Chemical Stockpile Disposal Program: Review and comment on the phase 1 environmental report for the Tooele Army Depot, Tooele, Utah

An independent review is presented of the US Army phase I environmental report for the Tooele Army Depot (TEAD) in Utah. The phase I report reexamines site-specific data, recommends the scope and content of a phase II study, and addresses concerns that the final programmatic environmental impact statement (FPEIS) is too generic for site-specific decision making. The phase I analysis is based on the site-specific data needed to support the US Army's assessment methodology. The reviewers examined whether the phase I report is adequate, whether new data should be evaluated, and whether any new data would change the environmentally preferred alternative for disposing of unitary chemical agents and munitions proposed to be implemented at specific sites, as presented in the FPEIS. The major concerns identified relate to the use of generic, rather than site-specific, scenarios when modeling the transport and fate of accidentally released chemical agents and an error in the FPEIS in locating the disposal site for the population analysis. In addition, many of the site-specific data presented in the phase I report are not germane to the assessment methodology used in the FPEIS, but will be needed for the phase II site-specific EIS. Although additional analysis was foundmore » to be needed in the site-specific EIS to validate some of the air quality and meteorological conclusions presented for the proposed facility in the FPEIS and phase I report, none of these additional analyses is expected to significantly affect the decision for on-site incineration of the unitary chemical agents and munitions stockpiled at TEAD.« less