RECENTLY-FIRED GENERAL MANAGER SAYS TOOELE CHEM. WEAPONS INCINERATOR SAFETY RISKS "HAVE BEEN, AND WILL INCREASINGLY BECOME UNACCEPTABLE"; SEES DANGERS SIMILAR TO THREE MILE ISLAND & CHALLENGER ACCIDENTS

The former General Manager of the U.S. Army's Tooele Utah chemical weapons
incinerator (TOCDF) has written to the head of the company which operates that facility
claiming that the "The safety risks at TOCDF have been, and will increasingly become
unacceptable." In an eleven-page, letter to EG&G President Fred Parks, Gary M. Millar
says he was fired earlier this fall "because of what I said and did to improve safety
conditions and lower the risk."

Millar's letter concludes, "I strongly believe that the TOCDF operation poses a high risk
potential to both employees and the public," and says that "current EG&G management
actions are typical of the senior management at Three Mile Island before their nuclear
incident or at NASA before the Challenger accident."

The controversial Tooele incinerator, the first of eight planned by the Army to destroy the
nation's chemical weapons stockpile, began a "test burn" this past summer. It has already
had to stop operations on several occasions because of "incidents" involving the escape of
liquid and gaseous toxic agent from the furnace area.

Mick Harrison, an attorney representing the Chemical Weapons Working Group, Sierra
Club, and Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation, who are in the process of challenging
the permit for this facility said, "This disturbing new memorandum from the fired manager
of the CW incinerator completely corroborates our evidence including the testimony of fired
safety manager Steve Jones that this facility is a time bomb- a disaster waiting to happen.
There is simply no excuse, under the law, to allow this facility to continue to operate."

Salt Lake City activist, and mother, Lisa Puchner said, "I feel abused by the system, which
continues to burn chemical warfare agents, knowing these risks exist. How can we trust
the people in charge of this program when they continually put our safety last on their
agendas?"

Craig Williams, national spokesperson for the Chemical Weapons Working Group, the
citizen coalition which has led the campaign against the Army's incineration technology and
supported alternative destruction technologies, said, "Mr. Millar's courageous revelations
confirm precisely what grassroots activists, independent experts, and internal
whistleblowers have charged: that profits, image, schedules, and keeping the customer (the
Army) happy are the number one priorities at this facility, and that safety and protection of
public health continues to be ignored and sacrificed by those in charge of this program "
Millar's allegations echo those of former Tooele Chief Safety Officer Steve Jones whose
claim of illegal termination is currently under consideration by a U.S. Department of Labor
Administration Law judge.

Among the other charges in Millar's letter:

• "The safety risks at TOCDF have been, and will increasingly become unacceptable. This is documented by the thousands of environmental, safety, quality and operational deficiencies which occurred over the past year and continue to be generated at an unacceptable rate."

• "several thousand deficiencies were reduced to a marginally acceptable level of about 300 to allow us to operate on August 22, 1996 even though numerous deficiency work arounds had to be put in place which increase risk. The continuing data also clearly show EG&G is almost incapable of reducing the level of open deficiencies below this 300 level."

• "There are more deficiency work-arounds in place everyday than should exist in a high risk business like TOCDF. The risk potential remains high daily, but this is the comfort of the current EG&G senior and mid- level managers and is not likely to be improved . . . I strongly believe that this accepted EG&G management attitude puts the employees and the public at undue risk."

• "the safety deficiencies continue to grow when they should be declining rapidly."

• "Enough of the temporary or less than complete work arounds will eventually line up to trigger a high risk event."

• "I feel that I have presented enough information to demonstrate why I strongly believe that EG&G is operating the TOCDF under a management culture, a "mindset", that presents high risk to the employees, the public and the stockholders.

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