A daylong field trip to Dugway Wednesday convinced the governor's Technical Review Committee on Dugway Testing it doesn't want an expanded oversight mission at the Army post.
The committee has dealt with Dugway's biological testing mission and is notified and briefed 30 days before the Army post initiates any new laboratory tests involving deadly biological agents.In December, a newly appointed and more technically adept committee had amended its mission statement to include oversight on Dugway's chemical agent testing as well.
Dugway commander Col. James King told the committee in February such an expansion would tax the resources of his staff and that he doubted the committee really wanted to spend the additional time it would take to either make regular visits to Dugway or read the volumes of materials that would be involved.
Thursday's field trip was designed to give the 10-member group a firsthand look at the facility, which tests the nation's military hardware to determine its effectiveness when subjected to an enemy chemical or biological weapons attack.
Post public affairs officer Melynda Petrie said the briefing was the most extensive public forum Dugway has ever given.
And the Army has taken a keen interest in the committee's request for greater involvement and its visit Tuesday. "We had to send up every piece of paper we showed you to the Department of the Army for approval," King said.
Post officials have been mired in the committee's request for specific documentation in the past. But paperwork has never satisfied the group, King said. "My position has always been: `Come out and see it.' "
So the committee spent the morning in a post theater, hearing presentations about operations and safety procedures. Then it toured three different testing laboratories in the afternoon.
"I think you learned more from being here today than if we sent you volumes of material," King told the committee at the end of the day.
Pediatrician and toxicologist Dr. William Banner said the experience left him with a much better picture of conditions at Dugway, especially when contrasted to safety concerns surrounding the massive stockpile of chemical weapons stored at Tooele Army Depot.
University of Utah physics Professor Eugene Loh said the field trip helped dispel myths about the post. "I think infrequent but periodic visits like this might be a good way to exchange information," he said. "I would suggest that we keep this kind of dialogue going."
Suzanne Winters, Gov. Mike Leavitt's science adviser who heads the committee, says she will discuss the tour with Leavitt soon.
Winters said she is confident with the Army's claims that it is taking adequate precautions against a mishap and that the small quantities of chemical and biological agents used in tests would enable the Army to contain an accident before harmful agents got off post.
Many of Dugway's tests involve simulants like wintergreen oil, which mimic toxic agents, to replicate the effects of toxin exposure. Less than 1,000 pounds of chemical and biological agents are stored or used in tests at Dugway. By contrast, Tooele is home to 43 percent of the nation's aging chemical weapons stockpile.