Probe Of Nerve Gas Plant Requested Oregon Delegation May Have Been Exposed To Agent During Tour Of Weapons Incinerator

Sat., June 21, 1997

Associated Press

The Army has asked the Pentagon’s inspector general to investigate the possibility an Oregon delegation was exposed to a chemical agent during a tour at a weapons incinerator in Utah, congressional aides said Friday.

Officials for the Army’s congressional liaison office notified Oregon Rep. Peter DeFazio’s staff of the formal request for the probe, his spokesman Jeff Stier said.

DeFazio and Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., earlier had requested such an investigation after 20 Oregonians took a tour May 30 intended to demonstrate the safety of the Tooele Chemical Weapons Depot Facility in Utah.

Several of the tour members inadvertently stood next to a MC-1 decontaminated bomb that apparently contained a trace of sarin nerve gas vapor in its casing.

The Army said the bombs had been decontaminated at Dugway Proving Ground in 1984, but there was no supporting certification to verify they were clean. Tooele accepted the bombs without documentation.

An anonymous phone caller told a Utah Department of Environmental Quality official May 31 that the bombs were delivered and stored in an area frequently traversed by workers without protective clothing.

According to the informant, a Kentucky group of citizens went through the area May 28. After their departure, the Army decided to test the casings to verify they were free of agent for certification purposes.

The Oregon group went through May 30, before the laboratory tests were sent back and though it was still on the premises when the lab results came, it were not informed of possible exposure until five days later.

The tour included Hermiston Mayor Frank Harkenrider, Hermiston city councilors and city staff, four Oregon Department of Corrections officials, a Hermiston Wal-Mart project manager and three representatives from the Umatilla Chemical Depot.

Army spokesperson Marilyn Tischbin said there was no potential for exposure and that tour participants were not at risk because the air monitoring system in the room did not detect agent, but Oregon Emergency Managements officials are concerned about the lack of communication regarding the incident.

Craig Williams, executive director of the Kentucky-based Chemical Weapons Working Group, accused the Army of attempting to cover up the incident.

“Until the information got out of their control (the anonymous call) the Army was content to cover up the risks to which they exposed the citizens. Even then, it took them two days to notify the citizens, while public affairs tried to decided how to damage control the situation,” he said.

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