for more information:
Craig Williams (859) 986-7565
Jason Groenewold (801 364-5110
for immediate release: December 15 , 2001
A Settlement Agreement terminating the employment the Army's Utah chemical weapons incinerator chief safety officer, Steve Jones, states that the hand writing expert hired by the Army contractor confirmed memo's released last year by the Chemical Weapons Working Group (CWWG) were written by Jones, a claim he and the plants operating contractor, EG&G, adamantly denied at the time.
The Agreement reads, "Jones denies that he authored the 'Cougar Documents'. Nevertheless, EG&G has received a handwriting analysis by an expert which concludes that those documents contain Jones's handwriting, and EG&G now contends that is has grounds for terminating Jones's employment for cause."
CWWG Spokesperson, Craig Williams says the Agreement proves their claim that the documents were indeed written by a high ranking plant employee [Jones] and shows that at the very same time Jones and EG&G were accusing the CWWG of "fabricating" the memo's it was they who were lying to the public. "EG&G publicly accused us of "lies and fabrications" while Jones accused us of forging his signature. Now we see once again it is the contractor covering things up while we attempted to get the facts out to the public."
Jason Groenewold, director of the Utah based Families Against Incinerator Risk (FAIR) said, "This shows the contractor was misrepresenting the safety of the plant to the Utah Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) and the press while conveniently withholding the results of their internal investigation of the matter from the public - this is typical."
According to Williams, the buck stops at the Army Office of
the Program Manager for Chemical Demilitarization (PMCD), the
agency for whom EG&G works and who has ultimate responsibility
for safety at the plant. "The fact is that the information,
which we now know to be authentic, shows the conditions at the
Tooele incinerator were as bad or worse when Jones returned in
1999 as they were when he was fired for raising safety issues
in 1994. It's the same old cover-up mentality - and it continues
to this day. The only change at TOCDF over the years have been
more sophisticated methods developed by PMCD to hide the truth,"
he said
Jones's memos and documents indicate a consistent priority on
public relations and denial of problems that Williams claims have
been shown repeatedly to be PMCD's style. "Even with our
limited resources and access to information we have caught the
Army and their contractors repeatedly misleading Congress, the
press and the American people," said Williams. "The
question is who will force this program to be accountable? Apparently
not any Utah regulators as they seem to allow almost anything
as long as it keeps the facility operating. Meanwhile the Utah
CAC consistently engages in condescending and combative behavior
towards citizens who raise safety issues while doing nothing to
hold the Army accountable. They're completely prejudice and a
rubber stamp for the incinerator."
Three months after Jones told the CAC that agent "can't
get out the stack". the facility was shut down for just such
a release. "Where's the oversight?" asked Williams.
The Jones memo's, now proven to be authentic, revealed;
* PMCD threats to fire employee that "didn't testify 'correctly'
during the trial" on safety concerns;
* Agent detection methods purposefully 'rigged' so real agent
releases could be denied;
* Utah regulators approving unsafe permit modifications under
Army duress;
* Agent exposures to workers;
* Rigged trial burns to misrepresent the incinerators technical
capability, and much more.
"Will the CAC or the State investigate these problems? I
doubt it,'" said Groenewold
When released, EG&G accused the CWWG of moving to a "mean
battle of outright lies".
"These are serious allegations around serious issues - but once again we discover who was lying and who was working in the best interests of the citizens of Utah," Groenewold said.
Copies of the Settlement Agreement are available from the CWWG office upon request.
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