An alleged whistleblower who claimed massive wrongdoings at the Army’s chemical weapons incinerator in Utah was removed this week as a witness by groups challenging the use of incineration.

And on Thursday, the commander of the Umatilla Chemical Depot also said that the concerns raised by Gary Harris, a former employee at the Deseret Chemical Depot at Tooele, don’t apply to Umatilla project.

Lt. Col. Tom Woloszyn, speaking to the Oregon Chemical Demilitarization Citizens Advisory Commission, said that he and his staff looked at Harris’ allegations to see which could apply to the Umatilla site.

Of the 128 allegations, only 20 applied to actually storing the weapons, which is all the local depot does currently. Of those, Woloszyn said, 16 apply specifically to the Utah site.

“He (Harris) cited several concerns that people are not properly protected,” the commander said, referring to weapons inspectors. “Here, that is entirely false.”

Woloszyn added that “oversight by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality would preclude many, if not all, the allegations having application here.”

Harris raised numerous allegations of wrongdoing in the permitting for the Utah incinerator plant and destruction of weapons there. In January, he began tours to speak out against the Deseret Chemical Weapons Disposal Facility. Harris is the fourth Tooele employee to make such allegations.

The Chemical Weapons Working Group and others touted him as a witness. However, the counsel to the weapons group, the Sierra Club and the Vietnam Veterans of America, wrote in a March 10 letter to the Army that Harris “will at no time during the trial in this matter be called as a witness.”

The Army said in a Thursday press release that it was told Harris won’t be used as a witness for health reasons. The release said the working group refused Army requests to fund an independent evaluation of his health.

Craig Williams of the weapons working group said Friday that the group tried to delay Harris’ testimony to allow him to recuperate from the stresses placed on him by the alleged exposure to chemicals and the additional stress of impending litigation.

“They (the Army) refused so we either had to force Harris to go on the 13th (to testify) or have him in contempt of the Army subpoena for deposition,” Williams said. “(The) only other option was to pull him off the witness list.”

He added that the working group isn’t cutting ties with Harris.

“Harris’ being pulled from this legal action doesn’t mean he won’t be used elsewhere,” Williams said.