Oregon Public Broadcasting

A lawsuit has been filed to block the burning of mustard gas at the Umatilla Chemical Weapons Depot. Krisitan Foden-Vencil reports.

The military and its contractors have been burning old weapons at the site for the last few years.

They say all the sarin gas has been burned and the last of the VX nerve agent stockpile will be incinerated over the next few days.

That leaves mustard gas.

It’s scheduled to be burned in about 6 months. But a lawsuit, filed on behalf of the Oregon Wildlife Federation, the Sierra Club and several residents of Umatilla and Morrow Counties, says burning the gas will release mercury.

Army spokesman, Bruce Henrickson, says so far things have gone smoothly.

Bruce Henrickson: “Safety very much drives the program here at the disposal plant and the depot. We don’t compromise safety for anything. And if anything isn’t quite right we simply stop destroying the munitions and fix it before we able to move on.”

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality has signed off on the burning of the gas.But environmental groups say the agency isn’t tough enough on the military.