The state environmental agency has refused to allow waste from an Arkansas
chemical weapons incinerator to come to Alabama for disposal.
The Alabama Department of Environmental Management last week told Chemical
Waste Management, which operates a hazardous waste landfill in Emelle, that
it could not accept a tanker of decontamination fluid from Pine Bluff Arsenal.
The tanker truck was turned back at Emelle without unloading
“I think they shipped it with the intention of getting the department’s
approval while it was en route, but the decision was made to not let them
dispose of that product,” said Scott Hughes, ADEM spokesman.
The Anniston Chemical Agent Disposal Facility must incinerate its decontamination
solution, Hughes said.
“I think the feeling was that since we were requiring Anniston to dispose
of its waste on site, Pine Bluff should be able to take care of its waste
on site instead of shipping its waste to Emelle,” he said.
The notice was faxed to Emelle Oct 15, Hughes said.
Pine Bluff officials were not available for comment Tuesday afternoon.
There are eight chemical weapons disposal sites across the United States.
At three of those sites —Anniston, Pine Bluff and Tooele, Utah — incinerators
are being used to destroy Cold War-era chemical weapons stockpiles.
Operations at the Anniston incinerator began in August.
Pine Bluff has not begun destroying weapons. The facility is in the middle of surrogate trial burns, testing the furnaces by trying to destroy substitute materials.