East Oregonian
May 3, 2002

Incineration critics cite Tooele worker's claims

HERMISTON -- Critics of the Army's incineration plans who live near the Umatilla Chemical Depot say complaints made public this week regarding an incinerator in Utah show the Amy remains committed to maintaining its schedule rather than ensuring the safety of workers and communities.

Karyn Jones of Hermiston, a spokesperson for the local anti-incineration group GASP, noted that an eight-year employee at the Tooele. Utah, incinerator made public Thursday a list of health and safety concerns at the facility. In a letter dated Feb. 17 to the Tooele plant manager, Brenda Mugleston wrote: I am concerned that management has placed production over safety, which continues to result in workers being exposed to unnecessary dangers Mugleston also charged that management discourages employees from reporting safety violations and injuries.

In March, the Tooele Chemical Agent Disposal Facility completed incineration of its entire stockpile of nerve agent GB, also known as Sarin, which accounts for more chemical agent than all the munitions stored at the Umatilla Chemical Depot,

That was done without serious injury or danger to the public, the Army noted. The Tooele incineration plaint is now gearing up to destroy the VX nerve agent stored there.

The Umatilla Clemical Depot stores about 12 percent of the nation's chemical warfare agents, including GB and VX nerve agent and mustard blister agent,

Mugleston, a brine reduction and residue handling employee, claimed Tooele management has failed to ensure compliance with safety procedures and has inadequately tracked waste and munitions, and that the facility has repeatedly released agent and other toxic chemicals into the environment

"These are the nightmares that should be of concern to our community, but our local leaders are still in a rush to put us in harm's way," said Debbie Burns, a GASP board member.

The Tooele incinerator was forced to shut down for several months in the summer of 2000 after a tiny amount of GB nerve agent escaped from its emissions stack.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the amount was small enough that it did not endanger the public. Plant manners say it is the only time nerve agent was released.

The Army wants to begin test burns at the Umatilla incineration complex at the end of the month and actual incineration early in 2003, although the state Department of Environmental Quality said Wednesday the Army still has to meet several requirements to do so. A "compliance assessment" of the Depot's Hazardous Waste Storage and Treatment Permit must be completed first, and the Army said it will meet the deadline.

In addition, Gov. John Kitzhaber has to approve the region's emergency preparedness plans before test burns and incineration can begin. The governor formed an Executive Review Panel to evaluate community emergency readiness and recommend whether incineration should be allowed to begin.

"The Emergency Review Panel is ready to rubber stamp approval for adequate, not maximum, emergency preparedness," Burns said. "The information provided by Ms. Mugleston provides further evidence of the Army's willingness to ignore management and engineering failures."

GASP contends that "if our facility is operated like Utah's then we are not prepared for human error."

Hermiston-based GASP describes itself as a non-profit grassroots organization. It has joined two environmental groups in suing the state Environmental Quality Commission over incineration Plans at Umatilla. A recent court ruling cleared the way for a trial this October regarding the permitting process for the incinerator. GASP has a Web page at www.gaspinfo.org