East Oregonian, Thursday, October 24, 2002

Trial begins over incineration permit for Army Depot

PORTLAND (AP) - The state allowed the U.S. Army to build a chemical weapons
incinerator in Oregon even though it contained parts that didn't work and represents a
"deadly dangerous" way to dispose of the chemicals, attorneys for a coalition of
environmental and watchdog groups said Wednesday.

The statements came during opening arguments of a trial that centers on whether the state
Department of Environmental Quality was wrong to issue an incineration permit to the
Army at its Umatilla Chemical Depot in northeastern Oregon, near Hermiston.

The depot stores nearly 4,000 tons of the nerve agents sarin and GB, as well as chemical
mustard, in 89 concrete bunkers. The Army must destroy the stockpile under an
international treaty and has built a massive incinerator to do so.

The plaintiffs - the Sierra Club, the Oregon Wildlife Federation and a grassroots group
based in Hermiston called GASP - are asking Multnomah County Judge Michael
Marcus to revoke the Army's incineration permit.

It is the third legal action over the incineration permit brought by GASP in the past five
years. Marcus ruled against the plaintiffs in the first two cases; GASP is appealing both
decisions.

Wednesday, attorneys for the plaintiffs said the state issued the incineration permit despite
evidence that the Army withheld information about serious flaws at an identical facility in
Tooele, Utah. They also said that the safety equipment used in Utah - also in use at the
Oregon facility - didn't detect traces of toxic nerve gas leaking into the air.

"We advised the Oregon officials that they had to seriously consider that agent was
coming out of the stack (at Tooele)," said Richard Condit, an attorney for the plaintiffs.
"The systems the Army was relying on to trigger warnings were not adequate for the
job."

The state said Wednesday that the DEQ considered the plaintiffs' claims and still found incineration was the safest way to dispose of the chemical weapons.

The destruction of the weapons would be delayed indefinitely if the state revoked its permit, the state said. That means chemical agents could leak from the rusty weapons terrorists could target the facility, state attorneys said.

"What you have here is not an agency acting at the behest of the Army ... but an agency
who has been diligent to protect the health and safety of the people of Oregon," said
Steven Bushong, attorney for the state DEQ. "All of those issues were carefully
evaluated."

The environmental groups also want the state to consider alternative ways of getting rid of
the weapons, including neutralizing the toxic chemicals with warm water. The Army said
such technologies have only been approved for two smaller pilot projects and don't work
well on all chemicals.