Anniston Star
August 13, 2002

Siegelman drops lawsuit delaying incinerator start: Governor believes that school protection demands are met

By Matthew Creamer
Star Staff Writer

Gov. Don Siegelman has quietly withdrawn his lawsuit against the chemical weapons incinerator.

Papers filed Friday in federal court in Birmingham effectively dismiss the action while leaving room for the governor to bring a similar lawsuit in the future. The move happened just days after the Federal Emergency Management Agency announced a $15 million plan for protecting Calhoun County schools, one of the lawsuit's central demands.

The legal action's sharpest teeth, a motion to hold up the incinerator, was withdrawn in July when FEMA released $7 million in funding for protective equipment for emergency responders and residents near the Anniston Army Depot's stockpile of chemical weapons. The agency's unwillingness to release the funds because of safety concerns led to filing of the lawsuit in February.

Described by aides as a reluctant litigant on this issue, Siegelman twice withdrew motions for injunction as soon as it seemed that standoffs over emergency preparations had ended. But the withdrawal of the entire lawsuit wasn't accompanied by the fanfare that has been typical of the other legal moves. An aide to the governor said that it wasn't meant to be a furtive move and that it wasn't announced to the press because it was a "formality."

"It was always planned," Siegelman legal advisor Ted Hosp said. "It was more of a formality."

School issues in any form are a delicate matter in an election year in a state where voters repeatedly rank education their No. 1 concern. Following its second withdrawal of the motion for injunction, the administration took care to assure schools officials that they hadn't been forgotten, almost immediately holding out the possibility of reviving the motions.

Hosp has said the governor wouldn't hesitate to file another lawsuit if needed and that he will turn his attention to upcoming permit modifications at the incinerator. The administration will have a lawyer at a public meeting tonight on agent trial burn plans, Hosp said. The meeting is at 6:30 at the Anniston City Meeting Center.

Were the lawsuit to remain, it would face challenges from the federal government in the form of a motion to dismiss. Calhoun County officials were less than thrilled about the news, but stopped short of criticizing it.

"I feel comfortable about the governor's support as well as Congressman Riley's and (U.S. Senators Jeff Sessions and Richard Shelby)," said Calhoun County Schools Superintendent Jacky Sparks. "I wouldn't say I'm happy about (the withdrawal of the lawsuit.)"

"If FEMA does what they say they're going to do, then it'll be great for the schoolchildren," said Calhoun County Commissioner Lea Fite. "If they don't, I hope the governor would intercede again."