EPA gives OK for Army to resume burning Anniston agent stockpile

The Associated Press
April 08, 2004

After a new round of tests, the Environmental Protection Agency gave the Army permission to incinerate more rockets filled with deadly GB nerve agent.

The EPA approval announced Wednesday means the Army can continue destroying the most dangerous part of the depot's huge stockpile of Cold War-era chemical weapons.

The environmental agency made the decision after it approved results from retests performed on the incinerator's ability to remove PCBs from its stack emissions. Small quantities of PCBs are contained in the rockets' shipping and firing tubes.

Project manager Tim Garrett said the EPA's decision allows the incinerator to start destroying M-55 rockets and GB nerve agent, or sarin, at half its maximum capability.

He said the incinerator, located about 50 miles east of Birmingham at the Anniston Army Depot, will begin burning 16 sarin rockets per hour beginning this weekend.

Calhoun County Commission chairman Robert Downing, a longtime critic of the chemical weapons incinerator, said it is important that the Army meet regulatory requirements.

"Although I don't agree with the technology for destruction of the weapons, I do expect them to operate within the parameters they have been permitted to operate," Downing said. "I'm glad they finally met those requirements."

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Information from: The Anniston Star