Fuel in Blast Wasn’t Waste, Witness Says

The testimony of a key prosecution witness Tuesday supported a defense claim that valuable chemicals, not hazardous waste, were stored at Rocketdyne’s Santa Susana Field Laboratory, where a 1994 explosion killed two scientists.

John Gray, 69, a retired Rocketdyne manager, testified in federal court that none of the materials stored in giant lockers at the Ventura County facility were waste.

Gray’s testimony could help defense lawyers, who are trying to show that the deadly explosion occurred while five employees were conducting scientific tests.

Prosecutors allege the workers were illegally burning hazardous waste for disposal purposes.

They have charged Joseph E. Flanagan, 61, of Stanwood, Wash., and Edgar R. Wilson, 65, of Chatsworth, each with two counts of illegal treatment of hazardous materials. Flanagan also is charged with unlawfully storing the waste. If convicted, they could face five years in prison on each count.

During his fifth day of testimony, Gray, who was in charge of creating an inventory of chemicals at the field laboratory, denied that any of the materials in the storage containers he surveyed were waste.

Earlier in the day, Gray told Assistant U.S. Atty. William Carter that he had never heard of any test in which scientists layered chemicals on top of sawdust and ignited them, as prosecutors say was done before the July 26, 1994, explosion that killed Otto K. Heiney, 53, of Canoga Park, and Larry A. Pugh, 51, of Thousand Oaks.

Defense lawyers said they believe the men were studying the overpressure created by burning propellants.