Anniston Star
November 21, 2002

Decision clears way for neutralization in Kentucky

By Jason Landers
Star Staff Writer

A decision was made late Tuesday that should clear the way for the Army to destroy aging chemical weapons in Blue Grass, Ky., using an alternative technology to incineration.

Under Secretary of Defense E.C. "Pete" Aldridge Jr. has recommended that the Army plan on using neutralization to destroy the chemical stockpile there, an option unavailable in Anniston when the Army opted for incineration.

If accepted, neutralization, followed by supercritical water oxidation of secondary waste, would be the method implemented at Blue Grass, and oversight of the pilot program would fall to the Assembled Chemical Weapons Assessment Program.

The recommendation will be included in an environmental impact statement that sources say should be added to the Federal Register within the next few weeks.

Thirty days after the impact statement is added, Aldridge can consider the final technology decision.

Based on precedent, the recommendation will stand, said Greg Mahall, Army spokesman for Program Manager for Chemical Demilitarization, the branch of the Army that oversees the program.

"PMCD expects it to stand up at this point," Mahall said.

The decision was welcome news for Craig Williams, director of the Chemical Weapons Working Group - an organization that opposes incineration.

"It's long-awaited and certainly good news," Williams said, praising the decision Wednesday at the PMCD's Environmental Forum XI in Portland, Ore.

The forum was the last stop for Williams in a whirlwind tour that had him in Alabama Tuesday as a plaintiff in a lawsuit filed by 12 groups against the Anniston chemical weapons incinerator.

The lawsuit seeks a supplemental environmental impact statement for Anniston. According to Williams, the suit alleges that he Army has not properly assessed alternatives such as neutralization. It also claims the incinerator would "create an imminent and substantial danger to the environment and people in the population," and alleges the location of the incinerator discriminates against minorities.

While it is not included in the lawsuit, Williams said he hopes the legal action will force the Army to retrofit the facility for neutralization. "That's what we want ultimately," he said.

Mahall said Army policy is not to comment on litigation to which it is a party. "It is important to note," he said, "that the chemical stockpile disposal project has already eliminated 25 percent of the nation's total stockpile ... using the current technology (incineration)."