(The following is excerpted from "Chemical Weapons Disposal and
Environmental Justice" written by Suzanne Marshall PhD. and published by
the Kentucky Environmental Foundation, November, 1996, with funding from the
Educational Foundation of America.)
"Our Tribal Government has identified serious problems with the chemical weapons
incineration proposal that the US Army has proposed for the Umatilla Army Depot.
These problems place the people, resources and economy of all northeastern Oregon at
grave risk, including the people, resources and economy of the Confederated Tribes of
the Umatilla Indian Reservation...
"Incinerators are not a fail-safe operation. They can, and do, fail. And their failure can
have catastrophic impacts. A mere speck of the nerve agent VX will kill you if it
touches your skin. Even smaller quantities of the gas GB will kill instantly. Yet the
Army acts as if they pose no practical risk...
"And the Army has failed to consider the threat to the Umatilla Indian Reservation.
Their plans use models that assume the earth is flat. They don't consider the
topography of this region or the air patterns that occur near the foothills of the Blue
Mountains, where our Reservation and the City of Pendleton are located...The Umatilla
Reservation is located a mere 30 miles directly downwind from the Army's proposed
incinerators. Under some conditions, nerve gas released at the depot could reach us in
less than an hour...
"In addition, the Umatilla Army Depot is located within our Tribes ceded lands, an area
within which our tribal members retain treaty rights, including the right to fish and to
gather plants and medicines. Resources, such as our Wanaket Wildlife Refuge, located
a few miles east of the town of Umatilla, are directly threatened by the incinerators...the
Army has failed to consult with us on a government-to-government basis about its
incinerator plans...This is unacceptable. The Army cannot pretend to protect us if it
remains ignorant of what our interests are."
--Donald Sampson
Chairman, Board of Trustees
Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation
Statement, 1996
The Umatilla Depot Activity (UMDA), Oregon is on land that the Confederated Tribes of
the Umatilla Indian Reservation ceded in 1855 to the United States. It occupies parts of
Morrow and Umatilla Counties in the northeast portion of the state in an area that is largely
rural with wheat, cattle and potatoes as the major farm products. Watermelons from
Hermiston, a town of 10,000 about five miles from the Depot, and new products such as
mint, buffalo and llamas are important to the economy. The Columbia River supplies the
region with water and supports fish and wildlife. Overall in the region, aridity is a factor
and crucial ground water is being depleted (Bradbury, et al. 1994, Appendix H).
The two counties of Umatilla and Morrow have a population of approximately 68,000.
Umatilla is the most populous with close to 60,000 residents. A significant percentage of
the population of both counties lives below the poverty level--16.5% in Umatilla and 15%
in Morrow. These percentages are above the 12.4% average in the state and the national
average of 13.12%. Latino Americans, most of whom moved to the area since 1980, make
up 9% of Umatilla County's population and 11% of Morrow County's population, which
is significantly higher than the state average of 4%. The percentage of Native Americans is
305% higher than the national average in Umatilla County, 90% hgher in Hermiston and
47% higher in Morrow County (Bureau of the Census, 1990; Bradbury, et al. 1994,
Appendix H). Poverty and people of color that have been historically affected by pollution
exist in the region in greater proportions than in the rest of the state.
In 1940-41, as part of the preparations for war around the country, UMDA was built as a
storage and transshipment installation for conventional munitions. Not until the 1960s did
chemical weapons begin to be stored there. About 600 employees worked at the depot
during the 1970s and 1980s until the Base Realignment and Closure Commission decided
to close UMDA. By 1993, only 200 workers were left. The conventional weapons
mission will end in 1994 and employment will decrease further. The community is
planning re-use and the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation are asking
that lands be given to the Department of the Interior for the use of the tribe (Bradbury, et
al., 1994, Appendix H).
UMDA is in the process of cleaning up two sites and planning to clean nine others.
Citizens attended public meetings held in February 1994 to be apprised of the plans.
People in this region are familiar with military toxics and hazards since Hanford, a nuclear
site, is only 40 miles to the north. Hanford has been in the news due to its radioactive
releases in the past. Transportation of hazardous waste occurs through the region regularly
and the Confederated Tribes worry about the shipments that travel through their lands.
UMDA stores about 12% of the US stockpile of chemical agent in projectiles, M55 rockets
and bulk containers brought in during the 1960s, adding to the region's hazardous
materials (Bradbury et al. 1994, Appendix H).
In Oregon, as in many other states, the military has been an important employer, making
people reluctant to challenge Army plans. The military and local officials also emphasize
the need for patriotic sacrifice when people question the incinerator and accuse opponents
of disloyalty when they criticize the project.
Since members of the Confederated Tribes fish and gather plants and medicine in the
affected area, requirements of the President's Executive Order, concerning consumption
patterns of fish and wild life, must be implemented. Information must be collected and
analyzed regarding the "consumption patterns of populations who principally rely on fish
and/or wildlife for subsistence. Federal agencies shall communicate to the public the risks
of those consumption patterns (Clinton 1994, Sec. 4-4, 4-401)." And, if the contamination
of these food sources is already too high, no new polluting facilities should be permitted.
"The ancestral home of my people--the Cayuse, Umatilla and Walla Walla Indians is
northeastern Oregon and southeastern Washington. The Umatilla Indian Reservation is
located on these lands. There is no other Umatilla Indian Reservation. If it is
destroyed or made unlivable by the federal government's toxic incinerator experiment,
there is no other home for our people...
"The Department of Environmental Quality is prepared to approve the Army's
incinerator plans..even though the Army has never shown that the incinerators are a
safer or better way to destroy these chemicals than other technologies...And they are
ready to approve the incinerators even though the Army has completely failed in its
moral and legal duty to coordinate with our Tribal government concerning the Army's
incinerator plans."
--Armand Minthorn
Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation
Member, Board of Trustees
Statement, 1996
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