EPA steps into fight over Army's burning of munitions

RENO, Nev. - The Environmental Protection Agency ordered county officials in California Friday to reopen a permit process to better ensure air pollution controls in the burning of munitions at the Sierra Army Depot.

The current permit the Lassen County Air Pollution Control District issued in May 1998 fails to assure compliance with several requirements of the Clean Air Act, EPA officials said.

''Specifically, the permit must be revised to include missing air pollution controls and limits to correct conditions based on inaccurate information,'' said Amy Zimpfer, acting director of the EPA's Air Division in San Francisco.

The permit outlining the regulation and monitoring of the activities had been set to expire in 2003.

The demand to reopen the permit early comes largely in response to health and safety concerns raised by neighboring residents as well as tribal communities downwind from the depot, which is located about 55 miles northwest of Reno near Herlong, Calif., EPA officials said.

Zimpfer notified the county of the move in a letter Friday to Ken Smith, the county's air pollution control officer.

The Army depot was closed Friday. Telephone messages left at the county's air pollution control office in Susanville, Calif., were not immediately returned late Friday afternoon.

Environmentalists, Native Americans and rural residents filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Army in April to try to block the annual detonation of thousands of tons of bombs, land mines and artillery shells.

The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Sacramento, said the explosions and burnings of munitions have spewed toxic clouds into the air and contaminated soil and water.

The EPA said Friday the new permit process must include public comment from the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe and the Rural Alliance for Military Accountability.

''It's not just the folks living around there but some of the tribes downwind also have been actively voicing concerns,'' EPA spokesman Leo Kay said Friday from San Francisco.

''We are stepping in at this point to work with Lassen County Air Pollution Control District to make sure their concerns are heard,'' he said.

Pike said the new permit needs to verify ''they are taking the steps necessary to meet the environmental standards.

''In our view, the permit right now does not assure compliance,'' he said. ''We want to make sure all the public health protections are being followed.''

Over the last decade, about 28,000 tons of munitions have been detonated or burned in the open air every year. In 1995 alone, 53 million pounds of military explosives and 200 rocket motors were detonated or burned.