Anniston Star
February 15, 2003

ADEM dropped from incinerator lawsuit

By Jason Landers
Star Staff Writer
02-15-2003

A coalition of plaintiffs has dropped the Alabama Department of Environmental Management from a federal lawsuit they recently filed challenging the Army's chemical weapons incinerator.

The plaintiffs, a consortium of public interest, environmental and religious groups that include the Sierra Club and Southern Christian Leadership Conference, filed suit against the incinerator in the U.S. District Court in Birmingham last November.

Friday, they dropped allegations that state environmental regulators acted improperly in granting the Army and Westinghouse Corporation a state environmental permit for operating the incinerator.

"Apparently the plaintiffs re-evaluated their federal court claims against ADEM and decided not to pursue them," said assistant state attorney general Tom Johnston, who represented the department and its director.

"Whatever their reason, litigation of this nature is expensive, and we are pleased that ADEM is relieved of the threat of having to commit scarce resources toward defending the case," Johnston said.

He added that the department is ready to defend its permitting decision, which has been upheld in previous appeals before the state Environmental Management Commission, Court of Civil Appeals and Supreme Court.

The Chemical Weapons Working Group, a Kentucky-based anti-incineration group, is among the plaintiffs. Its director, Craig Williams, said Friday that, "Upon closer review of the complaint and advise from various attorneys, we felt it most appropriate to target the federal defendants and remove ADEM."

Williams said dropping the department from the suit "avoids any perception of trying to take another run at the permit itself rather than the issues within the complaint."

Among those issues, the plaintiffs are asking a federal judge to order the Army and Westinghouse to develop a supplemental environmental impact statement for the facility. Such a statement likely would delay startup of the incinerator and could ultimately lead to a change in the destruction method.

Plaintiffs also are charging that the Army and Westinghouse violated the federal act that gives the state authority to permit the facility. Williams and the other plaintiffs claim the violations present a substantial danger to workers, the environment and community.

The complaint has been assigned a judge and case number. Williams said a court date has not been set.