Lawsuit Filed To Stop Tooele CW Incinerator

[Aimee Houghton <aimeeh@igc.org>]

From: Aimee Houghton <aimeeh@igc.org>
Subject: Lawsuit Filed To Stop Tooele CW Incinerator

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

 for use after 2:00 MDT, Friday, May 10, 1996
 LAWSUIT FILED TO STOP TOOELE CHEM. WEAPONS INCINERATOR;
 PLAINTIFFS CHARGE U.S. ARMY PLAN WOULD CREATE
 GRAVE THREAT TO HUMAN HEALTH AND THE ENVIRONMENT

 Salt Lake City (May 10) -- Several major national environmental 
and citizen organizations today filed suit against the U.S. Army to 
block the start-up of the government's Tooele, Utah, chemical weapons 
incinerator. The filing in Federal District court claims that 
attempting to burn deadly nerve agents would violate a host of 
environmental laws creating an "imminent and substantial danger to 
public health and the environment."
 Plaintiffs in the suit include the Chemical Weapons Working Group, 
Inc. (CWWG), an alliance of organizations from the sites near the 
Army's eight planned chemical incinerators on the U.S. mainland, the 
national Sierra Club, and the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation, 
Inc. (VVAF). They are represented by Paul Van Dam, a former Utah 
Attorney General, now with the Salt Lake City firm of Jones, Waldo, 
Holbrook and McDonough, Mick Harrison from the non-profit 
environmental advocacy firm Greenlaw, CWWG attorney Ashley Schannauer 
of Salt Lake City, and Colorado based Land and Water Fund attorney, 
Randy Wiener.
 "Though the dangers of chemical weapons incineration become more 
apparent and its costs continue to soar out of control, the Army still 
refuses to concede that its plan is fatally flawed," explained Craig 
Williams, national CWWG spokesman. "For more than a decade citizens 
have tried to work with the Army on this issue, attempting to create a 
cooperative approach to solve this disposal problem. The Army has 
never considered options to incineration in all that time. They have 
forced us to bring this suit in the interest of the people they are 
sworn to protect," he added.
 A recent independent preliminary risk assessment found that 
incineration exposes communities to far more health dangers than an 
alternative approach that would drain nerve agents from weapons, 
neutralize the liquids and store the residues in containers. According 
to the 1994 U.S. Defense Department Acquisition Board (DAB) Report, 
the incineration program is expected to cost more than $13 billion. 
 The former chief Safety Manager at Tooele, Steven Jones, has 
charged that the Army and EG&G have failed to address many health and 
environmental hazards at the incinerator. Jones claims he was fired 
for revealing these problems and is suing under whistleblower 
protection statutes to be restored to his management position. The 
hearing in his case resumes on Monday, May 20, in Salt Lake City.
 Salt Lake City resident and Sierra Club member Cindy King said, 
"It seems the only way we can protect human health and the environment 
is to pursue this law suit."
 The citizens action filed on Friday charges the U.S. Department of 
Defense, the Army, and their contractor at Tooele, EG&G Defense 
Systems, with violating the National Environmental Policy Act, the 
Clean Air Act, and the Resource Conservation and Recover Act among 
other laws. 
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The Chemical Weapons Working Group is a coalition of community 
activists who live near proposed chemical weapon disposal facilities 
in the U.S., the Pacific and Russia. For additional information about 
each site:

Pine Bluff, Arkansas Brainard Bivens (501) 541-0596
Johnston Atoll, Pacific Pua'Ena Burgess (808) 696-5157
Richmond, Kentucky Gina Chamberlain (606) 986-5667
Newport, Indiana Mark Hudson (317) 569-5887
Hermiston, Oregon Karyn Jones (503) 567-6581
Tooele, Utah Cindy King (801) 486-9848
Anniston, Alabama Suzanne Marshall (205) 236-5234
Aberdeen, Maryland John Nunn (410) 778-5968
Pueblo, Colorado Alan Urban (719) 783-9755

Note: the complete lawsuit is available on request from the CWWG