[CPEO-MEF]

[kefcrowe@acs.eku.edu]

CHEMICAL WEAPONS WORKING GROUP
P.O. Box 467, Berea, Kentucky   40403
Phone:  (859) 986-7565      Fax: (859) 986-2695
e-mail: kefwilli @ acs.eku.edu
web: www.cwwg.org
for more information, contact:
                                Craig Williams (859) 986-7565
                                Karyn Jones (541) 567-6581

for immediate release Sunday,  July 30, 2000
   WORKER EXPOSURE LAWSUIT AT OREGON CHEM. WEAPONS INCINERATOR REVEALS
RECKLESSNESS OF ARMY'S "RUSH TO BURN" --
     ANTI-INCINERATION ACTIVISTS POINT TO COVER-UP PATTERN,
 SAY "ARMY WILL GO TO ANY LENGTHS TO SAVE INCINERATION PROGRAM"

A lawsuit being filed on Monday, charging the U.S. Army and it contractor
with covering up toxic agent exposures of workers at the Umatilla, Oregon
site where a chemical weapons incinerator is being built, reveals the
Army's "rush to burn without regard to the consequences," say opponents.

Leaders of the Chemical Weapons Working Group (CWWG), a coalition of
organizations which support alternative technologies for destroying the
nation's nerve gas stockpile, joined with the injured workers and their
attorneys in calling for suspending construction and operation of all Army
incinerators pending an independent investigation of the Oregon incident.

CWWG spokesman Craig Williams explained, "In their desperation to burn, the
Army behaves as if its motto is, 'Damn the workers and neighbors, full
speed ahead.' They are so fixated on cost and schedule slippage that they
appear willing to go to any lengths to save the program." The chemical
weapons incineration program is 14 years behind schedule and 900% over
budget, according to General Accounting Office reports.

The lawsuit alleges that the Army and Raytheon Demilitarization
Corporation,  Inc., its contractor at Umatilla, concealed leaks of mustard
and the nerve gas Sarin which left 34 workers ill last September 15. Though
workers were hospitalized and the job site temporarily shut down, the Army
and Raytheon claim that no chemical agent was detected, but also say they
don't know the cause. Documents uncovered via the Freedom of Information
Act, however, indicate that chemical agents were detected nearby the site
nearly two dozen times during six-days around the incident.

 Karen Jones, a local resident and founder of the anti-incineration group
GASP, said, "This again illustrates that the Army and its contractors will
do anything to keep the incineration program moving forward. If the Army
and contractors are so inept to let these incidents occur during
construction I hate to think what will happen if they are allowed to burn
these deadly agents in incinerators that will be dispersing effluents
through open stacks into our community. I am also very concerned that
Oregon Department of Environmental Quality didn't investigate the incidents
more thoroughly when it is their job to protect human health and the
environment."

 Army officials have offered a series of explanations for the illnesses
including fumes from paint, fiberglass, and epoxy, but none fit the
workers' symptoms.  At one point the Army claimed "pepper spray" was the
cause, although no explanation was given as to how it could have gotten
into the construction site. All these causes were later eliminated.

Reports show that Raytheon managers turned down initial offers of aid from
Depot medical and local emergency medical personnel. CWWG's Williams
concluded, "Just as in the case of the recent incident at Tooele, the Army
and its contractors refuse to believe that chemical agents can be the
problem even when there's strong evidence to the contrary. Workers  were
laying on the ground begging for help and Raytheon refused
assistance.....how is this possible....unless they were hiding something?"

Jones asked, "Why can't the Army and Raytheon tell us what made the workers
sick? If they treat their own workers with such disdain, how can we trust
them to protect our health if they ever fire up the incinerator?  In Utah,
they didn't even bother to notify the community until four hours after a
confirmed nerve agent smokestack leak." Operations at the Army's Tooele,
Utah, chemical weapons incinerator have been suspended for more than two
months after a May leak in an attempt to correct flaws in its design. The
Umatilla facility is modeled after the Utah incinerator.
  - - 3 0 - -
information about the Umatilla worker lawsuit can be obtained from their
attorney James McCandlish at (503) 224-2348
Elizabeth Crowe
Chemical Weapons Working Group
Non-Stockpile Chemical Weapons Citizens Coalition
(859) 986-0868

*NOTE NEW AREA CODE*

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