Anniston Star
January 29. 2003

Anniston residents voice pollution concerns

By Sara Clemence
Star Staff Writer
01-29-2003

Anniston residents voiced their frustration over local environmental and health problems at a community meeting for a local activist group Tuesday night.

More than 100 people attended the Community Against Pollution meeting, which was intended to inform residents about local issues such as lead and PCB cleanups, lawsuits against Union Foundry and Solutia, health studies, chemical weapons incineration and Habitat for Humanity projects.

Residents asked heated questions of Environmental Protection Agency and Army representatives, who gave brief updates on cleanups and incineration.

"What are you going to do about PCBs in my blood?" one man demanded of the EPA.

Others asked how they could be sure EPA cleanups were effective and why they had not been given protection against a chemical weapons accident.

"The poor whites and the poor blacks have been discriminated against all the days of their lives," said another man in the racially mixed audience. His words were met with cheers.

Shirley Baker of CAP encouraged people to participate in future Anniston health studies.

"You've got to have some sort of data to show that the need is here," she said. "We're hoping that the end result is we get a clinic for people who have been affected."

David Baker, executive director of CAP, urged residents to bring concerns to elected officials, and said that the leaking stockpile of chemical weapons is more of a danger than burning the weapons.

"Don't get caught up on the incinerator as the issue," he said. "If they don't start lighting up until 2009you still ain't safe," he said.