Johnston Island's weapons held 2,031 tons of chemical agent, less than 15 percent of the amount originally stored in Tooele County.

Utah's Deseret Chemical Depot near Stockton, Tooele County, is the location of storage igloos holding those thousands of chemical weapons. It is also the site of the first such incinerator built in North America.

After years of public hearings, environmental assessments and hearings, the $1 billion plant — its formal name is the Tooele Chemical Agent Disposal Facility — began destroying chemical weapons on Aug. 22, 1996.

Lewisite will not be burned because arsenic is a deadly element, which cannot be destroyed by incineration. Utah's lewisite will be eliminated by chemical neutralization. Special processing facilities are to be built for it at the Chemical Agent Munitions Disposal System at Deseret Chemical Depot.

The Tooele incinerator has been a continuous source of controversy. Yet it is getting the job done. If no unforeseen circumstances interfere, the incinerator should complete its work by early 2004.

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