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Local
News
Anniston
warned about mercury contamination
By Dan Whisenhunt
Star Staff Writer
09-01-2006
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A national watchdog group is warning about the possible dangers of mercury contamination when Anniston begins to burn mustard agent at its chemical weapons incinerator. The Kentucky-based Chemical Weapons Working Group has issued a report suggesting Anniston use neutralization to destroy mustard agent. That would prevent the emissions produced by burning the weapons in the existing incinerator, director Craig Williams said. Neutralization already has been employed at the Bluegrass Army Depot in Kentucky. Mercury was discovered in containers of liquefied mustard agent at an incinerator in Tooele, Utah, this year, prompting the Army to test the entire stockpile, Army spokesman Greg Mahall said. The Army does not know why mercury, which is not a byproduct of mustard agent, was found in the rockets, Mahall said. CWWG is asking the Army to consider a neutralization process that involves breaking down the mustard agent with warm water over time and finding a way to treat the byproduct or store it safely. Anniston currently has 1.9 million pounds of mustard agent in storage, according to Michael Abrams, spokesman for Anniston Chemical Activity which oversees the incinerator. He anticipates the incineration of the mustard agent will begin in the next two years. As of Aug. 30, the Anniston facility has destroyed 2 percent of its VX nerve agent, and has destroyed all the GB-filled rockets and artillery shells formerly stored there. Unlike other incinerators around the country, most of the mustard agent in Anniston is contained in assembled weapons, Mahall said. Williams said the Army constantly is altering its timetable for destruction of these weapons and that the longer it takes to get rid of them, the more risk is posed to the community. Mahall said the system that's in place for destroying these weapons is solid and said there is a testing process in place that will remove any mustard agent containing mercury from the incineration loop. Rufus Kinney, a member of the local group Families Concerned about Nerve Gas Incineration, argues Anniston should neutralize mustard agent in a new facility next to the incinerator in order to speed up the process for destroying those weapons. "At the current projections (the incinerator) is going to be used for another 10 years," Kinney said. Abrams said the Army wants Anniston's entire weapons stockpile destroyed by 2010, unless funding is altered by the Global War on Terrorism or a regional disaster like a hurricane. Mahall said the number of questions left unanswered by the CWWG proposal undermines its credibility as an alternative to incineration. Williams said CWWG still has many questions about the effectiveness of its plan because the Army will not provide some information on the effectiveness of its incineration program. "The purpose of the report is to try and compel the Army to perform due diligence of the fundamental questions," Williams said. He added most of what information CWWG has gathered has come from lawsuits over the last two years. Mahall said the Army has made CWWG go through the Freedom of Information Act process more often than other groups, because of those lawsuits. "I would say that is a somewhat cumbersome process at times," Mahall said. "I wouldn't say there's been a reluctance to give them that information. It's just to make sure that information is readily available and provided to our legal counsel to be used in our defense." Mahall said the mercury issue is not a problem, in his opinion. Kinney pointed to Anniston's problems with PCBs and lead contamination as evidence the mercury threat should not be taken lightly. "We know that mercury is going to come out of that stack day and night in amounts that are going to finish off west Anniston," Kinney said.
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About Dan Whisenhunt
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Dan Whisenhunt covers Calhoun County and the city of Anniston for The Star. |
Contact Dan Whisenhunt
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Fax: E-mail: |
256-235-3547
256-241-1991 dwhisenhunt@annistonstar.com |