[CPEO-MEF] Mustard agent stockpile to be disposed of faster

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Maryland
Mustard agent stockpile to be disposed of faster
Officials OK destroying chemical without robotics
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By Joe Nawrozki
Sun Staff
Originally published December 11, 2002

State environmental officials approved yesterday a slight change in the 
accelerated plan to dispose of the mustard agent stockpile at Aberdeen 
Proving Ground.

The Maryland Department of the Environment issued the permit 
modification to the operators of the Aberdeen Chemical Agent Disposal 
Facility, where 1,623 tons of the agent will be destroyed by next 
September.

Officials hastened the destruction of the agent, stored in metal 
containers on the sprawling Harford County military installation, after 
the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The agent - a banned, carcinogenic 
chemical weapon that blisters the skin, eyes and lungs - is not paired 
with explosives, fuses or other devices that could detonate it.

Jeff Lindblad, spokesman for the facility, said the MDE gave the Army 
the go-ahead to remove the toxic material manually, rather than with 
robotics, through an enclosed containment portion of the plant.

"There is no change in the technology," Lindblad said, "but what we will 
be doing is skipping a step in the process of destroying the mustard 
agent."

This article can be viewed at:
http://rc.sunspot.net/news/local/harford/bal-
md.apg11dec11,0,6498516.story?coll=bal-local-headlines

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