ADEM cites chemical weapons incinerator for 17 violations of state regulations, permit: Most of the findings are administrative, not dangerous to people, environment

By Nathan Solheim
Assistant Metro Editor
04-14-2004

The Alabama Department of Environmental Management has cited the Anniston chemical weapons incinerator for violating the facility’s permit and state laws, the Army said Tuesday. State environmental officials sent a 10-page letter to incinerator officials outlining about 17 violations of the state’s hazardous waste regulations and the facility’s permit that have occurred since October 2003. The incinerator, which has been destroying M-55 rockets filled deadly GB nerve agent, or sarin, on and off since Aug.9, can continue with its disposal operations, an ADEM official said. “Most of the items are of an administrative nature and would not lead to human health or ecological concerns,” said Jim Grassiano, chief of ADEM’s engineering service section. “The facility is under intense regulatory scrutiny, so the findings would not be unexpected, but they need to be resolved.” The list ranges from poor record keeping to not labeling 55-gallon drums correctly. ADEM also found several incinerator employees were not properly filling out work critique forms and that some waste pumps were working properly. ADEM also wants timelines showing dates for several inspections incinerator workers are to perform under their permit. Most of the violations were reported to ADEM by incinerator officials from the Army and Westinghouse, the government contractor at the billion-dollar facility. Bob Love, Westinghouse plant manager, said he’s already addressed and fixed several issues. “We don’t disagree with what’s in there,” Love said. “Most of it were things that we found.” ADEM, according to its notice, had been monitoring the incinerator and its workforce 24 hours a day and seven days a week to determine the facility’s compliance with the state’s regulations and its adherence to the permit. The incinerator will continue to process its cache of M-55 rockets while the issues with ADEM are worked out, Army officials said. The Army has 30 days to respond to ADEM’s letter. “There are still some discussions we need to have with ADEM, to find out if what we’ve done is acceptable,” Love said. The incinerator has destroyed 22,671 M-55 rockets and 24,776 gallons of sarin.

About Nathan Solheim

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