Congressional hearings could begin as soon as next month on the May 8 and 9 accidental releases of nerve agent from the chemical weapons incinerator in Utah.

Pepper Bryars, press secretary for Rep. Bob Riley, R-Ala., said that Riley and Rep. James Hansen, R-Utah, have received approval for the hearings they requested.

Though four separate studies are investigating the May 8 release, Riley has been outspoken in asking for a General Accounting Office study of the accidents. Two studies released this week show that the releases poised no danger to workers at the Tooele, Utah, incinerator.

Riley requested the hearings because the Tooele incinerator is the model for the one being built at Anniston Army Depot, as well as the one in Umatilla, and he wants to ensure the mistakes made in Utah do not happen in Anniston.

“My skepticism level has been raised on this issue in the last couple months, not lowered,” Riley told the Anniston Star on Thursday. Riley has talked with Army officials in recent weeks about the agent escape, which the Army had claimed was impossible at the Tooele facility.

“They’re not doing a lot up there to instill confidence in me,” he said.

The Alabama depot contains nearly 1,500 fewer tons of chemical weapons than does the Umatilla Chemical Depot, but it is near Anniston’s large population base. Its incinerator is about two-thirds done, similar to the Umatilla one. Consequently, the Utah leaks – of between 18 and 36 milligrams – have garnered a larger response from Alabama residents.

“If a pin drops out there, people in Anniston hear,” Bryars said. “They watch it very close.”

Bryars said the hearings will happen in either July or September – the Army isn’t in session during August. Congressmen representing districts where chemical weapons incinerators are planned will be asked to attend, he added. The witness list will include scientists, Army officials and more, Bryars said.

The Umatilla depot, eight miles west of Hermiston, holds 3,717 tons of chemical weapons. A weapons incinerator is under construction and should be ready for use in 2002.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.