More than 20 years ago, then-Gov. Scott M. Matheson fought to prevent the Defense Department from shipping 888 Weteye nerve gas bombs to Utah. On Christmas, the last of the bombs was safely destroyed.
"To the local community, it's like a Christmas present," James Colburn, general manager of Tooele Chemical Agent Disposal Facility, said in a press statement.
"Not only does it mean another group of chemical weapons gone; it also moves us closer to eliminating the entire stockpile at Deseret Chemical Depot."
Each bomb carried 346 pounds of deadly GB nerve agent, also called sarin.
The depot is the military base that includes the Army's $1 billion incinerator and the igloos where deadly chemical arms are stored pending their disposal. It is located near Stockton, Tooele County.
Technically, the Weteye bomb was designated MK-116 bombs. The name "Weteye" dated to the early 1960s when the Navy began producing the bombs. Originally, they were to have a guidance system using cameras in the bombs' nose, which gave rise to the "eye" part of the name; the liquid chemical agent the bomb carried was the "wet" part.
Cameras were never installed, but the "Weteye" nickname persisted.
In the late 1970s, the Defense Department set off rounds of controversy when it decided to move the Weteye bombs from Rocky Mountain Arsenal near Denver to Utah. Some of the bombs were leaking, prompting concern in Colorado. Matheson attempted to prevent the move because he was worried about safety and health issues for Utahns.
However, then-Sen. Gary Hart, D-Colo., sponsored an amendment to the Military Construction Authorization Act that required moving the bombs from Rocky Mountain Arsenal.
When the Hart amendment passed in 1981, Matheson quit fighting the move. He said he was advised by then-Assistant Utah Attorney General Donald S. Coleman that he did not have a legal remedy against the Army's plans.
Matheson said the Army planned to drain leaking bombs into one-ton containers before moving them. The containers and the nonleaking bombs were to be flown to Utah.
A Salt Lake County man asked Utah's senators to make sure that he would receive full protective gear during the transfer. He insisted, "This transfer constitutes an extreme potential hazard to the most precious of human rights of the citizens of this and that of other Western states: that of breathing."
The Army placed airspace restrictions in effect for the move. It scrambled radio transmissions and kept departure times secret.
The bombs were placed in sealed steel containers, which weighed 821 pounds when loaded. They were placed aboard C-141 aircraft at Stapleton International Airport for the flight to Utah.
Altogether 15 loads (64 bombs per plane) were flown to Utah over a three-week period, at five flights per week. Each 400-mile flight from Stapleton took about 46 minutes.
As the move neared, two peace organizations and 11 individuals filed suit in U.S. District Court to halt the transfer. The suit charged defendants conspired to move the gas to Utah.
The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom and the Utah Peace and Human Environment Institute claimed defendants "conspired together to make Utah a dangerous chemical dumping ground" that would threaten the health of residents.
U.S. District Judge David K. Winder ruled that every conceivable safeguard had been taken and refused to block the shipments.
On Aug. 12, 1981, a C-141 Air Force jet, carrying 64 Weteye bombs, landed at Michael Air Field, Dugway Proving Ground. Watching were about 50 reporters for national television networks, newspapers, magazines, wire services and other media.
As flights continued through the next three weeks, the bombs and containers were moved by convoys of Army tractor-trailers to the Tooele Army Depot South Area.
Since then, the South Area became Deseret Chemical Depot. The incinerator began destroying chemical arms in 1996. This spring, it tackled the first of the Weteye bombs
No problems were noted with the Weteyes during destruction, said Chuck Sprague of the Deseret Chemical Depot Public Affairs Office.
E-MAIL: bau@desnews.com