Depot workers sue Army, Raytheon

This story was published Sun, Jul 30, 2000

By Mary Hopkin
Herald Oregon bureau

HERMISTON - Raytheon workers plan to file a lawsuit Monday, claiming the U.S. Army and Raytheon Demilitarization Co. covered up leaks of chemical agents that sickened 34 workers at the Umatilla Chemical Depot.

"We will be seeking damages for the injuries to the workers and punitive damages for the cover-up of the incident," said Portland lawyer James McCandish, who is representing the workers in federal court.

Army officials denied workers were exposed to any chemical nerve agent stored at the depot.

The lawsuit also will ask for an injunction to stop construction on the chemical weapons incinerator plant until worker safety can be assured.

The legal action stems from a Sept. 15 incident at the chemical incinerator construction site at the depot, when an odor caused the evacuation of 800 workers.

Thirty-six workers were taken to the hospital because they were feeling ill and having difficulty breathing. Four of the workers were hospitalized.

The source of the odor was originally thought to be paint or epoxy fumes from construction materials, but Raytheon's investigation blamed the illnesses on battery acid.

McCandish said the 34 workers he is representing were sent to Good Shepherd Community Hospital in Hermiston after being "overcome by toxic vapor" at the construction site.

The incinerator is a few hundred feet from the southeast corner of K-Block, a bunker where chemical weapons are stored.

McCandish alleges all the workers have suffered symptoms similar to those experienced by victims of the 1995 Tokyo subway sarin attack, and that the symptoms are consistent with mustard or nerve gas exposure.

Some of the workers are still suffering symptoms, ranging from dry coughs to severe asthma attacks, choking, convulsions and chronic fatigue syndrome, McCandish said.

"There are people that essentially have never gone back to work," he said. "Some have continued to work at the Raytheon project, some were laid off and some have quit."

McCandish said the Army and Raytheon "misrepresented the facts in claiming at the time that no chemical agent could be the cause" of the accident.

McCandish said his investigation shows mustard and sarin are the most likely suspects, and the Army and Raytheon probably lied to cover up the truth.

"Either the Army and Raytheon have engaged in a deliberate attempt to hide the truth about the Umatilla poisonings, or they conducted an investigation that was bungled beyond belief," McCandish said.

McCandish said the Army and Raytheon failed to sample air inside the incinerator construction site for almost three hours, and that the monitoring plan did not include testing in the rooms where most of the affected workers were working.

In addition, McCandish said that although the Army denies any nerve gas was detected on the date of the incident, Army and Raytheon records show that mustard and sarin were detected in the area.

McCandish wants Army officials to turn over a dead rabbit that was found near the construction site a few days after workers got sick.

McCandish said toxicology and pathology reports on the dead rabbit are missing, indicating further cover-ups. Army officials deny the allegation.

Depot Commander Col. Tom Woloszyn said he knew the lawsuit was coming, but was caught off guard by its contents, although he hasn't seen the entire suit.

"I am surprised that they are bringing up chemical agents," Woloszyn. "Chemical agents were not involved."

The Army has not tried to cover up anything, he added.

"There has been no information that we haven't given (McCandish)," Woloszyn said.

Woloszyn said he wanted to meet with McCandish's experts and go over the Army's reports, some of which are very complicated, to make sure they are reading the data correctly.

As for the rabbit, Woloszyn said, the autopsy report, which is readily available, determined the rabbit most likely died of trauma, such as being hit by a car.

The Army has stored 3,717 tons of aging lethal nerve agent for 38 years on the 20,000 sagebrush-covered acres of the depot, eight miles west of Hermiston. In that time, the Army said, there has never been a release of nerve agent outside the concrete bunkers where the weapons are stored.

Phone messages left Friday afternoon by the Herald at Raytheon offices weren't returned by Saturday evening. Raytheon spokesman Chris Early did return a phone call to the reporter Saturday evening. Early did offer comment on the suit, but that was not relayed to copy editors for Sunday publication. Washington Group International, Raytheon's parent company, was contacted by The New York Times News Service but declined to comment.

 

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