Anniston Star
August 17, 2003

Protesters march against incinerator

By Brandon Tubbs
Star Staff Writer
08-17-2003

Protesters march down Noble Street Saturday to oppose incineration of chemical weapons at the Anniston Army Depot. Photo: Kevin Qualls/The Anniston Star

About 65 people marched along Noble Street in Anniston at mid-morning Saturday, protesting the startup of the chemical weapons incinerator at Anniston Army Depot.

“No more burning, No more lies, Better way, Neutralize,” the marchers chanted.

A small black dog bore his own sign: “Got a gas mask my size?”

Noble Street was virtually empty of traffic as the protest began. Two depot workers and a large variety of news media appeared to be the only people who turned out to watch.

Led by the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, vice president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the protesters walked to Zinn Park where they were joined by about 40 more people for prayer and speeches.

Their message: Stop incineration; use a different method to destroy the weapons.

They circulated a petition to Gov. Bob Riley during the rally, which was signed by around 60 people, including out-of-state protesters. The petition asks the governor to stop the incineration and not restart it until all safety measures are in place, including full equipment and training for first-responders. It also calls for an independent safety comparison of incineration with non-incineration technology.

The Army began using its $1 billion incinerator to destroy the first of 2,254 tons of chemical weapons stockpiled at the Anniston Army Depot on Aug. 9. Saturday’s protest was the first since the process began.

Speakers and others at the rally said incineration is unsafe and adds to the environmental problems of Anniston. The community is unprepared, they said, and so are first-responders.

Rufus Kinney, an incineration opponent from Jacksonville, told the audience harmful chemicals are released from the incinerator’s smokestacks.

Martin Luther King III, who was scheduled to attend, did not. Craig Williams of the Chemical Working Group, one of the organizers of the protest, said King was in Philadelphia.

Protesters had traveled from the surrounding states of Tennessee, Georgia, Mississippi to join local residents.

The Rev. Pamela Cheney of the United Church of Christ traveled from Cleveland, Ohio, to protest the burn. As she waited for the march to begin, the 47-year-old Anniston native said her church group does not support incineration. She has family living in Jacksonville, she said, and “I’m doing what I can for our family.”

Cheney said she’s concerned about long-range unknown consequences of incineration for the area’s children. She pointed to problems caused by past industrial activity here.

“Imagine my horrors down here eating fish out of Choccolocco Creek and Coosa — who knows what we were doing to ourselves,” she said, referring to PCB contamination of fish in those waterways. “And you just have to wonder, when is enough going to be enough.”

The Rev. Carlos Woodard is pastor of the 100-member congregation of Wings of Faith on Clydesdale Avenue. Some 80 percent of his congregation live in the pink zone, the area closest to the incinerator, he said. He lives in the zone, and the church is in it too, he said as he waited to carry the lead sign in the march.

“Burning Chem Weapons is Dead Wrong,” the sign, bearing a skull and crossbones, read.

“They’re scared,” Woodard said of his congregation. “Most of them have school-aged children and if anything happens to go wrong, it would wipe out an entire generation.”

Elderly residents cannot put up duct tape and plastic in their home as the Army advises, he said, if there is a chemical release from the incinerator. His church is looking into ways of helping them prepare, he said.

“Let’s use the safest method that helps us,” Woodard said. He named the alternative process of neutralization, which uses water and chemicals to dilute and deactivate the toxic substances.

“This is stupid,” Williams said of the protest during his speech. He told the audience he was “preaching to the choir” and asked why “the moral leaders” were not present.

After he finished talking, however, Williams said he was pleased with the turnout. The startup of the incinerator a week ago probably deflated some people, he said. “The success is measured by the message, not numbers,” he said.

Williams told the crowd the monitoring systems on the incinerator’s smokestacks are outdated. He also told the crowd that of the eight weapons storage facilities in the United States, four have chosen neutralization over incineration to destroy the weapons. Anniston should have that choice, he said. The incinerator still could be retrofitted for neutralization, he said.

Williams said he and others will continue to push to stop incineration through legal action, education and political advocacy.

Speaker Brian Miller, a 16-year-old senior at Anniston High School, told the crowd he’s concerned that even with restrictions that limit burning to evenings and weekends, he and other students will be exposed to chemical agent in the event of an accident.

Miller plays alto saxophone in the high school band. He estimates 300 people involved in after-school activities face potential exposure if something happens.

Ken Rollins, who works in the igloos at the Anniston Army Depot, sat watching the parking lot of the Anniston Meeting Center as the march began. Rollins said he didn’t have anything better to do.

Rollins likened the protest to someone calling 911 because there’s a bomb in the street. A bomb squad gathers to contain and detonate the bomb, he said, but protesters come in and say, “hold it, we’ve got an alternative way.” In Vietnam, he got sprayed by Agent Orange, Rollins said. But he wants incineration to go forward.

Bob and Jill Gray of Golden Springs marched and attended the rally with their 13-year-old son and 9-year-old daughter.

Gray said many things about incineration do not add up for him. The inaccurate arithmetic includes the lack of first-responder preparedness and the lack of public preparedness.

“What do you do with the family reunion if you live in the pink zone?” he asked.

Jill Gray worries about chemical effects on children that could harm any future grandchildren.

Saturday’s protest was the third time in two years the SCLC has demonstrated against the incinerator.

Fred D. Taylor, a national SCLC coordinator, said the organization is fighting for the safety of residents, and against environmental injustice and looking for an alternative.

“Because as Dr. King said, injustice to anyone is a threat to justice for everyone, everywhere else,” Taylor said.