Former Weapons Monitor Says He Was Fired Over Safety Concerns
Posted: 7:10 AM Nov 28, 2007
Last Updated: 7:10 AM Nov 28, 2007

By JEFFREY McMURRAY
Associated Press Writer

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- A former chemical weapons monitoring operator at Blue Grass Army Depot testified Tuesday that he was fired for raising concerns about safety problems with igloos that house deadly chemical agents.

Donald Van Winkle, seeking compensation from the Army for the loss of his job at the depot in Richmond, is suing under a federal law that protects whistle-blowers from retaliation.

U.S. Administrative Law Judge Thomas Phalen will determine whether the Army retaliated against Van Winkle and whether he is entitled to monetary damages.

Kevin Bennett, an attorney for the Army, said Van Winkle was disciplined for cause, not because he was a whistle-blower.

"To the extent any hostile environment existed, it existed only in his head," Bennett said. "Management bent over backward for this employee."

Allegations by Van Winkle and other current and former workers at the depot have sparked numerous investigations, including a criminal examination by a grand jury, concerning the storage of deadly agents that are to be destroyed to comply with an international treaty.

Van Winkle testified the air monitoring system used to detect a deadly nerve agent in the igloos couldn't definitively determine it wasn't there. He raised the issue first with superiors, he said, who brushed off his concerns about the safety of workers and the community.

"At Blue Grass, you're kind of given the impression if you're not gagging or kicking or screaming or crying for some specific reason ... if you're not having these acute symptoms, you must not have agent," Van Winkle said.

Van Winkle said he first became aware of the safety issues when he attended a chemical monitoring class with several co-workers. When he told the instructor about the way the Richmond depot checks for agent - with a monitor outside the igloo connected to a tube - the instructor said that was no way to get an accurate reading.

"I was stunned," Van Winkle said. "I really didn't know how to respond to it."

He told management and, dissatisfied with the response, reported the matter to the U.S. Department of Defense and Kentucky Department of Environmental Protection. Both investigated.

Last month, the state agency determined violations likely occurred at the depot, and the state's congressional delegation has written a letter raising concerns about the disposal process.

Van Winkle's attorney, Paula Dinerstein, said her client's complaints have provided a major public service and that his discipline was a clear case of retaliation from embarrassed superiors.

"He was vilified, mocked and shunned by managers," said Dinerstein, senior counsel for the Washington-based watchdog Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. "New employees were told to stay away from him - he was a trouble maker."

The hearing, being held in a courtroom at the University of Kentucky law school, will continue Wednesday and possibly Thursday. At least nine other current or former workers at the depot were expected to testify.