November 19, 2000
News Release
For Immediate Release
Contact: Steve Erickson (801)359-4929

WATCHDOGS: FEDS PASS BAD GAS OVER SALT LAKE

Two watchdog groups charged today that tests conducted over
downtown Salt Lake City throughout October by the federal
Departments of Energy and Defense may have violated state and
international laws and exposed the population to extremely toxic
gases.

During the last month, the two agencies have conducted air
dispersion modeling experiments downtown, with monitoring
equipment scattered throughout the valley. The DOE study, called
the Vertical Transport and Mixing Experiment, involved at least 6
releases of inert perfluorocarbon tracer gas and at least 60
scientists in checking weather patterns in an urban, mountain
valley to learn more about how pollution is trapped or
concentrated under certain conditions, and how to improve weather
forecasting. The DOD tests, conducted by the Defense Threat
Reduction Agency, involved releases of an unknown quantity of
sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) gas from a variety of locations
downtown, ostensibly to check equipment used to detect chemical
weapons which could be used in a terrorist attack, and to learn
if and how those chemicals could enter and be detected inside
buildings.

The agencies stated publicly that the gas, SF6, is inert and
harmless. But that is only part of the truth, according to the
Citizens Education Project. "Some studies question whether SF6
really is inert and harmless, but it is definitely not harmless
if it gets heated," said Steve Erickson, spokesman for the social
justice and government accountability watchdog. "When exposed to
heat, it decomposes into other compounds, and one of those is
S2F10, which is deadly in high enough concentrations." SF6 gas
pyrolizes, or changes chemically at 440 degrees Fahrenheit, into
several new gases or powders like a fine dust, including S2F10.
Heated or "sparked" SF6, especially under moist air conditions,
producing a sulfurous, rotten egg smell. Inhalation of the S2F10
by-product can cause nausea, lung and organ damage, or death.
S2F10 is so hazardous that federal Occupational Health and Safety
Administration standards for exposure to S2F10 are set at 10
parts per billion. OSHA recommends that, when handling SF6, the
gas "should not be subject to high energy input, such as
cigarette smoking, electric heater filaments, welding or cutting
torches, or electrical discharges or arcs". Stringent handling
procedures are required in any work involving SF6.

"This bad gas passing is more than just an impolite faux pas,
that rotten egg smell can hurt you," Erickson charged. He
hastened to add that it is unlikely any persons were exposed to
enough S2F10 to become ill. "We hope and assume that these
agencies were careful enough to keep the concentrations of the
gas well below the danger threshold. But then again, they haven't
told anyone just how much gas they released, or where, or where
it could concentrate. And we know the DOD and the DOE have been
reckless and cavalier in their human experimentation in Utah in
the past," he said.

Erickson also charged the agencies with skirting environmental
review processes, not bothering to obtain proper state air
quality permits, and lying to the press about the nature and
scope of the experiments. When contacted by the Deseret News, the
agencies gave conflicting accounts of the participation of the
DTRA. Documents obtained by the Citizens Education Project
indicate DOD involvement in the experiments beginning early in
the study's planning process.

Officials at the Utah Department of Environmental Quality said
they had no notification in advance of the tests, and only became
aware that they were underway when the Deseret News broke the
story on October 19. No permits for the gas releases were
requested or obtained.

A summary of a meeting of the VTMX participants in April 2000
stated the DOE's intent to obtain a categorical exclusion from
the National Environmental Policy Act so they would not have to
prepare an environmental assessment or impact statement, which
requires opportunities for public review of federal projects.

"This is human experimentation on a grand scale, reminiscent of
the dosing of the San Francisco Bay and the New York subways
during the heyday of germ war testing," said Preston J Truman,
director of Downwinders. "All done without our knowledge or
informed consent. It seems DOE and DOD have a penchant for
treating Utahns as guinea pigs." The groups said that the lack of
informed consent by the unknowing volunteers of Salt Lake's
downtown is a violation of the Nuremberg Code.

SF6 is a greenhouse gas addressed in the Kyoto Protocols to the
UN Climate Change Convention. The Kyoto accords obligate
developed nations to restrict SF6 and other greenhouse gases from
release to the atmosphere because they contribute to global
warming. Erickson said that Congress and the Administration are
pouring new billions of dollars into chemical and biological
defense work to combat concerns about terrorist threats on U.S.
soil. A significant proportion of that new money will be spent in
Utah, which boasts the nation's premier facility for germ and
chemical testing at the Dugway Proving Grounds. "We can expect
more of this type of military intrusion, with more fear-
mongering over a hyped-off potential for terrorism spoiling Salt
Lake's precious Olympic experience," he charged.

According to VTMX documents, DOE is planning a larger scale
follow –up study in Salt Lake sometime next year. Truman asked,
"Is this just an Olympic appetizer, a warm up for more mass human
experimentation without consent? They've dosed us to death
before, and we're worried about beer served at the Olympics?"

The groups will file Freedom of Information requests to obtain
more information about the extent, nature, and results of the
tests. They also said they are preparing state legislation and
local ordinances to prohibit the federal government to conduct
further such tests without air quality and other permits.