The Nation - News from Sept. 1, 1989

Aging nerve and mustard gas weapons will be destroyed on-site at Tooele Army Depot, in what was described as the first chemical disposal facility in the United States, the Army announced. The $138-million incineration plant near Salt Lake City will destroy the aging munitions stockpiled at Tooele that account for 42% of the nation’s chemical arsenal, the office of the secretary of the Army said in a statement. Cindy Vaughn, spokeswoman for the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Md., the program manager for the Army’s chemical demilitarization effort, said similar announcements are expected for the other sites where chemical weapons are stored, once environmental studies are completed. The Army had considered disposing of the weapons at regional facilities, or one national site, options that would have required potentially risky transport.