09/22/2004
The Oregon Court of Appeals has rejected a legal challenge that would have
immediately halted the destruction of chemical munitions at the Umatilla Chemical
Depot. A three-judge panel said this week they saw no evidence that emissions
from the depot, which began destroying chemical-tipped rockets this month,
would harm pregnant women, breast-feeding infants and children, as a group
opposed to incineration contended in a lawsuit. The anti-incineration group GASP asked the court for an injunction to
halt work at the depot while their lawsuit is pending; the judges denied that
request. In their ruling, the judges also said they expected the lawsuit to eventually
fail. GASP is seeking to stop incineration and replace it with the alternative
of chemical neutralization, a newer technology which the group says is safer.
"We're pleased that agent operations can continue," said Dennis Murphey,
program administrator for the chemical demilitarization program for the Oregon
Department of Environmental Quality, one of the respondents to the lawsuit.
GASP attorney Stuart Sugarman said he is still discussing with his clients
what options they have left to stop incineration, which they contend will
cause brain damage in sensitive populations living near the depot. State and
federal regulators for air quality deny that claim. The Umatilla depot stores Cold War weapons containing more than 3,000 tons
of nerve and mustard agents, or about 11 percent of the nation's chemical-weapons
stockpile. After years of delays in testing, the Army began destroying the munitions
on Sept. 7, but stopped a week later after workers violated a safety rule
by walking into a contaminated area without appropriate protective suits.
The Army resumed operations on Sept. 20.