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Editorials
Burning away community’Äôs risk: More removal of danger
In our opinion|
That was some pretty good news on the front page of The Star on Tuesday. Seems the United States has succeeded in eliminating about 40 percent of the nation's stockpile of chemical weapons. The process could be going faster, but it's better to be safe. Brighter news still can be found out at the incinerator, the Anniston Chemical Demilitarization Facility. In short, officials at the incinerator say that as of today more than 80 percent of the risk to the community presented by the stockpile has been eliminated. To understand that, let's take a moment to consider the numbers. There are three chemical agents we are dealing with: GB, VX and mustard. The most volatile and therefore most dangerous to the community, GB -- which made up 19 percent of the overall stockpile -- already has been eliminated. That still leaves us with about 80 percent of the original stockpile. But let's drill a little deeper into the numbers. Destruction of the VX is underway. Getting rid of the less volatile, and therefore somewhat less dangerous, mustard-agent devices will begin after the VX campaign. (All this is complements of Mike Abrams, spokesman at the incinerator.) The VX stockpile is made up of three weapons: rockets, artillery shells and land mines. Far and away the biggest risk posed to the community from the remaining stockpile is the VX rockets. Thus far, 75 percent of those rockets have been eliminated, and Abrams says the facility is on track to finish with the rockets by the end of February. With the destruction of all of the GB and the VX rockets, 97 percent of the risk to the community due to the chemical weapons will have been eliminated. This, Abrams says, is based on risk assessments the Army has carried out. This means that very soon the worst will be gone. A long campaign to get rid of the remaining VX and the mustard will continue, but what we have long feared will continue to melt away at a rapid clip indeed. The day to celebrate, of course, is the day the last drop of agent is incinerated and all risk to this community is gone. But it is nice to know that a lot of danger has already been eliminated. |
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