LOCAL
Friday,
April 16, 2004
Depot officials
appeal fines
By AMYJO BROWN
of the East Oregonian
ajbrown@eastoregonian.com
HERMISTON — Umatilla Chemical
Depot officials are appealing $63,600 in fines levied by the state.
The penalties — two $15,000 fines in February and two $16,800 fines
in March — were imposed by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality
on officials at both the U.S. Army and the Washington Demilitarization Company
for mishandlings of hazardous waste materials.
Both deny that the violations were serious enough to warrant the
stiff fines. Instead, they say depot personnel acted in each instance with
the DEQ’s blessing.
“It is basically a difference of opinion. We thought we were permitted
to make a temporary modification,” said Mary Binder, spokesperson for the
U.S. Army.
In those instances, the depot received DEQ notices of noncompliance
for rerouting piping used to handle trial burn waste.
“It may be that there are some assumptions being made on both sides,”
said Rick Kelley, spokesman for the Washington Demilitarization Company,
the contractor which built and operates the incineration plant on the depot.
In March, the DEQ levied penalties on depot personnel for disabling
important safety equipment for four days during testing of flue gas emissions.
The DEQ charged that depot officials continued to operate for two
days without the equipment even after becoming aware that they were out of
compliance.
Kelley said then that DEQ officials were on-site at the time and
permitted testing to continue despite the problem.
Dennis Murphey, DEQ’s administrator of the Chemical Demilitarization
Program said the parties just don’t agree.
“The regulations are very complex and it’s a complex facility,” Murphey
said. “Sometimes there will be differences in interpretations (of the regulations).”
Depot officials have requested an informal meeting with the DEQ in
May to discuss the fines and a compromise.
If one isn’t reached, a formal hearing on whether the fines must
be paid will be held.