Keeping depot might boost jobs

Tooele County Commissioner Matt Lawrence said the county asked BRAC commissioners to take a closer look at keeping the facility open because it could prove to be a safer way to deal with conventional weapons.

"It's not a new idea," Lawrence said. He said the County Commission's recommendation to BRAC was not specific but that keeping the depot open could be good for the country as well as the county.

"Those of us that have lived in this valley our whole lives are used to munitions being blown up in the open air," he said. "Those days of just blowing up munitions whenever are gone. The attitude in America today is looking for other ways of destroying these munitions, and this is just an idea that deserves a further look."

The retrofit would likely be expensive for the Army, but Lawrence said he believes incinerating conventional weapons at DCD could prove more cost-effective in the long run.

"To retrofit this plant, anything that has had (contact with) the chemical or biological weapons has to be destroyed. Basically, as I understand it, it would be like a plant shell, and they would have to retrofit it, and it would be expensive. But we have at Tooele Army Depot all this old ordnance that is going to have to be dealt with."

Having a new, upgraded way to destroy TAD's weapons could prove to be another benefit to county residents, Lawrence said.

Tooele County residents would also benefit, he said, because the DCD staying open would mean more jobs in the county and would also ensure the land the depot is now on would continue to be useful.

"As a commission, what we're thinking of if that closes (is that) there is a good possibility that we will never be able to utilize any of that property for industry. If it stays open, then we've got jobs and people paying taxes, and that's what we're looking at," Lawrence said. "We're not talking about environmental studies or anything like that. There will be a lot more that needs to be done and looked at."

Senate Majority Leader Pete Knudson, R-Brigham City, whose district includes the depot, called the decision good news. "I'm tickled. That's job security for some good people," he said. "It makes every bit of sense to maintain a facility that has proven it can do the job."

Knudson said the decision also "leaves the door open for future projects and future missions" beyond the depot's 2012 closure date. Just what that would include remains to be seen, but he said he did not anticipate that the materials that might be shipped to the state would pose a danger to Utahns.

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Contributing: Lisa Riley Roche

E-mail: bau@desnews.com; dsmeath@desnews.com