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U.S. EPA APPROVES NEW PERMIT FOR JACADS ON JOHNSTON ATOLL

Release Date: 6/11/1998
Contact Information: Lois Grunwald, U.S. EPA, (415) 744-1588

     (San Francisco)--Seeking to complete destruction of all remaining chemical weapons on Johnston Atoll in the South Pacific, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) has approved a new permit for the Johnston Atoll Chemical Agent Disposal System (JACADS), about 800 miles southwest of Hawaii.

     "Approval of this new permit will hasten the destruction of these weapons of mass destruction," said Julie Anderson, U.S. EPA's Waste Management Division director. "Our decision was made after a thorough review of public comments and we have concluded that this new permit will finish the job at JACADS in the safest manner possible for the people and marine life near this facility."

     U.S. EPA strengthened the new permit by including more monitoring and reporting of emissions from JACADS' stacks, and to add new permit conditions limiting dioxin and certain metals emissions.

     The dioxin and metals requirements in the permit are consistent with national policy recently adopted by U.S. EPA. The new reporting and monitoring requirements were added to make the already stringent requirements at the facility even tighter and more comprehensive, a result of what the agency has learned about JACADS since it began operating in 1990.

     The old JACADS permit has proved to be protective of human health and the environment at the atoll. In the eight years that the facility has operated, there has been no documented harm to people or wildlife. Detailed sampling during test burns at JACADS has shown that the emissions meet U.S. EPA standards. And, studies done by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, ornithologists, and marine biologists have shown no adverse effects to wildlife from the facility.

     However, the facility has experienced operational problems in its seven year history. In March 1994, U.S. EPA cited the Army for releasing a nerve agent above allowable levels and for improper storage of hazardous wastes. The U.S. EPA fined the Army $91,700 for the violations, and ordered changes in operating procedures to prevent another release. The new permit will tighten some operating procedures based on EPA's review of the facility.

     The Army anticipates it will take about three more years to complete the destruction of all remaining weapons on the island. U.S. EPA approved the new permit to ensure that there is enough time for the Army to destroy all the remaining weapons, and cleanup and close the facility once all the weapons are destroyed. Under the new permit, U.S. EPA will have oversight of the cleanup work.

     Since 1990, the Army has destroyed all of the rockets and bombs -- and in the process more than two-thirds of the four million pounds of agent originally stored on the island. There are still over 160,000 projectiles and 13,000 land mines left to destroy. The JACADS facility is designed to disassemble and incinerate chemical weapons containing nerve agent, and blister agent, known as mustard. Nerve agent is lethal in small quantities.

     The weapons stored on the island were moved there from Okinawa, the Solomon Islands, and Germany. Federal law prohibits transportation of additional chemical weapons to the atoll.