Hermiston Herald
August 20, 2002

Assistant defense secretary says safety top priority

By Frank Lockwood
Staff writer

HERMISTON - The Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear, Chemical, and
Biological Defense Programs met with local government officials last Tuesday
(Aug. 20, 2002) and answered questions about chemical weapons
demilitarization.

Dr. Dale Klein, who was appointed to his position by President Bush, spoke
at the PMCD Outreach office, which was packed with county commissioners,
mayors, and community leaders such as engineer Fred Ziari and Umatilla
Electric Cooperative's manger, Steve Eldrige, and others. Klein, whose
background is largely in the nuclear business, has oversight of all three
types of stockpiles, biological, chemical, and nuclear, but noted that he
was here to check up on progress with Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal
Facility.

This was the second facility visited during his present tour, he said, and
he was "really impressed" in Monday's visit to UMCDF. He was well impressed
both with the layout, and with the people he met there, he said.

"Ever and always, our number one issue is safety," he said. "The U.S. is
committed to destroying the chemical weapons in a safe, secure and
environmentally sound manner." He said he expected the chemical
demilitarization program to be fully funded for the coming fiscal year.
Concerning issues with permits he said, "Any time you build a plant, whether
it is for cornflakes or for chemicals, you have to go through a process."

In response to a question about shipping waste off the site, he said, "That
will be a temporary situation." The depot will temporarily ship brine away
from the depot but, "This is a temporary situation just a more efficient
process."

Commissioners here have often expressed frustration that Alabama got certain
funds, supposedly by going outside the normal channels. Questioned about
that, Klein got a round of laughter when he said, "There are two things that
go through the meat grinder; that's sausage and us." But no projects funded
outside the normal funding process were expected to have an impact on
Umatilla, he said, and, "We don't want to have one site played off against
another site."

Local officials says they want to know that they will not be punished for
playing by the rules, while others are rewarded for going outside normal
channels. "We are very perceptive of what's happening at the other sites,"
Umatilla County Commissioner Dennis Doherty said.

Morrow County Judge Terry Tallman and Doherty raised the issue of funding to
create and implement evacuation plans. "Make sure you raise those concerns.
Find out what those issues are and we will try to address that in a
reasonable way," Klein said. Sometimes there may be differences of opinion,
but in such cases the DOD would try to explain the reasons well, he said.

Mark Bell of the Citizens Advisory Commission asked about restoration of the
project site once weapons are destroyed; Klein pointed out that permits
require that there be no residue. "That's a binding agreement," Klein said.

Questions were raised about Indian tribes' involvement with emergency plans.
"It's almost like a government to government relationship when you deal with
tribes. They are an interested party," Klein said. "A government to
government relations ship is different than a government to community
relationship." However, tribes would not have "undue influence" over
emergency plans here, he said.

"I have really been inspired by what I have seen of the Department of
Defense," Klein said. The government has been very supportive, and the
community has been very supportive.

His purpose in coming to Hermiston, he said, was to see where the workers
stand, to better understand the community issues and concerns, to talk with
plant managers and with workers and to ask them if they believe that they
are being trained well enough.

Klein remarked, "When I look at communities, I look at elected officials."
Those individuals are elected to represent the community, he said. He also
remarked that is was not likely the Army would make the changes that would
be needed in order to use alternatives to incineration at this site.

Frank Lockwood may be reached at (541) 567-6457, or by e-mail at the
address flockwood@hermistonherald.com.