Anniston Star
July 31, 2003

Burning the governor

In our opinion
07-31-2003

It would be a good thing to have the official OK from Gov. Riley to move forward with the incineration of the chemical weapons at the Anniston Army Depot.

But as the governor correctly points out, the Army doesn't need his go ahead. Army officials, would however, have liked to have had the governor's approval for political reasons.

They needed his blessing if for nothing else than to take some political heat for what has long been a controversial issue.

Of course, Gov. Riley is savvy enough to understand this, thus he was savvy enough to ask for something in return. In this case that was the power to shut the incinerator down if the Army at any time drifted from previous agreements.

Well, that's not going to happen.

The Alabama Department of Environmental Management has given its final approval to the incinerator. And legally, the Army can move ahead.

The governor was right to ask for something in return from the Army. And the Army would have been wise to give it to him.