For a long time, the most dangerous thing that could happen after an earthquake in Utah was the release of chemicals stored at the Deseret Chemical Weapons Depot. Located just South of Tooele this location was the main storage location for several types of the US Army’s chemical warfare arsenal. While stored as securely as possible, the possibility of some form of leakage existed, especially if a disaster such as a large earthquake were to occur.
According to one report, over its lifetime the Deseret Chemical Depot has destroyed 1.3 million munitions and 13,617 tons of chemical agent. Today (the 18th of January, 2012) the final piece of ordinance (mustard gas shells) will be fed into the incinerator. On Saturday, the final storage tanks (contents already destroyed) of Lewisite will be destroyed as well.
Living just downwind from this location, I can say I’m very happy that this is gone.