Anniston Star
May 13, 2003

Incinerator start-up draws near

By Nathan Solheim and Sara Clemence
Star Staff Writers
05-13-2003

The Anniston Army Depot's chemical weapons incinerator could be ready to begin destroying tons of chemical munitions in June, military officials say, but that does not mean the burning will begin then.

Several political, legal and regulatory requirements have to be met first. Among them, various officials have to give Congress 30 days notice, approve state environmental permits and complete community safety preparations.

Some of these issues have been addressed; others could be weeks away from resolution. Meanwhile, Calhoun County residents have begun to receive safety equipment by the trunk-load.

The Army has not made any time frame public, but an idling incinerator is costing the government $300,000 per day in payroll and operating expenses, Army officials said.

Mike Abrams, spokesman for the Anniston Chemical Agent Disposal Facility, said the Army will conduct a readiness review later this month. Officials from the Army, other federal agencies, and Westinghouse, which operates the incinerator, will conduct an inspection to make sure that the facility and its workforce are ready to begin incinerating live agent.

"They want to be able to verify, or validate, that we have prepared out work force for operations," Abrams said. "It's an endorsement that we have done what we need to do on the site."

On May 21st, the facility will begin to operate under heightened security, but only to get into a "safety frame of mind," Abrams said. "Nobody should implythat operations are imminent or that we are doing something secretly."

On Notice

Among the several legal requirements, the Army must notify Congress before incineration can begin, said Mike Parker, acting director of the Army Chemical Materials Agency.

After the notification, the Army must wait at least 30 days before starting up, Parker said. His staff is preparing the paperwork for notification, although he does not know when it will be submitted, he said.

"I'd like to give a certain date," Parker said last week. "We've got all these actions that need to be satisfied, and when they are, we'll pick a date and put in the public domain."

To the Letter

Sen. Richard Shelby wrote a letter in January to then-Secretary of the Army Thomas White outlining the safety concerns that would have to be addressed before the senator would support starting up the incinerator.

The letter, which has become the central working document for Army officials and emergency management officials, outlined four general safety requirements.

One condition dealing with activating warning sirens has been met. Exposure standards and school protections are actively being addressed, officials say. A fourth requirement, dealing with some of the area's most vulnerable people, has yet to be settled.

Shelby's letter demanded that the special needs population ­ people who are disabled, ill, under-aged, or otherwise unable to respond to a standard emergency plan ­ be protected.

Delois Champ, the interim director of the Calhoun County Emergency Management Agency, said Monday that the county would have a contractor deliver protective equipment to people who can't leave their homes, and would provide on-site training in its use. The contract has not been approved yet.

The Army Corps of Engineers would oversee other needs, said David Ford, a spokesman for the Calhoun County Emergency Management Agency. They could include modifying a home or installing a remote-controlled air filter for a bedridden resident.

But while the Corps has been assessing some of those needs, Ford said nothing has been finalized yet on Corps' role.

Toxicity

A second part of Shelby's letter addressed chemical weapons toxicity thresholds, known as Acute Exposure Guideline Levels. The Army had used toxicity standards that were developed in the 1970s, based on studies of healthy, 18-year-old male soldiers, not a regular population.

Shelby and others have argued that the Army should use more recent, broader standards from the Environmental Protection Agency in emergency planning. Under these standards, the nerve agent VX is considered several times more toxic than it is under the old standards.

Champ said the higher toxicity levels have been implemented in the county's disaster models. It remains unclear how the toxicity levels will affect the size of the pink zones, those closest to the depot.

The Army is expected to adopt the new standards later this month, she said.

"We're probably better prepared with the (standards) than most other counties in the country," Champ said.

School Over-pressurization

A third issue in Shelby's letter is the over-pressurization of 31 schools and community centers within a 12-mile radius of the incinerator at a cost of $26.9 million. Over-pressurization of an area inside the schools keeps any harmful gases from leaking in.

Officials said the contracts for the work have been awarded, the work has begun and should be completed by October.

Calhoun County School Superintendent Jacky Sparks, a major proponent of the demand for over-pressurization outlined in Shelby's letter, said he was pleased with the progress so far.

"It's moving along very quickly," Sparks said. "I think they're making a big effort to push it ahead."

Warning sirens

The final concern in Shelby's letter is the activation of the local warning system in case of an accident at the stockpile. In February, the Army agreed to activate the siren instead of letting the Calhoun County Emergency Management Agency do it. The activation of the sirens is generally expected to save county residents about eight minutes in preparation time.

Reached by phone last week in Washington, D.C., Shelby declined to speak in specifics about the contents of his letter, but did say safety efforts are moving forward.

"They haven't told me when they want to do this (start up the incinerator)," Shelby said. "I've laid out these concerns, and they are trying to meeting them and those are the concerns of the people who live in the area."

The State of the State

Before the incinerator can begin operations, the state environmental agency also must give a go-ahead.

The Alabama Department of Environmental Management must OK the permit for the Army's most recent plans to start destroying chemical weapons on a trial basis.

Those plans involved a change from the past. The facility was designed to dismantle the munitions and destroy the components in separate furnaces. But the military wants to break some weapons up and burn the parts together, because some of the liquid agent in the weapons has gelled and cannot be drained out.

The approval for the permit is in its final stages, said Jim Grassiano, chief of the Alabama Department of Environmental Management's governmental facilities section. Although there may be some conditions on the permit, he said, "there's nothing that's going to be a big surprise to [the Army]."

Abrams said the first stages of destruction could be compared to a dress rehearsal. The Army plans to begin destroying at a slow rate, perhaps two munitions an hour.

Lawsuits and Protection

In addition to the hurdles presented by legal requirements and political demands, two of several lawsuits intended to stop incineration are pending in federal courts in Birmingham and Washington, D.C. They were filed by more than 20 organizations that oppose incineration, including the Chemical Weapons Working Group and Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation.

The lawsuits are at the beginning stages. Plaintiffs have filed for injunctive relief to stop the incineration. Doing so may help speed up an otherwise slow legal system, said Craig Williams, of the Chemical Weapons Working Group.

"Injunctive relief is sought in both (lawsuit), which should expedite the process," Williams said.

Protective Equipment

Meanwhile, the efforts to distribute safety equipment such as protective hoods, air filters and shelter-in-place kits appear to be on schedule.

Champ said Monday equipment should be offered to all zones by July 11. Centech, the company in charge of delivery, started doling out equipment to the areas just outside the pink zone on May 11. The area furthest from the incinerator starts getting equipment May 26.