STATEMENT FROM J.R. WILKINSON
G.A.S.P.
PENDLETON, OREGON
Tuesday, April 20, 2004
G.A.S.P. filed suit in 1997 in response to the Oregon DEQ/EQC permitting
of chemical weapons incinerators at the Umatilla Chemical Depot. We
believe alternative technologies can do the job of chemical weapons destruction
more safely and effectively than incinerators. One issue we raised
in our lawsuit was monitoring--that is the reason we are participating in
this press conference.
You can visit www.gaspinfo.org for more information on our suit and specifically
look at the links page for G.A.S.P. v. EQC. On that page are numerous
links to pdf documents including the December 1998 request for a contested
case, which provides a good overview of the Oregon-G.A.S.P. issues.
In court, last August we heard from Mr. Thomas Cramer, a monitoring technician
with the Army's CAMDS plant, a testing facility for chemical weapons destruction
in Utah. Mr. Cramer testified to the many inadequacies and problems
with stack monitoring at the Utah chemical weapons incinerator. Because Mr.
Cramer was threatened by the Army's attorney during the trial, G.A.S.P. filed
a motion for sanctions against the attorney and although Judge Marcus did
not support the motion for sanctions, in his decision he clearly pointed
to concerns with the Army's monitoring technology and procedures and the
State's regulatory oversight of the program.
We believe the State of Oregon has been remiss in its duties to provide maximum
protection to Oregonians. Inadequate monitoring highlights our concerns.
We support all Congressional efforts to install advanced monitors at
chemical weapons destruction facilities and we hope the State will shift
their support for monitors at the Umatilla incinerator that would more fully
protect Oregon citizens and workers.