiring that the weapons be destroyed by 2017, and a disposal facility is under construction at the depot.
The state environmental protection department recently found safety violations at Blue Grass and referred some allegations of wrongdoing to federal investigators.
Bev Winston
Washington Editor
Gannett News Service
1100 New York Ave. NW
Washington, D.C. 20005-3934
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