PORTLAND -- An Army doctor testified in federal court Monday that it was not the Army's responsibility to respond when dozens of construction workers at the Umatilla Chemical Depot became ill Sept. 15, 1999.

U.S. District Court Judge Dennis Hubel asked Maj. Jose M. Ortiz what he believed his responsibilities were if 100 people at the depot suddenly exhibited symptoms of being exposed to chemical agents.

"I would have to confirm it with operations control," Ortiz told the judge.

"So unless (operations) confirmed it, and there was some explanation for it, then you would do nothing?" Hubel asked.

"I would be skeptical about such a scenario," Ortiz said.

Ortiz's testimony filled most of the sixth day of the federal trial to determine if the Army was negligent for not responding more quickly in the incident, in which dozens of construction workers building the incinerator plant became suddenly ill, complaining of chest pain, respiratory problems, runny noses and nausea.

All of the symptoms could have been caused by other ailments, Ortiz said.

"A runny nose by itself would not alarm me to an exposure," he said. "And there was never any positive readings for mustard, sarin or any of the agents at the depot during the incident."

The incident occurred during the construction of the incinerator plant near Umatilla that will be used to destroy 7.4 million pounds of deadly nerve and mustard agents stored at the depot, 35 miles south of the Tri-Cities.

Nobody has denied that the workers weren't affected by something, but Army officials say it wasn't the nerve agents sarin or VX or blister agent, all of which were stored a few hundred yards from the construction site.

Raytheon also was named in the lawsuit originally, but the company, now known as Washington Demilitarization Co., has settled with the workers for an undisclosed amount.

Workers claim they were not taken to Good Shepherd Medical Center in Hermiston until nearly an hour and 20 minutes after the building was evacuated and workers crowded around the small first-aid trailer with two emergency medical technicians provided by Raytheon.

Ortiz, who was just a few miles away at the Depot's medical center, said he was not alerted to the incident immediately and that Raytheon's construction and safety managers did not call for help.

A few weeks after the incident, Ortiz sent a memo to Lt. Col. Tom Woloszyn, the depot's commander at the time, stating that mistakes had been made in the handling of the event.

When James McCandlish, attorney for the injured workers, asked Ortiz what he had meant by mistakes, Ortiz backtracked, saying he probably would not use that word today.

"Could this have been done better? Yes, it could have been done better," he said.

McCandlish also asked Ortiz if he knew that Dr. Joseph Gifford, who had treated the affected depot workers brought to Good Shepherd, had opened a file on himself after having some of his own symptoms, including nausea, dizziness and chest pain.

Gifford also noted that his throat felt gritty and "chemical" and blisters appeared on his hands.

Ortiz said blisters can be a delayed symptom of blister agent, then noted that they can "also be caused by holding a tennis racquet or a golf club too long."

Hubel, who said he had other commitments at the end of the week, pushed attorneys to try to wrap up the witness testimony by Wednesday.

Attorney Jim Brennan of the Department of Justice said the Army had five more witnesses. McCandlish said he had two rebuttal witnesses he will call to testify.

The trial is expected to wrap up Wednesday, but lawyers estimated it could be more than a month before Hubel would rule.