POSTED: 12:54 pm CDT May 7, 2004
The Associated Press
ANNISTON, Ala. -- The Army's chemical weapons incinerator
destroyed munitions at a quicker pace Friday after the Environmental Protection
Agency cleared the way for stepped-up operations because the installation
passed air-quality tests.
Regulators said Thursday the incinerator could begin burning chemical-laden
rockets at a rate of 25 per hour, up from a previous restriction of 16 an
hour during tests.The decision came after tests showed the incinerator removed
99.999999 percent of polychlorinated biphenyls contained in the rockets'
shipping and firing tubes.
The incinerator had narrowly failed some tests in November, prompting another
round.Tim Garrett, the Army's site project manager at the incinerator, said
the EPA action showed workers can destroy the rockets and protect the community
as well."
The EPA letter is good news for us and the community," Garrett said.
An incineration opponent said the test results did not prove the facility
could destroy the entire chemical weapons stockpile safely, only the rockets
used in the trial burns."We don't agree with the process and the methods
that were used in the second trial burn to try and demonstrate compliance,"
said Craig Williams of the Kentucky-based Chemical Weapons Working Group.
"But since EPA let them do it, we're not surprised."
Mike Abrams, spokesman for the Anniston Chemical Agent Disposal Facility,
said workers began destroying rockets at a faster pace Thursday afternoon
after being notified of the EPA decision.The incinerator has destroyed more
than 26,000 rockets filled with the lethal nerve agent sarin since it began
operating last year.
The Anniston Army Depot, about 50 miles east of Birmingham, houses about
7 percent of the nation's chemical weapons stockpile.