Hermiston Herald
Oct. 25, 2002:

Depot plaintiffs' experts allowed to testify

By Frank Lockwood
Staff writer

HERMISTON - G.A.S.P., Sierra Club, Oregon Wildlife Federation, and 22
individuals have sued to have the permit revoked for Umatilla Chemical Agent
Disposal Facility.

Washington Demilitarization had filed with the court asking that all but one
of the environmentalists' expert witnesses be disqualified and that the
administrative record should be closed August 2000. Multnomah Judge Stanley
Marcus ruled that the administrative record will be closed for the
proceeding the when the trial ends, not before, said G.A.S.P. member Karyn
Jones said. The time frame during which evidence is allowed is important to
both sides, because it is possible new issues or new revelations arose after
the permit was already granted.

On October 22, the actual trial had yet to begin, but Jones said she was
excited because Multnomah Judge Stanley Marcus had turned down Washington
Demilitarization Company's motion to exclude the environmentalists' experts'
from testifying.

"Judge Marcus ruled that all of our expert witnesses are allowed. Judge
Marcus also ruled that the administrative record will be closed for this
proceeding the when the trial ends not before," Jones said. "This is
extremely significant and an enormous victory for GASP."

The Army and it's contractors had intervened for the Environmental Quality
Commission and the Department of Environmental Quality, asking the court to
prohibit four of the petitioners' five experts from giving testimony
regarding their belief that incineration of chemical weapons endangers human
health or the environment.

Paraphrased briefly, WDC had argued that the witnesses were not bonafide
experts in the areas that were applicable did not have the technical
expertise to assess the DEQ's decisions which led up to them permitting
UMCDF, had neither the necessary facts nor the technical background, and
lacked the necessary "knowledge, skill, experience, training, or education."

They also argued that the experts should not testify because of their belief
that the only acceptable risk was zero risk, an impossible standard to meet.
"They have no factual basis for their opinions," WDC argued.

Once Marcus had rejected WDC's request to eliminate their witnesses, the
petitioners put on a media blitz which included three Oct. 22 press
releases, by G.A.S.P., Sierra Club, and Chemical Weapons Working Group, and
a Portland press conference featuring guest speakers, including Bob Palzer
of Sierra Club, Rhett Lawrence of Oregon State Public Interest Research
Group (OSPIRG), Gary Harris, who is the whistle-bowing former chief of
Environmental Compliance at the Utah chemical weapons incinerator, Catherine
Thomasson from Physicians for Social Responsibility, and G.A.S.P.
representative Joe Troxel.

The above groups opposing incineration called upon the DEQ to immediately
halt incineration at Umatilla and revoke the U.S. Army's incineration permit
and replace it with technologies which they claim are safer, faster, and
less costly.

"The problems we've seen at Umatilla over the last few months are consistent
with what's happening all around the country," OSPIRG'S Rhett Lawrence said,
noting that the Umatilla Facility had been shut down for several weeks since
the Army revealed that mini burns released the carcinogens mercury,
chromium, arsenic, and other heavy metals to the environment. For several
weeks, Army experts have been trying to find out why the incinerator's
emissions contained higher than allowed levels of five metals during its
test period, and to correct the problem.

Bob Palzer, a retired chemistry professor and one of Sierra Club's experts
called the incineration program "one big experiment being conducted with
blatant disregard for the health and safety of the workers and for citizens
in nearby communities," and "a frightening preview of what is to come should
the Army be allowed to actually burn chemical warfare agents at Umatilla.

The trial, which was to begin the next day, Wednesday, Oct. 23, would be
"the first opportunity for the citizens to correct the spin of the DEQ and
the Army on what actually is in the record," Palzer said.

The lawsuit alleges violations of mandatory duties by DEQ under Oregon
statutes, fraud by the Army and its contractor during the permit application
process, and other issues that led to an allegedly illegal issuance o the
permit to allow construction and operation of the Umatilla plant. The
defendants are the DEQ and the Oregon Environmental Quality Commission. The
Army and the Washington Demilitarization Group have intervened in the case.

The trial began on Wednesday, the day following Sierra Club's press release
and the press conference. It was expected that the witnesses for the
environmentalists would present their case first, then the state would
respond, depot spokesman Jim Hackett said Thursday.