Sierra Army Depot Air Emissions Deemed Not Hazardous

ATLANTA, Georgia, December 5, 2003 (ENS) - Open burning and open detonation to destroy waste explosives and propellants at the Sierra Army Depot near the California-Nevada border for 30 years generated large plumes of air contaminants visible miles away in both states, but posed "no apparent public health hazard," federal investigators said Wednesday. Nevada officials fear the emissions are responsible for clusters of cancer, lupus, birth defects, and respiratory ailments.

The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), a public health agency of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), released its public health consultation for the Sierra Army Depot, the largest open burn, open detonation facility in the United States.

The ATSDR found that "inhalation exposures to emissions" from the depot pose no apparent public health hazard. The designation is one of five hazard categories ATSDR assigns to sites on the basis of its technical analyses.

For this site, where community members were exposed to contamination from the Sierra Army Depot but not at levels expected to cause adverse health effects, "no apparent public health hazard" is the designation used, the agency said.

A robotic vehicle descends into an open pit to inspect munitions at the Sierra Army Depot. (Photo courtesy Sandia National Lab)

The two largest communities near the depot are Susanville, California 40 miles to the northwest and Reno, Nevada 55 miles to the southeast.

In 1999, the depot was named California's leading air polluter by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

For more than 30 years, until August 2001 when Lassen County called a halt to the open burning and open detonation, the Sierra Army Depot exploded and burned millions of pounds of unwanted bombs, bullets, rocket engines and other munitions in open pits. Yearly, more than 53 million pounds of explosives were detonated.

The Army says the process releases "many known toxins into the air, including heavy metals, dioxin, PCB, and fiberglass."

Environmentalists say airborne toxics also include lead, mercury, arsenic, antimony, beryllium, cadmium, and nickel.

In February 2000, Nevada Senator Harry Reid, a Democrat, wrote a letter to CDC Director Jeffrey Koplan requesting an immediate investigation into the possible existence of a cancer cluster around the depot. Senator Reid asked the CDC to conduct a study into the potential health effects from the open burning of munitions at the Sierra Army Depot.

In response to this petition, federal health investigators from the ATSDR gathered and evaluated data to address community health concerns and met with residents from surrounding areas, and nearly three years later issued the "no apparent health hazard" determination.

California Department of Health/Department of Toxic Substance Control completed a limited study of health problems associated in the open burning of munitions, but failed to monitor the effects of burning on downwind residents.

Burning was restricted to days when the wind blows between three and 30 miles per hour, so the toxics are carried downwind into Nevada at least 15 miles and as far as 40 miles from the explosion sites, the Army acknowleges.

An explosion at the Sierra Army Depot (Photo courtesy Nevada State Health Divisio)

As a "prudent public health measure," the ATSDR recommends that if open burning or open detonation were to be resumed at any time in the future, the Army conduct routine air sampling for particulate matter in the residential area downwind from the depot.

The Army says the depot has taken "every step possible to be a good neighbor and operates under all local, state, and federal Environmental Protection Agency regulations to get the job done with minimal environmental impact."

The Army has drawn up an environmental restoration plan for the depot in an attempt to remediate contaminated soil and groundwater by the year 2020.

Meanwhile, the land is being turned over to build a prison and is being reclaimed for housing by Native Americans.

The Bureau of Prisons has been planning to build the medium-security prison on 591 acres since 1999, when it acquired the land in a transfer from the Sierra Army Depot.

More than 360 members of Maidu, Paiute, Pit River and Washoe ancestry, together recognized as the Susanville Indian Rancheria, last month purchased 875 acres of depot land to provide the adequate housing, senior care, health care and cultural resources for tribal members. The tribe also operates the Susanville Casino.

Although the Army has identified no Native American sites on Sierra Army Depot, the Susanville Indian Rancheria claims ancestral ties to the land.

"We look forward to the vast opportunities this additional land presents," said Tribal Chairman Ike Lowry. "Not only will we be able to meet the growing housing needs of our members for generations to come, but in purchasing land that belonged to our forbearers, we are also able to preserve cultural sites important to the four Tribes of the Susanville Indian Rancheria."