From Bend.com news sources Posted: Monday, August 9, 2004 4:18 PM Reference Code: PR-17244 August 9 - The EQC is a five-member citizen panel appointed by the governor to serve as policy and rule-making board for the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ). The commission holds regular meetings throughout the state to adopt rules, establish policies, issue orders and decide appeals of fines or other department actions. DEQ staff will present agency recommendations on the start of chemical agent incineration operations at UMCDF. The presentation will include a review of DEQ’s compliance assessment of the facility, public comments received, and other pertinent information regarding the program. The commission will then vote on whether to approve the start of chemical agent incineration. An informal public discussion session will follow the vote to allow an opportunity for the public to interact with the commission. The complete agenda and staff report for this meeting can be found at: http://www.deq.state.or.us/abo For more information or to learn more about the Oregon Environmental Quality Commission, commission members and their meetings, please visit the DEQ Web site at: http://www.deq.state.or.us/abo The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) has modified the Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal Facility (UMCDF) Hazardous Waste Storage and Treatment Permit to incorporate conditions for employee whistleblower protections at the Hermiston-based facility. On July 26, Multnomah County Circuit Judge Michael H. Marcus directed DEQ to add the protections to the permit. The Oregon Environmental Quality Commission is scheduled to vote Aug. 13 on whether to allow incineration of chemical agent at the UMCDF to start later this summer. The new permit conditions require UMCDF to have a program in place to prominently advise workers of their obligation to report good-faith concerns regarding the safety of workers, the public, or the environment as well as related noncompliance with permit and regulatory requirements, and to convey such concerns to the DEQ if those concerns are not otherwise sufficiently resolved. The permittees (the U.S. Army’s Program Manager for Elimination of Chemical Weapons and the Washington Demilitarization Company and its contractors) must provide an annual certification that the identified program is still in place and that all training has been kept current. The permittees will also be required to assure all workers they will not be disadvantaged in any way by communicating such concerns in good faith. The training program is outlined in a permit modification request submitted by the permittees and currently under consideration by DEQ. For more information or to obtain a copy of the permit modification request, contact Shelly Ingram, Umatilla Chemical Demilitarization Program, Hermiston, at (541) 567-8297, ext. 25. |