A federal appeals court rejected Friday a request by environmentalists for an order halting operations at the Tooele Chemical Agent Disposal Facility in Utah.
However, the ruling from the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals did grant an expedited scheduling for the case brought by the Chemical Weapons Working Group, the Sierra Club, and the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation.The CWWG's request for a preliminary injunction of the burning procedures by the Army at the chemical incinerator was rejected by U.S. District Judge Tena Campbell even before the burning started several months ago.
The appeals court said the facts of the case defeat the argument that it is so urgent a stay order was needed.
"The chronology of events . . . belies appellants' claim that resolution of the stay issue by this court is a matter of extreme urgency needing immediate resolution," the opinion said.
"The district court denied appellants' motion for preliminary injunction on August 13, 1996. The incineration began at the TOCDF on August 22, 1996. Appellants waited until October 11, 1996 to appeal from the district court's order and until October 18, 1996 to seek a stay pending appeal . . . "
The appeals court also noted the request should have been made at the trial court level first.
The groups had filed their lawsuit in June, alleging incineration was unsafe and unnecessary.
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Plant shut down
The Army's $400 million chemical weapons incinerator in Utah's western desert was shut down Nov. 29 to modify the plant's feed gate, which sends rockets into the plant for processing.
Because the shutdown was initiated for routine maintenance, a public announcement was not issued, said Project Manager Tim Thomas.
Meanwhile, as of Dec. 5, the incinerator had safely processed 8,058 M-55 rockets filled with GB nerve agent and also safely destroyed 83,720 pounds of the nerve agent.
The deadly stockpile stored at Deseret Chemical Depot, Tooele County, should be gone by 2003.
That information comes from the latest biweekly update on the facility, released by the depot Friday. It adds that on Nov. 25 the plant was authorized to extend operations to around-the-clock shifts. That week, it destroyed 390 rockets during one shift, the highest total for a single day's operation until then.
A six-hour test burn in the middle of November sustained a processing rate of about 35 rockets per hour. Preliminary reviews show that the furnace met the required safety margin of 99.9999 percent destruction removal efficiency for cancer-causing PCBs, the report says.