State, Army want review of depot monitoring

This story was published Wed, Jan 24, 2001

By Mary Hopkin
Herald Oregon bureau

HERMISTON - The state and the Army are asking the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to review the Umatilla Chemical Depot's chemical agent monitoring systems.

The independent review is a result of several factors, according to the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality.

Wayne Thomas of the DEQ said the department reviewed all the Army's monitoring information data because of a mysterious Sept. 15, 1999, incident that landed 30 depot workers in Hermiston's Good Shepherd Medical Center emergency room.

"The conclusion was that a chemical agent was not involved in the incident," Thomas said.

But 18 of the workers and their Portland lawyers, from the firm Griffin McCandlish, maintain the injuries were the result of a chemical leak the Army is trying to cover up.

Thomas said that has led to the decision to ask for the independent review.

"We need to take it a step further to ensure workers and the community have an appropriate level of protection," he said.

Thomas said the DEQ participated in a conference call Jan. 8 with the Army, the CDC and the Oregon Health Division to discuss the review.

Thomas said the CDC will inspect the depot's monitoring equipment, procedures, protocols and verification methods.

The current monitoring program, which was designed by the Army, consists of two parts.

Workers monitor the air inside the igloos where chemical weapons are stored, making sure no chemical agents are leaking inside the igloos, before entering them. The workers do their monitoring from the exterior of the igloos.

In addition, a monitoring network was installed last May. Three thin, glass tubes are placed along the depot's perimeter. The 4-inch-long tubes, which are changed every 12 hours, contain a granular absorbent material to collect any impurities in the atmosphere.

The tubes are taken to an on-site lab and tested to see if any chemical agent is in the air. But the results of those tests can take up to 72 hours, Thomas said.

And that isn't good enough, say the injured workers.

The workers demanded constant, real-time, or immediate, monitoring on the base that warns workers as soon as a chemical agent is detected in the air as a remedy in the lawsuit they filed last July against the Army and its contractor, Raytheon Demilitarization Co.

The lawsuit was thrown out on a technicality in December but will be refiled this week, said the workers' attorney, James McCandlish.

The DEQ also has asked the Environmental Quality Commission for more oversight of the Army's chemical stockpile at the depot.

The DEQ wants to require the Army to take special precautions, such as adding carbon filters - to capture chemical agents - to the vents at the top of the igloos, preventing agents from escaping into the atmosphere.

The department also wants the Army to plug the two drainage ports at the bottom of each igloo so agents can't drain outside.

That precaution already is under way, said Col. Tom Woloszyn, depot commander.

Woloszyn said the Army is more than happy to work with the DEQ and the CDC on reviewing the monitoring systems.

"Our monitoring program is designed to protect the workers and the public, and it's important the public and state have confidence in our program," Woloszyn said.

 

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