General Assures Nerve Gas Incinerator is Safe Jan. 20, 2004 John Hollenhorst Reporting A four-star general defended the safety of the Army's Nerve Gas incinerator in Tooele County today. But he was contradicted by someone way down the chain of command who says safety systems just don't work. General Paul J. Kern, U.S. Army Materiel Command: "Our mission is to safely eliminate chemical weapons." That mission has been underway for nearly a decade. The giant incinerator complex has now destroyed close to half the nerve agent stockpile in Utah. To protect workers, monitoring systems are supposed to set off alarms when they detect even low-level nerve agents. The visiting national commander of the program assured Tooele today that there's nothing to worry about. General Paul J. Kern, U.S. Army Materiel Command: "The monitoring system there does work; it gives us the response and it's a safe operation." But last week the local paper carried a letter-to-the-editor labeled "Safety Not a Priority." It was written by Tom Cramer. He works at the incinerator's nearby pilot plant, rebuilding the same nerve agent detectors the General was talking about. Cramer says the monitoring system is "a joke", "eyewash" to make employees feel protected from nerve agent leaks. Tom Cramer, Army Employee: "If they have a massive release, it probably will detect it. But low-levels, over a long period of time, I don't believe it can detect it. I don't believe the present monitoring is adequate to insure the safety of the people." General Paul J. Kern, U.S. Army Materiel Command: "I have not seen that particular letter. And if there is someone there who believes that, then we need to address their issues to make sure they understand that the systems do work." If the idea was to shake things up, the letter to the editor has had a bit of an impact. The army says Cramer will be invited to share his concerns with the citizens group that oversees army activities. Col. Peter Cooper, Deseret Chemical Depot: "I don't agree with everything he had in that article. matter of fact, I disagree with most of it. But I can't say there aren't some measures that we can learn from him and implement them." The Army brass say they're always looking for ways to improve safety. Cramer says he's called for improvements for years and no one listens. Cramer is expected to appear at the next meeting of the Citizens Advisory Commission on March 18th at Tooele City Hall.