News

Arsenal shows appreciation for support

By Rick Joslin/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF
Wednesday, May 23, 2007 11:15 AM CDT

WHITE HALL — Officials have long touted the Army/public partnership at the Pine Bluff Arsenal (PBA) as the nation’s strongest.

That sentiment was repeated during a Tuesday news conference here in which appreciation was expressed to the local citizenry for its support of the Army’s chemical munitions demilitarization project at the arsenal.

The last of 90,409 GB nerve agent-filled rockets that had been stockpiled on the arsenal was destroyed Friday at the Pine Bluff Chemical Agent Disposal Facility (PBCDF). Also eliminated in the incineration plant’s initial campaign were two GB-filled ton containers.

PBCDF Site Project Manager Mark Greer thanked the community for its confidence in the mission, and pledged the public can expect the “same dedication” from the demilitarization team during the remainder of its disposal operations, slated to end in 2012.

“No other (stockpile) site enjoys the (public) support we do,” said PBA commander Col. Brian Lindamood.

The GB agent posed the greatest storage risk. The destroyed munitions contained approximately 960,000 pounds of the agent.

The GB campaign got under way on March 28, 2005.

PBCDF will dispose of VX nerve agent-filled rockets in its next campaign, scheduled to begin in the fall. Meanwhile, the facility will be undergoing maintenance and an equipment change.

Following elimination of the VX rockets, VX-filled landmines and then HD/HT mustard blister agent-filled bulk containers will be destroyed.

The GB effort required more than 3,000 transports of munitions from storage igloos to PBCDF, according to Pine Bluff Chemical Activity (PBCA) commander Lt. Col. Casey Scott.

PBCA is charged with safely storing and conveying stockpiled munitions to PBCDF. All activities involving the munitions are outlined in an international treaty.

PBCDF systems contractor Washington Group International (WGI) — responsible for construction, operations and closure of the plant — this month achieved a safety milestone of 9-million work hours without a lost-time injury resulting in a day away from work.

At Tuesday’s news conference, WGI Project General Manager David Reber boasted of his employees’ work performance and devotion to safety.

Lindamood said the GB campaign was successfully completed with “great skill, great precision and great passion.”

Dale Ormond, deputy assistant secretary of the Army and acting director of the Army’s Chemical Materials Command at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., termed the completion of the GB disposal “a tremendous milestone for risk reduction.”

He said the accomplishment required the teamwork of project employees as well as oversight agencies, political leaders and the public.

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