U.S. Army efforts to destroy chemical weapons stored at the Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal Facility in Oregon could be completed next year, the Hermiston Herald reported Saturday (see GSN, June 5).
"Nobody knows the date we'll destroy the last chemical munition in the Oregon stockpile and close the depot because safety drives the program," said Army spokesman Bruce Henrickson. "But we do provide general estimates of munitions disposal time frames and expectations from time to time to help our off-post partners in their emergency preparedness close-out planning or other efforts."
Recent estimates have put disarmament activities at Umatilla ending between next summer or summer 2011.
"We're reviewing our expectations and estimates and may revise our expected time frames in the coming weeks," Henrickson said (Karen Hutchinson-Talaski, Hermiston Herald, Oct. 10).