Boss Ordered Illegal Burn, Man Says

A former Rocketdyne chemist testified Wednesday that he believed his boss told him to illegally burn scrap materials at the company’s Santa Susana Field Laboratory.

Bertram Moy, 67, said he knew burning materials in a stainless steel bucket at the Ventura County lab near Chatsworth was illegal, but he did it anyway after asking his boss, Joseph E. Flanagan, how to dispose of them. The company lost its permit to operate a burn pit in 1990.

Moy, of Las Vegas, said he never told anyone that he was burning scrap, in a process he mockingly referred to as “a bucket test,” until after a July 26, 1994, explosion at the laboratory that killed two scientists.

Flanagan, 61, of Stanwood, Wash., and Edgar R. Wilson, 65, of Chatsworth, are charged with two felony counts of illegal treatment of hazardous materials in connection with the deadly blast. Flanagan, the former director of Rocketdyne’s Chemical Technology Group, also is charged with one count of unlawfully storing waste.

Authorities allege that the explosion occurred when scientists were burning rocket propellants at a field test site. A similar burn a few days earlier caused a brush fire.

Flanagan and Wilson deny burning waste. Their attorneys contend that the men believed scientific research was being conducted at the field laboratory when the explosion occurred.

Defense lawyers alleged that Moy, who left Rocketdyne in 1992, is a bitter and troublesome ex-employee who has told them he doesn’t care if he hurts others as long as Flanagan is prosecuted and sent to prison.

Neither Moy nor mechanic Lee Wells, who helped with the bucket tests, were charged with crimes.

Under direct examination by Assistant U.S. Atty. William Carter, Moy testified that he went to Flanagan after the burn pit was closed to ask how to dispose of the scrap materials.

“Flanagan said, ‘You have a test motor. Fire a test,’ ” Moy testified.

Moy said he took that to mean he should burn the pound or so of scrap materials that accumulated each week at a test site.

He said he never talked to Flanagan about it again, nor did he tell anyone else what he was doing.

But after the explosion, which killed Moy’s friend, Otto K. Heiney, 53, of Canoga Park, and Larry A. Pugh, 51, of Thousand Oaks, Moy said he began to talk, first to officials with the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health, then to the FBI.

Moy also told authorities he had spoken to Heiney about his work a few days before his death.

During that telephone conversation, Moy said Heiney told him about the brush fire at Santa Susana that began while he was burning 10 to 20 pounds of materials.

“I said, ‘That’s a lot of material,’ ” Moy said. “He said, ‘Well, I have a lot of material to get rid of.’ ”

Defense lawyer John D. Vandevelde tried to discredit Moy’s testimony by showing he did not like Flanagan and was out to get him.

Moy acknowledged that what Vandevelde described as “a series of unfortunate events” occurred during his tenure at Rocketdyne.

But he said he had no ax to grind against the company or Flanagan.