Yet, in the place notorious for the dirtiest air in Alabama — Anniston — the citizens are not being allowed to know the content of the air they are breathing. This is so in spite of the fact that advanced air monitors are available for deployment on the perimeter of the chemical weapons incinerator facility at the Anniston Army Depot. These monitors are accurate, give real-time readings, are relatively inexpensive, have been fully approved by the U.S. Army and been successfully deployed in Iraq, Europe, and the U.S. Their deployment in Anniston is supported by the U.S. Senate; Sen. Richard Shelby; Congressman Mike Rogers; noted Alabama environmentalists, such as Pete Conroy; the Calhoun County Commission; and one of Alabama’s leading newspapers, the Birmingham News. None of these are seeking to shut down the incinerator or replace existing monitors.
Incinerator Project Manager Tim Garrett and his predecessor, Steve DePuy, have said that nothing but steam is coming out the smokestack, so what do they have to fear from the use of these monitors?
If only steam is being emitted, these monitors will bear out what Garrett, DePuy, and the Army have asserted all along and will reassure the thousands of nearby residents in West Anniston and elsewhere in the area who have the right to insist that their children have clean air to breathe.
Just what is the Army afraid of? And why is Anniston content to remain “Toxic Town” when the deployment of these monitors could do so much to improve the image of the incinerator and the city that hosts it?
Rufus Kinney
Jacksonville