Associated Press
02/27/2003

Chemical depot fined for hazardous waste violation

UMATILLA, Ore. (AP) - The Umatilla Chemical Depot and its contractor have been fined more than $11,000 by state regulators after a depot employee left the grounds with a sample of a diluted chemical weapon in his pocket.

The Army depot stores nearly 4,000 tons of chemical weapons - including sarin, VX and mustard agent - in concrete bunkers at its facility in remote northeastern Oregon.

The depot was fined more than $4,000, while its contractor, Washington Demilitarization Co., and the depot's project manager were each fined $3,600.

The worker left his shift at the depot two hours early last August because he had a headache, but he still had the tiny vial of sarin in his pocket, officials said.

The vial of diluted sarin, also known as "GB,'' was returned unharmed and no one was injured, but the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality said Thursday that the potential for danger was high.

"Although the worker returned the vial without injury or exposure, GB is a nerve agent that can cause severe injury or death,'' the agency said in a prepared statement announcing the fine.

The vial was no bigger than the width of a quarter and contained highly diluted agent that was "almost at drinking water standards,'' said Mary Binder, depot spokeswoman.

The liquid in the vial was used to test the air monitoring system for possible leaks, she said.

"We take these things seriously and as we've said from the very beginning, this is an incident that should not have happened,'' she said. "Safety and security are our top priorities.''

Binder would not say if the worker had been fired.

The Army recently completed construction on a massive incinerator to destroy the chemical weapons under an international treaty.