Tooele Transript Bulletin Oct. 23, 2001

Judge to hear evidence challenging Army's Oregon chemical weapons incinerator permit

by Jeff Schmerker
Staff Writer

Community groups opposed to incinerating the chemical weapons stored at,the Umatilla Chemical Depot in northeastern Oregon will finally get their day in court.

An Oregon judge ruled last week that the groups had been denied their opportunity to be heard in court.

Multnomah Circuit Judge Michael H. Marcus agreed with the groups' attorneys last week that they had a right to make their record in his court.

"It now appears the petitioners were correct about many important issues in this controversy," the judge wrote.

Stu Sugarman, a Portland attorney representing the three community organizations and 22 individual citizens in their attempt to have the incinerator permit revoked said, "We finally have the right, for the first time ever, to really find out whether incineration is right for Oregon. We've always believed this was a poor decision. Now, we'll finally get a chance to prove it."

Construction at the Army's burner in Umatilla, which was based on a much larger burner than the one the Army operates in the Rush Valley, was completed this summer. The Umatilla Chemical Depot stores 3,178 tons of chemical agent in projectiles, rockets, warheads, bombs, spray tanks and ton containers. The burner is almost identical to one nearing completion in Anniston, Ala., which has also been the site of vigorous anti-incineration activism.

In his ruling Judge Marcus cited internal memos written by an Oregon Department of Environmental Quality manager declaring that an internal DEQ review of Army information "has seriously jeopardized and undermined our confidence in the information being provided to us."

"The Army has built approval for the Umatilla incinerators on a house of cards that to date has been subject to little meaningful scrutiny," said Washington D.C. attorney Richard Condit, who is representing the activists. "The decision of the circuit court means that for the first time since the Army submitted its permit application, persons living near the incinerators will have a real opportunity to test the Army,s house of cards. I don't believe the Umatilla permit will be able to withstand such scrutiny."

Some citizens in Oregon have argued that the burner would endanger health, safety and the environment. A similar lawsuit in 1999 concerning the Tooele Chemical Agent Disposal Facility was unsuccessful.

E-mail: jeffs@tooeletranscript.com