Is The Tooele, Utah Chemical Weapons Incinerator Safe?

Prepared by
Kentucky Environmental Foundation

On September 13, 1994, Steve Jones, the chief safety officer at the Tooele, Utah chemical weapons incinerator was fired from his job because he refused to give the incinerator facility his safety seal of approval. Mr. Jones had been working at the Tooele facility for three months under EG&G Defense Materials, Inc., a corporation which was contracted by the Army to oversee facility operations. When he found the Tooele facility to be severely lacking in safety standards, EG&G terminated his employment, and confiscated documents and databases relevant to his safety allegations. Instead of keeping quiet about the incident, Mr. Jones took his story to local Tooele newspapers, and contacted Chemical Weapons Working Group (CWWG) members in Utah. At this point, Mr. Jones acquired the title of "whistleblower," or someone who tells the truth about an institution or event, acting in the best interest of the general public. Two months later, Mr. Jones' safety allegations still have the attention of Congress, the Army, Occupational Health and Safety Agency (OSHA), national media, citizen groups such as the CWWG and residents living in communities with chemical weapons stockpiles.

Why did Mr. Jones refuse to authorize the safety of the Tooele
facility? What was so wrong, that he should lose his job over the issue of safety at this facility? The answer can be found in over 1000 safety allegations Mr. Jones made about the incinerator facility, and their implications on the entire Chemical Stockpile Disposal Program. These items were taken from a memo from Mr. Jones to his superiors, outlining specific safety violations:

• Chemical agent venting directly into the atmosphere
• No one trained in standard operating procedures; few workers had any safety training
• No chemical sampling plan developed for the plant; no written chemical agent monitoring plan exists
• No inventory of hazardous materials; no training on hazardous materials in the workplace
• No emergency preparedness written for toxic operations
• Hot slag dropping on workers; worker suffered from 2nd degree water burns due to lack of training and experience

Mr. Jones, with a flawless 20-year career as a safety officer in the military, says the biggest problems with the Tooele facility are in the basic designs of the plant, which should have been transported from the Johnston Island prototype incinerator (JACADS).The Army maintains that the Tooele facility corrected all that went wrong at JACADS. In other words, the JACADS facility was a "rough draft," and the Tooele facility is the corrected "final draft."

However, major problems, including the following, have not been corrected:

• Agent migration (or release) is commonplace; there have been two stack releases of chemical agent.
• Two segments of the larger incinerator have a high potential for agent release.
• No hazard analyses of the systems, and identified hazards. This is by far the most critical point. What looks great on paper sometimes just doesn't work. This effort is required by law and has been ignored. You're looking at millions of dollars and extensive delays.

As we go to press, the Department of Defense Inspector General (IG) report, which the Army has held secret but of which KEF has obtained a copy, is known to confirm Mr. Jones' safety allegations.
The IG report is dated September 6, 1994, just one week before Mr. Jones was fired. Its findings will have far-reaching implications on the entire chemical weapons incineration program. The report itself states that environmental impact statement problems increase the possibility of legal intervention and terminationof the current program. Now, more than ever, is the time for lawmakers to understand the reality of this program, and stand with citizens across the globe in demanding safe, expedient disposal as a priority.

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