Construction workers' suit goes to trial

GILLIAN FLACCUS; The Associated Press

PORTLAND - More than four years ago, three dozen construction workers building a massive incinerator at the Umatilla Chemical Depot staggered from the building's shell, gasping for breath, coughing and vomiting.

The workers - many of whom still suffer from symptoms they developed that day - sued the U.S. Army, alleging that they were poisoned by sarin gas leaking from the aging chemical weapons stored at the site in rural northeastern Oregon.

A nonjury trial begins today in federal court in Portland before U.S. District Judge Dennis Hubel. The incinerator, now complete, will be used to destroy the weapons starting in spring 2004.

An extensive investigation by the Army, which owns the depot, and federal regulators never determined the cause of the 1999 accident. Possibilities listed by investigators included pepper spray, ammonia or fumes from the welding, grinding and other construction activity in the building that day.

The workers allege that the Army should have known they were at risk for chemical exposure and provided them with protective gear, such as gas masks and atropine injections, which counteract the effects of sarin.

They also say the Army didn't react quickly enough to the medical emergency, thereby increasing the workers' chemical exposure and worsening its long-term effects.

Mary Binder, spokeswoman for the Army, said she could not comment on the trial.

In its first phase, which is expected to take about two weeks, the plaintiffs must establish that the Army's alleged negligence and tardy response made things worse for the workers. A second phase would determine damages.

Pretrial filings indicate that at least six of the construction workers will testify, as well as doctors who treated them at Good Shepherd Hospital in Hermiston and employees of Raytheon, the Army contractor responsible for building the incinerator.

Raytheon - now known as the Washington Demilitarization Group - had been named as a defendant, but reached an undisclosed settlement this year.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs might also call two witnesses who will testify that they discovered piles of dead animals around the depot on several occasions before the Sept. 15 incident.

In two cases, a ranch hand found groups of dead cows lying on their backs with blood and mucous coming out of their noses and mouths, according to the documents. Another potential witness came upon piles of dead animals on the depot's now-abandoned bombing range, the documents state.

Binder said she had never heard of anyone finding dead cows near the depot. She said Army workers sometimes find dead rabbits, pronghorns or birds on the depot property - but never in huge piles.

"It's 20,000 acres and there's wildlife out there on the depot," she said. "It's not uncommon for us to see dead animals."

Pretrial filings indicate the Army will call as its witnesses employees who will testify that no weapons leaked on Sept. 15; doctors and nurses from Good Shepherd who will testify that the workers did not show signs of sarin exposure; and Army doctors and employees of Raytheon.

The $400 million incinerator was completed in August 2001. The Army plans to begin burning its weapons early next year under an international treaty. The Umatilla depot stores nearly 4,000 tons - or 12 percent of the nation's stockpile - of mustard, sarin and VX nerve agent.