Medical records sought in depot trial

This story was published Fri, Oct 25, 2002

By Karen Zacharias
Herald Oregon bureau

The medical records of a Hermiston woman have been subpoenaed by the attorney for a Umatilla Chemical Depot contractor in the latest volley in a Portland trial that could potentially result in revoking the incinerator burn permit.

Karyn Jones, a member of GASP, Sierra Club and the Oregon Wildlife Federation, received the subpoena late Wednesday, with the request that her medical records be turned over to the court by 2 p.m. Thursday.

Washington Demilitarization Co. is the contractor hired by the Army to destroy the 3,717 tons of deadly chemical weapons stored at the Umatilla Chemical Depot.

"I thought it was an unusually aggressive act on their part," said Richard Condit, a Washington, D.C., attorney representing the anti-incineration interests. He referred to the attorneys representing Washington Demilitarization and the Army. Jones called the request for her medical records uncalled for. Army attorneys did not return phone calls on why they wanted the medical records.

Judge Michael Marcus did not quash the request. But Condit said there would be further discussions about the matter. The trial began Wednesday in Multnomah County Circuit Court.

The three groups Jones belongs to are opposed to the burning of VX, sarin and mustard agent and have filed suit against the state for issuing the burn permit to the Army.

In other trial developments Thursday, a former worker at the Tooele, Utah, incineration facility provided what one attorney called "fairly damning" testimony against the Army.

Gary Harris testified for three hours about his work as the permit coordinator for the Tooele facility from 1994 to 1996. Tooele began burning agent in August 1996. Harris claimed that the Army's contractor at Tooele used dishonest calculations to obtain its permit. Then, Harris said, the contractor was deceitful about health standards, emission problems, waste water contaminants and the dangers these things posed to the surrounding communities.

Harris' testimony showed the facility would have "clearly failed the standard" that Utah established if the data hadn't been manipulated, said Mick Harrison, another attorney representing the anti-incineration groups.

Harris also testified the Army knew when it applied for the Oregon permit that the systems designed to handle the contaminated wastes produced during the burn process did not work. Yet, the Army did not alter the permit to reflect those ineffective pollution systems, he said.

"This shows that the facility, as designed and permitted for Umatilla is not workable. And the Army knew it. That's a basis for revocation of the permit," Harrison said. Officials with the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality will provide testimony Monday.

The Army's attorneys maintain that Oregon regulators have been responsible in issuing the permit.

"Oregon regulators have not been the lapdog of the Army," said Michael Berringan, a Washington, D.C., attorney for the Army.

 

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