This story was published Sun, Jun 13, 2004
Although injured construction workers who are suing the Army already have won an important victory, their biggest battle begins Tuesday.
The battlefield will be the U.S. District Court in Portland, where the workers hope to prove they were exposed to deadly chemical weapons at the Umatilla Chemical Depot as they were building an incinerator that is to be used to destroy 3,717 tons of agents.
After the first phase of the trial, which began in October, Judge Dennis Hubel ruled in February that the Army was negligent by not getting prompt emergency medical care for the workers after the Sept. 15, 1999, accident.
In this second phase of the trial, workers' attorney James McCandlish will try to prove leaks of sarin and mustard agents injured the workers.
Karyn Jones, executive director of GASP, an environmental group that opposes using incineration to destroy the chemical weapons stockpile, said the trial is important not only for the injured workers, but also for the communities near the depot.
Jones said state-issued environmental permits for the incinerator allow the Army to release minute amounts of nerve agent and mustard into the air as it operates the plant.
If the workers have suffered long-term illnesses from being exposed to small amounts of chemical agent, Jones fears those living near the depot also could be affected when the Army starts burning.
"People have this idea you burn it up and it's all gone, but that's not what happens. It's not all gone," she said. "And these incinerators will be operating for 10 years."
Regardless of the trial's outcome, Casey Beard, Morrow County's Emergency Management coordinator, said the accident already has made an impact. "There were many lessons learned," he said.
Emergency managers have improved communications between the Army and emergency response teams outside the depot's razor-wire fence.
If a similar event happened today, Beard said, new procedures require depot officials to immediately notify local hospitals and decontaminate workers.
Also, updated computer equipment provides better weather information so emergency managers would know how far and which direction chemical agent would travel if a chemical release occurred.
"We are more informed now," Beard said. "We have taken steps to make sure something like this doesn't happen again."
Mary Binder, Army spokeswoman, said she doesn't believe the trial will delay the Army's effort to incinerate the weapons, which is scheduled to begin this summer.
There won't be a jury at the trial, which is expected to last two weeks. Hubel will determine what caused the workers' illnesses.
It's probable the judge will take his time in making that decision. He took more than two months to rule in the trial's first phase.
If he rules in favor of the workers, the trial will likely go into a third phase to determine damages.