Incinerator opponents ask for shutdown, probe

By Nathan Solheim
Assistant Metro Editor
02-17-2004

Anti-incineration groups seized on a recent incinerator shutdown to ask a high-ranking Department of Defense official to stop operations and investigate the chemical weapons incinerator at the Anniston Army Depot. The facility is currently destroying M-55 rockets filled with deadly GB nerve agent, or sarin, and stopped operations Feb. 4 after two agent alarms sounded. The first was in a room where agent was thought unlikely to be and the second was in the facility’s medical center after two workers were brought there for voluntary blood tests. The two workers were exposed to trace amounts of agent well below Army standards, incinerator officials said at the time. Craig Williams, director of the Chemical Weapons Working Group, and several local anti-incinerator groups signed a letter asking Michael Wynne, the principal under secretary of defense for acquisitions, technology and logistics, to take action based on a laundry list of concerns they have with the process. A dozen other environmental and religious groups also signed the letter. Critics want an investigation of several issues, including a lack of information flowing out of the incinerator about its operations, the Feb. 4 incident and agent alarms inside the facility. The letter states: "the operational history at ANCDF, although brief when measured against its 10-plus years of anticipated operations, indicates serious technical problems which, if left unaddressed, will likely lead to serious consequences for the workers and the community. Comparing ANCDF operations thus far with the Congressional mandate for the Army to provide ‘maximum protection’ to workers and the surrounding community, we believe the Army has fallen far short of the mark." A number of local organizations signed the letter including, Families Concerned about Nerve Gas Incineration, the Alabama and Calhoun County chapters of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and Friends of Terrapin Creek. David Christian, a member of Saving Alabama’s Future Environment and a local architect, signed the letter and said in a release that the Army has clamped down on information about the incinerator. "Unless the Army is forced to admit the details of events like shutdowns or worker exposures, we get piecemeal and misleading information, if we get any information at all," Christian said in a release. "Why do they feel like the community most affected can’t be trusted with the truth?" It’s unclear how the request will be taken, but Williams said Wynne has oversight of the entire chemical disposal program and has the power to investigate the claims. Williams further said the incinerator has not lived up to its billing and has not incorporated lessons learned from two other incinerators at Johnston Island and Tooele, Utah. Asked whether the Army should be given some consideration because they have basically operated under shakedown, or fine-tuning their destruction process, since beginning operations, Williams said any issues should already have been worked out. "There is the incessant mantra from this program that lessons learned have been incorporated and the problems at Tooele have been fixed," Williams said. "I can tell you we are in contact with dozens of employees at the Tooele plant and the problems haven’t been fixed and the claim by the Anniston folks that those problems have been addressed and the corrective actions have been incorporated is manifestly inaccurate when measured against the empirical data we can get out of that plant." Incinerator officials had not seen the letter on Monday. "I do not have any comment on behalf of ANCDF," said Mike Abrams, an Army spokesman at the incinerator. "We will do anything our higher headquarters or the Department of Defense requests of us, but at this point, not having seen the letter, it would be premature of me to predict any management move at Anniston or our higher headquarters." Workers at the Anniston Chemical Agent Disposal Facility have been destroying tons of Cold War-era chemical weapons at an Army incinerator since Aug. 9. As of Sunday, the Army had destroyed 18,537 rockets and 20,684 gallons of sarin.

About Nathan Solheim

Assistant Metro Editor Nathan Solheim is Minnesota native and a University of Georgia graduate.