Associated Press, October 22, 2002

October 22, 2002, Tuesday, BC cycle

SECTION: State and Regional

LENGTH: 776 words

HEADLINE: Plaintiffs: Army misrepresented incinerator to state

BYLINE: By GILLIAN FLACCUS, Associated Press Writer

DATELINE: PORTLAND, Ore.

BODY:
Attorneys for a coalition of groups opposed to the incineration of nearly
4,000 tons of chemical weapons in northeastern Oregon will argue in court
that the Army glossed over problems at other incineration facilities when
it applied to the state for an operating permit.

The opening arguments scheduled for Wednesday mark the start of a trial
that centers on the viability of a permit granted to the Army by the state
Department of Environmental Quality and the Environmental Quality
Commission in February 1997.

The permit allowed the Army and its military contractor, the Washington

Demilitarization Group, to begin construction on a massive incinerator
designed to destroy the mustard, sarin and VX stored in nearly 90 concrete
bunkers near Hermiston.

That incinerator is now completed; the Army expects to begin burning the
chemical weapons within a year. It must destroy the nerve agents by late
2007 under an international treaty, but has been granted a one-time,
five-year extension for its Umatilla facility. The plaintiffs in the
lawsuit - the Sierra Club, a Hermiston-based grassroots group called GASP,
the Oregon Wildlife Federation and about 20 private individuals - allege
the Army misrepresented the success of its incineration operations at
other facilities to the state.

They also say the state didn't adequately consider other methods of
destroying the chemicals, such as warm water neutralization, that the
plaintiffs say are safer, faster and less expensive.

They also contend that the state DEQ should have revoked its permit later
on, after problems with other incinerators on Johnston Atoll, off Hawaii,
and in Tooele, Utah.

The trial is the third legal action over the incineration permit brought
by the grassroots group GASP in the past five years. Multnomah County
Judge Michael Marcus ruled against the plaintiffs in the first two cases;
GASP is appealing both decisions in the state appeals court.

"It's almost like the Three Stooges operating a facility. They have not
been able to build a facility without problems, they have not been able to
do test burns (at the incinerator) without problems," said Dr. Bob Palzer
of the Sierra Club.

"At the time of the decision to go with incineration, it was already known
that neutralization was a proven method for destroying these chemicals,"
Palzer said. "We feel very strongly that once we have an opportunity to
present all the evidence (in court) we have a very strong likelihood of
prevailing."

The state did review alternative ways to destroy the chemicals, including
neutralization, but decided the method wasn't appropriate for Oregon
because its stockpile contains fully assembled chemical weapons as well as
nerve agents stored in bulk containers, said Wayne Thomas, DEQ project
manager.

Neutralization works best on bulk quantities of mustard, or blister gas,
he said.

"My staff and I are here, we work on this daily very closely and we set a
very high standard for the Army and their contractor," he said. "We're
confident that the facility is going to do what it's intended to do, which
is eliminate the stockpile and protect the public's safety."

Mary Binder, spokeswoman for the Army, added that neutralization is still
considered an experimental technology.

The Army is in the process of trying neutralization at two facilities, one
in Indiana and one in Maryland, that store much smaller quantities of
mustard gas and don't include pre-assembled weapons, she said.

"We know through many years of experience that incineration will work. We
have almost 30 years of experience with this," she said.

The plaintiffs also say the Army shouldn't be allowed to incinerate
because of problems with recent test burns at the Umatilla Chemical Depot.

During two "mini-burns" in August and September, the incinerator released
levels of metals that were above state limits, prompting the DEQ to shut
down operations.

The mini-burns test the incinerator's effectiveness using two types of
industrial solvents and 10 heavy metals that are added to the mix by
injection.

In the first test, five of the 10 metals were released in high quantities
after incineration. In the second test, two metals were still over the
limit, Binder said.

Thomas said that the Army has been working with the state to fix those
problems and had made several changes, including replacing certain
equipment. He said the state would likely allow the incinerator back up
within a month.

"We're looking at it piece by piece. Each component is being taken apart,
inspected and being put back together as we're getting closer to going
back online," Thomas said.