By Karen Hutchinson-Talaski
Staff writer

HERMISTON — Chemical weapons incineration has been delayed until late spring or early summer of 2004, according to Don Barclay, site project manager for the Umatilla Military Chemical Demilitarization Facility.

Barclay told the Citizen's Advisory Commission it is projected that all agent preparatory work will be done by February or March of 2004. Pending approval from the state of Oregon and the Army, the startup for chemical weapon incineration should be started in late spring or early summer of 2004.

The reasons for the delay are due to performance issues regarding the metal incinerator, emissions issues (a public hearing will be held tonight at 7 for a permit modification to requesting changing the point of stack emissions compliance from "before entering" to "after existing" this filtration system), and material feed issues.

Barclay said that tasks took longer than anticipated because performance and safety are of paramount importance to the Army and Washington Group, the company building the incineration plant.

"We don't want dates to drive the project," Barclay said, "Safety and performance are what
drives the project."

Barclay said there are no energetics (propellants) in the bombs or mines stored at the Umatilla Chemical Depot. Only rockets have propellants. However, there are stabilizers added to help control degradation of the propellant.

"We are mostly concerned with bulk propellants," Barclay said, "The smaller rockets are less of an issue than with larger rockets. Keeping the rockets cooler helps."
CAC Chairman Bob Flournoy asked Barclay if it is possible for the weapons to detonate if dropped or bumped in the process of transporting them to the incinerator. Barclay assured the commission that studies show the weapons are safe, that they are not volatile.

"The munitions have gone through extensive testing," Barclay said, "They are not suspectible
to exploding (without a detonator)."

The Umatilla Chemical Depot passed inspection as Chemical Weapons Convention treaty inspectors completed a routine inspection of the depot two weeks ago.

According to Lt. Col. David Holliday, the inspectors found all the chemical weapons where they were supposed to be.

"It was a successful inspection," Holliday said.

More than 150 countries are part of the Chemical Weapons Convention based in the Hague in the Netherlands. Teams from all over the world go out to inspect chemical depots once a year to verify the number of chemical weapons stored and that the weapons are where the depots say they should be located. The teams are escorted by Defense Threat Reduction Agency, which is part of the Department of Defense.

Morrow County Commissioner Ray Grace told the CAC that money is a big concern to local governments.

"Budget concerns are at the top of the list," Grace said, "The lifetime cost estimate of $5.6 million for 2004 is causing a problem."

The needs of the Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program (CSEPP) are in excess of $12 million, says Grace. Apparently, according to Grace, the Federal Emergency Management assured President George W. Bush and Congress in 2001 that CSEPP would only need $5.6 million to fund the projects needed to keep Morrow and Umatilla counties safe.

FEMA is working to get the money and may be able to to get $9 million instead of the $5.6 million budgeted. FEMA is asking the counties to prioritize the budget items to help with the funding problem. However, Grace said, the cuts would have to be done by FEMA, as the counties are unwilling to make any cuts to the proposed projects.
Safety continues to be a concern for workers at the incineration plant, as well. Jim O'Conner, the attorney representing the Demilitarization Trades Council, the union representing incineration plant workers, reiterated the union's position about safety and the need for a ‘real' safety committee at the plant.

Several workers attended the Thursday night meeting to explain their position on safety.
Rod Osgood, a 37-year resident of Hermiston, told the CAC he took a pay cut of $3 to work in the operations section of the plant.

"I believe in what they are doing," Osgood said, "The communities' line of defense is us. If we're safe, the community is safe."

Osgood and the other workers in attendance wish for their safety ideas to be taken seriously.
They feel SMART (Safety Management and Recognition Team) doesn't completely address their concerns.

"The SMART is made up of everyone who works at the plant," Robert Strong, a SMART member, said, "The difficulty is people are too diverse; it includes people who are secretaries, data entry clerks, etc. They are not qualified to discuss a problem that happens inside the fence (inside the plant itself)."

Strong would like a safety team made up of production workers so that production workers' concerns about safety will be met.

Rick Kelley, protocol and public affairs manager for Washington Group, says that Washington Group wants workers to go home as safe as when they came to work. He indicated he would like the SMART to attend a CAC meeting to talk about safety issues and how the SMART works.

The CAC accepted Kelley's offer and added that they would like to focus on all aspects of safety, not just the SMART.

"I want a more balanced approach to safety," Chris Brown, Oregon Emergency Management State CSEPP Manager said.

Flournoy reassured the union that any safety factor that affects the worker is important to the committee. To that end, the chairman invited all the safety groups at the plant to attend the next regularly scheduled meeting.

The next CAC meeting is scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 20 at 7 p.m. at Good Shepherd Community Hospital, Conference Room 1. The public is invited to attend.