Tooele residents debate mercury storage

TOOELE — When it comes to storing mercury, Tooele residents are of two minds: love it or leave it.

About 35 residents on Wednesday attended the last public hearing on the federal government's proposal to consolidate into one location the nation's stockpile of mercury — about 4,890 tons of it.

"I don't think it's that undesirable," Dave Lawrence of Stansbury Park said.

But Robert Swan of Tooele wasn't convinced it should be moved from its current locations in Indiana, New Jersey, Ohio and Tennessee.

"I don't think there is a real rush to move this," he said. "We're in a post 9/11 environment. I don't care how safe mercury is to store. Anything toxic is a terrorist target."

On its face, pure elemental mercury isn't all that bad, government officials say. It has been bought and sold internationally for use in electrical switches, fluorescent lighting, dental fillings, batteries and industrial processing.

The potential dangers are when mercury vaporizes into the environment.

And officials at the Defense National Stockpile Center, a Defense Department agency charged with storing materials for national emergencies such as war, say that has never happened.

"It is safe to use and safe to store," said Essie Schloss, deputy administrator for the DNSC. "I'd put it in my backyard and not be concerned about it."

At Wednesday's joint meeting of the Tooele City Council and Tooele Planning and Zoning Commission, Schloss assured residents that the government has been safely storing mercury for more than 50 years.

But the agency would like to consolidate the mercury into a single repository because, Schloss said, "We can monitor it more easily if it's in one place."

Besides the four current sites, the agency has had two offers — Utah Industrial Depot and Nevada's Hawthorne Army Depot. (A site in New York was taken off the list after officials there requested it be withdrawn.)

The center could resume selling mercury, but it's not a preferred option, primarily because of environmental concerns that too much mercury already has been released to the global market.

Jeff Howard, executive director of the Tooele Chamber of Commerce, thinks storing mercury makes good business for the Utah Industrial Depot.

"We all want the Utah Industrial Depot to succeed," he said. "I think mercury storage is safe and a good economic project."

Cari Allen, owner of Log Furniture Inc., isn't too keen on having mercury stored within 500 feet of her business inside the depot.

Even though the mercury is stored in steel flasks inside airtight drums, it still gives her the willies, she said.

"Of all the land in the U.S., why are you putting it in a city?" she questioned.

Residents have until Sept. 2 to submit written comments to Defense National Stockpile Center, 8725 John J. Kingman Road, Suite 3229, Ft. Belvoir, VA 22060-6223.