CW incineration on trial, day one (please post)

[Aimee Houghton <aimeeh@igc.org>]

From: Aimee Houghton <aimeeh@igc.org>
Subject: CW incineration on trial, day one (please post)

CHEMICAL WEAPONS WORKING GROUP 
P.O. Box 467, Berea, Kentucky 40403
Phone: (606) 986-7565 Fax: (606) 986-2695
e-mail: kefwilli@acs.eku.edu

for immediate release: Monday, March 25, 1996

CHEMICAL WEAPONS "WHISTLEBLOWER" TRIAL BEGINS IN UTAH

Former Tooele Safety Manager says he was fired for
documenting environmental, safety flaws; Army and its
contractor accused of hiding documents and refusing to
provide key witnesses.

Tooele, Utah -- March 25, 1996: The whistleblower trial of
Steve Jones, who was fired as Chief Safety Officer at the
U.S. Army's Chemical Weapons incinerator in Tooele, Utah
after disclosing serious health, safety and environmental
problems at that facility, got underway in Salt Lake City on
Monday with charges that the Army and its contractor were
hiding documents showing significant flaws in its
incineration program and refusing to produce key witnesses.

In his opening statement, Jones' attorney, John Preston
Creer, likened the chemical weapons whistleblower to those
who recently exposed misbehavior in the tobacco industry,
"The issues may be different but the corporate reaction is
the same," Creer said. "At Tooele, a powerful company is
using strong-arm tactics to try to silence a whistleblower. 

The evidence will show that Steve Jones was terminated
because of his legally protected disclosures of serious
health, environmental and safety flaws at Tooele." 
Creer severely criticized the Army's contractor, EG&G
Defense Materials, Inc., the defendant in this case, for
claiming it could not find a safety audit Jones compiled
documenting more than a thousand problems at Tooele. "How
could a Fortune 400 Company like EG&G 'lose' such an
important document?" Jones' summery of the audit, which
concluded that more than a dozen vital program areas failed
to meet acceptable safety standards was submitted for the
record.

Creer also noted that key Army staffers who Jones had asked
to testify refused to come forward. "It is the U.S. Army
who defends every critisizm about its controversial
incineration program. Why are they not here to testify
about what went on at Tooele?" 
As the Monday session drew to a close, Steve Jones took the
witness stand and described his fifteen year track record as
a military safety expert during which he received many
awards and promotions. When court resumes on Tuesday at
9:00 A.M. Jones will detail the many environmental, health
and safety problems he found at Tooele. The Hearing is
expected to continue through Friday. 

The Chemical Weapons Working Group will provide daily press
updates throughout the Jones Hearing.