SALT LAKE CITY: MARCH 27, 1996 -- Formerly confidential documents made public as part of
the whistleblower protection trial of Steven Jones, former safety manager at the U.S. Army's
Tooele, Utah chemical weapons incinerator, reveal that as recently as last fall, the Army and its
contractor found environmental and safety problems identical to those Jones reported before he
was fired in September 1994. The documents admitted to the public record over the strong
objections of EG&G, the company that manages the Tooele facility for the Army, include
Operational Readiness Evaluation (OREs) and a plant Pre-Operational Survey.

Ongoing problems at the facility as of late October, 1995, included:

• absence of an approved Emergency Response Plan, a deficiency that was still not corrected as of October 31, 1995;

• failure to analyze the impact of a catastrophic accident, called a Maximum Critical Event (MCE). A report notes that MCEs "must" be available to support daily emergency planning since they are "essential to rapid accident assessment" and delivery of information "to potentially threatened communities.";

• faulty air circulation systems in the medical unit which could pump agent from a contaminated worker into the rest of the facility;

• the hazard analyses for the chemical deactivation furnace was still not complete;

• portions of the hazard analysis "seem to be missing" for the liquid incinerator.

These items had all been rated Category I, the highest possible level of risk. Other serious
problems at the facility, which were still not addressed well after Jones' firing:

• "Hazard analyses continue not to support actual hazards found & identify hazards that are not found," Category I issues that EG&G reports were not completed until mid-February, 1995;

• Forklifts used to move trays of rockets loaded with chemical agent were overloaded and not used safely.

Jones completed his testimony based on these and other documents on Wednesday, and began
responding to questions from EG&G's attorney. Jones claims he was fired after reporting serious
environmental, health, and safety problems at the Tooele facility, the first of 8 chemical weapons
incinerators the Army plans to construct on the U.S. mainland. He is represented by lawyers from
the non-profit Government Accountability Project, a whistleblower protection organization, and
John Preston Creer, a prominent Utah attorney. The trial is expected to continue through this
Friday. Jones is seeking restoration of his job and monetary damages for illegal termination.

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Copies of the recent Tooele incineration inspection reports are available on request.

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