GROUPS TO SUE TO BLOCK CW INCINERATION

[Aimee Houghton <aimeeh@igc.org>]

From: Aimee Houghton <aimeeh@igc.org>
Subject: GROUPS TO SUE TO BLOCK CW INCINERATION

 for further information:
 Craig Williams (606) 986-7565
 Bob Schaeffer (617) 489-0461

 for immediate release, Tuesday, April 9, 1996
 CHEM. WEAPONS INCINERATION OPPONENTS FILE 
 FORMAL "INTENT TO SUE" TO BLOCK START-UP OF TOOELE FACILITY;
 CHARGE "IMMINENT, SUBSTANTIAL DANGER TO HEALTH, ENVIRONMENT"

 Salt Lake City -- The Chemical Weapons Working Group (CWWG) 
today filed a "notice of intent to sue" to block the U.S. Army's 
plans to begin burning chemical warfare agents at a Tooele, Utah 
incinerator. Joined by the national Sierra Club and the Vietnam 
Veterans of America Foundation (VVAF) as co-plaintiffs and 
represented by Greenlaw, Inc., a non-profit environmental advocacy 
organization, CWWG claimed that start-up of the incinerator, now 
scheduled for later this spring, would violate federal laws by 
creating an "imminent and substantial danger to health and the 
environment."
 In addition to the Army and its contractor, EG&G Defense 
Materials, Inc., defendants in the suit will include the U.S. 
Department of Defense. The notice of intent, delivered by certified 
mail, gives the prospective defendants a final chance to comply 
with the laws before formal court proceedings begin. 
 Today's notice outlines the laws under which a suit will be 
filed in Federal District Court in Utah later this month. Among the 
causes of action: 
 * National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA): Failure to 
adequately assess the impact of the incineration technology; 
failure to adequately address potential accident scenarios and 
downwind hazards; and failure to adequately consider safer 
alternatives to incineration. 
 * Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA): Failure to 
protect the public from unreasonable threats to their health and 
the environment, including the risks from direct or indirect 
exposure to nerve agent and toxic smokestack emissions during 
normal operations and the real threat of large-scale agent releases 
during accidents or "upset" conditions. 
 * Clean Water Act: Contamination of the Great Salt Lake and 
other bodies of water with chemical weapons agent.
 . . . . m o r e

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GROUPS TO SUE TO BLOCK CHEM. WEAPONS INCINERATION 2 . . 2 . . 2

 According to Craig Williams, national spokesman for the CWWG, 
"The stubborn arrogance of the Army and other government agencies 
has left us no choice, except for a law suit. For decades, citizens 
have urged the Army to consider other approaches for chemical agent 
disposal. But the military remains fixated on the incineration 
scheme it adopted in 1982, even though there have been huge 
advances in alternative technologies and mounting evidence of the 
hazards of burning chemical weapons since that time. It's a sad day 
when Americans must sue their own Army to protect themselves."
 A report by nationally renowned risk assessment expert, Dr. 
Douglas Crawford-Brown, a professor at the University of North 
Carolina, released last week concluded that the Army's incineration 
plan exposes communities to far more health dangers than other 
approaches to eliminating the chemical agent stockpile. 
 Previously secret documents made public in late March at the 
whistleblower protection trial of Steven Jones show that, as of 
October, 1995, many hazards at the incinerator had not been 
addressed and that the Army's emergency plan for responding to 
accidents was inadequate. Jones, the former chief safety manager at 
Tooele, claims he was fired for revealing serious environmental and 
health risks. His trial resumes in Salt Lake City on May 20.
 Dr. Crawford-Brown's report and Jones' revelations are part of 
the evidence cited in the legal action, according to Mick Harrison, 
Greenlaw director who is lead counsel in the case. Harrison noted, 
"There is now ample proof that the Army's incineration plan cannot 
meet the minimum standards of the nation's environmental protection 
laws." A prototype incinerator in the Pacific has had several live 
agent leaks and has been fined by the U.S. EPA.
 Robert Muller, president of the Vietnam Veterans of America 
Foundation, whose organization is committed to protecting civilian 
populations from the impacts of military action, added. "Even 
though these horrible weapons were never used on the battlefield, 
the Army's plan to burn these weapons means that civilians will 
suffer. Weapons of mass destruction must be destroyed in a manner 
that does not create innocent victims."
 Cindy King of the Utah chapter of the Sierra Club, concluded, 
"The Army's blatant pro-incineration charade, which continues to 
ignore the basic protection of human health and the environment, 
has forced us move forward with this litigation."
 
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 * * * Bob Schaeffer, Public Policy Communications * * *
 phone: (617) 489-0461 fax: (617) 489-6841