Triethyl phosphate, a chemical that kills laboratory rats when breathed during experiments, will be explosively sprayed into the open air at Dugway Proving Ground in tests starting next month, the Army says.
The Army contends in an official finding that the material is not classified as hazardous. But its own reports say it can be toxic in high concentrations.An environmental activist says he is concerned about the triethyl phosphate and that Dugway isn't giving enough time for public comments on the plans.
Buckets and tanks of simulants will be lifted into the air and blown up at Dugway's Carr test facility, where it will shower onto test grids. Up to 45 tests will be held with no more than one per day.
In an outgrowth of the Persian Gulf war, the tests are supposed to help planners assess the danger of shooting down missiles loaded with chemical weapons. When American forces fought Iraq, Scud missiles intercepted by Patriot anti-missile missiles and blown up in the air sometimes rained dangerous debris.
Experts wondered, if they shot down "an incoming missiles with a chemical warhead, what happens to the warhead?" said Dick Whitaker, spokesman for Dugway Proving Ground.
So a series of experiments is scheduled to be carried out in mid-June by the Army Strategic Defense Command at Redstone Arsenal, Huntsville, Ala., using the western Tooele County base as the test area.
Liquid material simulating toxic chemicals will be tested two ways: hoisted on a tower, and suspended from a large helium-filled balloon. In either case, containers of simulants are to be blown up by plastic explosives.
Technicians will study the resulting shower of simulant to see how it disperses when exploded at different altitudes.
A finding of "no significant environmental impact," published as a legal notice in the Deseret News on May 21 says: "Simulant processing, as with any chemical processing, raises concerns regarding potential hazardous materials/waste as well as health and safety impacts. However, none of the simulant components are classified as hazardous materials."
The published finding never identifies the simulant. But the Deseret News obtained a copy of the environmental assessment upon which the finding was based. And that finding indicates a potential cause for concern.
"The chemical simulant for the TMDBCE (Theater Missile Defense Bulk Chemical Experiment) will consist almost entirely of triethyl phosphate," the assessment says. A thickener and a florescent dye will be added, and possibly some carbon to aid in remote detection.
Triethyl phosphate is a stable, colorless liquid. "It is listed in the Toxic Substances Control . . . Chemical Substances Inventory," the report says. It quickly adds the U.S. Department of Transportation does not list it as a hazardous material, nor does the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act.
It goes on to say that triethyl phosphate can weakly inhibit normal neuromuscular functioning and can cause eye and skin irritation.
"Good general room ventilation is sufficient for safe handling and use of TEP (triethyl phosphate); however, the manufacturer recommends that any personnel handling TEP should wear protective gloves, clothing and safety glasses," the report adds.
TEP may be toxic in heavy concentrations, based on studies using laboratory rats, it says.
Steve Erickson, who has frequently battled Dugway on behalf of the military watchdog group Downwinders, said, "I would be concerned about the effects of exposure to triethyl phosphate and would need to see more detail regarding the modeling for the dissemination.
"If they're testing at various altitudes and wind speeds . . . we would need to be assured that the dissemination will hit target grids and not disperse to areas where there could be greater environmental or human impacts."
Erickson said he has requested a copy of the environmental assessment. Meanwhile, the formal finding of no significant environmental impact said the series of tests is scheduled to begin in the middle of June, continuing through the summer.
"We're facing short comment period deadlines to respond to yet another finding of no significant impact," Erickson said. Announcements of the tests aren't highly publicized. "You have to happen to notice them in the legal section of the newspapers, and then you have to obtain a copy (of the environmental assessment) in time to review it and then comment."
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Testing, testing...
Past open-air tests or proposed tests have generated controversy over the safety of Dugway Proving Ground's use of supposedly safe simulant chemicals.
As the Deseret News discovered in documents obtained this year through the Freedom of Information Act, in 1957 and 1958, germ-warfare researchers from Dugway scattered clouds of cadmium sulfide over nearly all the states east of the Rocky Mountains. The test was supposed to be a safe simulation of a germ-warfare attack. But studies available since the early 1930s warned that the chemical was dangerous.
In May 1990, the Deseret News found that the Army was planning to test components of the new Bigeye binary nerve gas bomb at Dugway, using potentially hazardous simulant chemicals in the open air. In July 1990, Defense Secretary Dick Cheney halted U.S. chemical arms production and testing - including the Bigeye test - before that series could begin.