There is little disagreement that 3,717 tons of chemical weapons and munitions stored beginning in 1941 at the Umatilla Army Depot could be deadly. We believe their continued storage is a hazard. Quarrels have emerged about whether the Army's plan to incinerate the stockpile at a disposal facility near Hermiston can be done safely under permit conditions crafted by Oregon's Department of Environmental Quality and Environmental Quality Commission.

Appeals from the permit process have come before Oregon Circuit Judge Michael H. Marcus three times. His latest order (July 26) notes that "this court has no power to grant relief unless the record viewed as a whole compels the conclusion that no reasonable agency would fail to revoke or modify the permit for operation of the Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal Facility."

His 47-page opinion and order found that the court is powerless to force changes except in one noteworthy regard: Public safety interests would not be sufficiently protected if the Army or its contractor were allowed to put a chokehold on the freedom of disposal-facility workers to express good-faith safety concerns to regulators.

Marcus finds that "a substantial minority of workers do not feel safe in approaching even their own supervisors with safety concerns" and that the Army arguably discouraged disclosure of safety concerns at other facilities.

"Congress has recognized the critical importance of whistle-blowers to the safe operation of such facilities," Marcus said. So no reasonable agency would fail to require protections for workers who voice concerns to regulators when bosses or operators don't respond to word of possible hazards.

He ordered the DEQ and EQC to consider a permit modification that would require workers to be notified of their right to freely report any safety or other concerns to their employers or to DEQ without fear of retaliation. On July 28, DEQ said it would implement Judge Marcus' ruling.

The effect is to add to other safety procedures "the work force as the first line of protection against the hazards inherent in such a complicated and dangerous undertaking."

The judge's decision to add that layer of safety to the operation means that the EQC, at its Aug. 13 meeting, finally can authorize the Army to start incinerating chemical agents that we no longer can justify littering our neighborhood.