Refinery may replace depot
Oil facility called 'ideal' for Deseret Chemical site
The Base Realignment and Closure commission could consider that option during deliberations this summer, Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, told the Deseret Morning News on Thursday.
"That, to me, would be an ideal situation," Bishop said. "If you look at what the nation needs — refinery capacity, and we are out of capacity."
The plan would fall directly in line with President Bush's recent proposal to build oil refineries on closed military bases.
In a recent speech to members of the Small Business Administration, Bush said he plans to "direct federal agencies to encourage the building of refineries on closed military bases."
But not everyone is happy about the prospect of another Utah oil refinery.
"We already got, what, four in the state right along the Wasatch Front," said Jason Groenewold, executive director of the Healthy Environment Alliance of Utah. "We've got plenty capacity in the state already."
The Pentagon recommended closing Deseret Chemical Depot in early May. Whether it actually closes is a decision for the BRAC commission.
The depot has been destroying the nation's largest stockpile of chemical weapons since 1996, including GB and VX nerve agents and blistering agents like mustard, as part of an international treaty. The treaty calls for all weapons there to be destroyed by 2012.
But Bishop wants to extend the life of the depot and its multimillion-dollar chemical-weapons incinerator indefinitely.
Current BRAC commission-
er and former Utah congressman Jim Hansen agrees.
"It seems like a waste of money to me," Hansen said of tearing down the incinerator.
Instead, Hansen said the facility could be used to destroy more mustard-based munitions. Hansen said the state missed out on $600 million by not allowing the Pueblo mustard gas to be sent to Deseret Chemical Depot.
"See, what a lot of folks don't understand is we have a lot of mustard gas already," Hansen said. "We just add to the amount, extend the life of the facility 3 1/2 years."
When asked if shipping more mustard gas to Utah was an option, Bishop said "not necessarily" but later acknowledged it was an option.
The Pentagon recently abandoned plans to ship mustard gas from Colorado's Pueblo Chemical Depot to the Tooele County incinerator.
"The whole issue with the mustard gas here has been brought up and pretty much resolved that no mustard gas would be shipped here," Groenewold said. "I'm surprised that he would even be suggesting that at this point.
"Given the long history of problems we've had with the storage of chemical weapons in this state and that facility's primary role in stockpiling the nation's chemical weapons, it's time to close that chapter and focus on what Utah does best, and that's not dealing with chemical weapons."
E-mail: ldethman@desnews.com
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