Rachel's Democracy & Health News #903

April 19, 2007

From: Chemical Weapons Working Group ....................

OREGON INCINERATOR MAY NOT BE ALLOWED TO BURN MUSTARD WARFARE AGENT

[Rachel's introduction: A court decision in Oregon marks the first judicial recognition of potential public health impacts caused by incineration of chemical warfare agents and associated hazardous wastes. Another step forward for the precautionary approach.]

Portland, Oregon -- A Multnomah County Circuit Court in Oregon has thrown a precautionary monkey wrench into the U.S. Army's plans to burn the chemical warfare agent known as mustard, in an incinerator in Umatilla, Oregon.

The court ordered the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and Environmental Quality Commission (EQC) to examine the available alternatives for detoxifying the chemical weaponry and "determine that the facility will employ 'the best available technology' for disposal of the agents and munitions and will have 'no major adverse effect on e[p]ublic health and safety' or the [e] nvironment of adjacent lands.'"

Local citizens have been raising questions about the Army's incineration plan since at least 1998.

Karyn Jones, director of the local citizens' group, GASP, said, "Given that breast-fed infants in the U.S. on average already have an intake of dioxin some 50 times greater than the virtually safe dose set by the, EPA and the Agency for Toxic Substances, obviously incineration is not the way to go."

Attorney Mick Harrison, lead trial counsel for GASP, the Sierra Club, the Oregon Wildlife Federation and the other individual Petitioners, said, "this decision is a substantial victory for the concerned citizen and environmental groups. It effectively prohibits incineration of the mustard agent and dunnage waste streams at the facility until DEQ/EQC have thoroughly examined the question of the best technology and procedures for dealing with both the mercury contamination in the mustard agent and dioxin formation from incineration of the dunnage waste."

The decision marks the first judicial recognition of potential public health impacts caused by incineration of chemical weapons and associated hazardous wastes. Although Judge Michael Marcus did not revoke Umatilla's operating permit, since the facility has not yet started to treat the 5 million pounds of mustard stored there, he did find that the Army's plans to burn the mustard, recently found to have higher concentrations of mercury than earlier believed, must be reassessed before such operations can take place.

Citizen groups and individuals from the area have been battling the Army and state agencies for 10 years, claiming that incineration is not the best and most protective method of destroying the chemical weapons and advocating instead for a safer neutralization process.

"Incineration does not and cannot destroy mercury, but simply disperses mercury, a toxic and persistent poison, into the environment, " said Harrison. " In addition, incineration actually creates the ultra toxic chemical dioxin, and produces substantial amounts of dioxin when wastes such as Umatilla's plastic protective suits are burned. If the DEQ insists on proceeding with the outdated and dangerous incineration technology, additional legal challenges can be expected," he concluded.

Considering the shortcomings of incineration, the Army will be hard- pressed to pass the legal test Judge Marcus assigned, according to co- counsel Richard Condit, "By its nature, the incineration process used by the Army produces pollution emissions which the court found to be potentially hazardous and possibly illegal."

Portland attorney Stu Sugarman, who also served as trial counsel said, "This is what we've been telling the judge for 10 years now. This is by far our biggest victory in this litigation to date." Sugarman added that this decision will "prevent the facility from spewing high concentrations of mercury through its smokestacks and ultimately into the bodies of unsuspecting children downwind of the facility in Hermiston, Oregon and other cities."

Dr. Bob Palzer, of the Oregon Sierra Club said, "State law, this ruling, and hot water, not fire are the most common sense recipe for guaranteed safe destruction of the mustard agent at Umatilla. Neutralization is a proven technology and was used efficiently to destroy identical material in Maryland."

"There is no need to incinerate this material," said Craig Williams, director of the Chemical Weapons Working Group, who organized the suit. "Safer approaches exist and must be used if the State and the Army wish to live up to their responsibilities of protecting citizens while ridding us of our own WMDs."

The text of the decision is available here.

CHEMICAL WEAPONS WORKING GROUP 128 Main St. Berea KY 40403 859-986-0868 859-986-2695 (F) www.cwwg.org kefcwwg@cwwg.org

For more information contact: Karyn Jones (541) 567-6579 Stu Sugarman (503) 228-6655 Mick Harrison (859) 321-1586 Richard Condit (202) 265-7337 Craig Williams (859) 986-7565