Umatilla Chemical Depot
The Umatilla Chemical Depot (UMCD), based in Umatilla, Oregon, was a U.S. Army installation in the United States that stored chemical weapons. The chemical weapons originally stored at the depot consisted of various live munitions and storage containers each holding 1 short ton (2,000 lb; 910 kg) GB or VX nerve agents or HD blister agent. All munitions had been safely destroyed by 2011 and base closure operations were still ongoing as of 2022.[1]
History[edit]
The Umatilla Chemical Depot opened in 1941, to prepare for World War II. The depot's mission was to store and maintain a variety of military items, from blankets to ammunition. The depot took on its chemical weapons storage mission in 1962 and stored 12% of the nation's stockpile. From 1990 to 1994, the facility reorganized in preparation for eventual closure, shipping all conventional ammunition and supplies to other installations.
Closure and redevelopment[edit]
Dismantling of the chemical disposal facility began in August 2013, and the base was expected to be transferred for state and private use by early 2015. The timeline was pushed back by the Columbia Development Authority, first to 2016 and then to 2017 and into 2018, due to complications during cleanup. After the planned decommissioning and transfer of land in 2018, the Oregon Military Department plans to use part of the base for a training facility, while the rest becomes industrial land and a wildlife refuge.[4]
In late-2011 49 of the 69 off-site sirens surrounding the depot were removed and have been repurposed as tsunami sirens along the Oregon coast. Tillamook County would receive 30 sirens but never use them while Clatsop County would receive 19 sirens with Cannon Beach installing several of the former sirens sirens to replace ones that had run their time.