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SPEAK OUT
Speaker's Stand ... The Star should do its homework
By Craig Williams
Special to the Star
02-03-2008
Re "Officials say weapons disposal more than 50 days ahead of schedule" (News story, Jan. 24):
Re "Don't dump on Alabama" (Editorial, Jan. 28):
The Star's recent story on chemical weapons disposal would be comical if not so serious.
Fact: There is no chemical weapons disposal facilities that have or will complete any operations "ahead of schedule." In 1985, Congress mandated completion for all chemical weapons disposal by 1994. Any date beyond is behind schedule, unless the Army ignores previous schedules and randomly establishes new ones as it slogs its way towards completion, which is exactly what it does — regularly. It is beyond ludicrous for Army officials to claim being ahead of anything. If they make 2012 at Anniston's incinerator, they will have completed the mission 18 years behind schedule — period!
There are also reassurances given that the $100 million incentive will, no way-no how, tempt the contractor to cut corners on safety to reap the bonus. Right, and Halliburton didn't rip off taxpayers in Iraq either!
Also, in The Star's editorial, the author states, "At the time it was built, some skeptics believed that there was no way the federal government would invest so much money in a facility and then tear it down. The law, they noted, could be changed, and in their opinion it would be — which, of course, it hasn't, and there's no indication whatsoever that it will."
Wrong. The 1985 law mandating dismantlement of the incinerator after the mission was amended by the 2000 Defense Authorization Act allowing agreements between governors and the Army to continue using these facilities ... "if the state in which a destruction facility is located issues the appropriate permit or permits for the destruction of such items at the facility." The "such items" include "chemical agents, munitions, or related materials."
Furthermore, the 1985 law required the facility be "dismantled." The amended 2000 law eliminates that specific requirement.
Before The Star accuses the "skeptics," myself included, of being incorrect, it should do its homework.
Craig Williams is director of the Chemical Weapons Working Group in Berea, Ky.