CHEMICAL WEAPONS CASE COULD GO TO THE SUPREME COURT

Published: August 26, 2005

By Karen Hutchinson-Talaski
Staff writer

HERMISTON - GASP has won another round in their fight to force the U.S. Army to use alternative technology to destroy chemical weapons at the Umatilla Chemical Depot.

According to Karyn Jones, organizer for the group, yesterday the Oregon State Supreme Court declined to hear the Army's request for a hearing regarding what is being called GASP I.

"This has been a long time coming," Jones said. "We only filed this 10 years ago."

In March of this year, the Oregon State Court of Appeals ruled that GASP would be able to present evidence in the suit GASP filed against the Oregon Environmental Quality Commission, the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality and the United States Army in 1997.

The suit was filed to revoke the permit the EQC issued to the Army to begin incineration of the chemical weapons stored at the Umatilla Chemical Depot.

The original ruling against the group from Multnomah County Judge Michael Marcus denied GASP the opportunity to provide evidence that was not available at the EQC at the time of their ruling, the Appellate Court opinion said.

"It is also clear that that error prejudiced petitioners," the court wrote. "If nothing else, as a result of the circuit court's action, petitioners did not have the opportunity directly to challenge the evidence on which EQC said that it relied in making its decision."

Jones says the Army and the State of Oregon have only two recourses at this point: file an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court or begin the process to use alternative technology at the Umatilla site.

"Our lawyers are confident that the Supreme Court will rule in our favor," Jones said.