Anniston Star

Anniston Star
December 18, 2002

NRC committee chairman explains incineration report

By Amy Sieckmann
Star Staff Writer
12-18-2002

The chairman of the national committee that recently concluded incineration poses less risk to the community than continued chemical weapons storage does spent hours Tuesday evening explaining that conclusion to concerned citizens and incineration opponents.

About 50 people gathered at the Anniston City Meeting Center to question the accuracy of the report, how the committee reached its findings, and what its conclusions mean to Anniston residents.

Those in attendance mostly included activists opposed to incineration and members of the Citizen's Advisory Commission.

Dr. Charles Kolb, chairman of the Committee on Evaluation of Chemical Events at Army Chemical Agent Disposal Facilities, defended the report he and 12 other committee members wrote. Kolb also addressed questions on neutralization, an alternate form of disposal now being suggested for use at other chemical weapons destruction sites in the United States.

Kolb spent most of the meeting detailing the report and its recommendations. He concluded that it is his heartfelt personal opinion that incineration is the best choice for Anniston.

"The sooner you start destroying the stockpile, the better off you are," he told the crowd.
Kolb said the report issued Dec. 17 started out with a carefully chosen committee that examined hundreds of incidents involving chemical agent, reported by various governmental and concerned citizen's groups. From these reports, the committee selected seven incidents to examine in detail and two to study in great detail, Kolb said. The most common reasons accidents happened, he said, include miscommunication and problems following proper safety procedures.

Although the committee experienced some of those problems first-hand when it visited the facilities at the Johnston Atoll in the Pacific Ocean and in Tooele, Utah, the report said incineration poses less risk than storing the chemical weapons does.

"Although a few incidents at the demil facilities had released very small amounts of agent to the environment, over the same time period the stockpile storage facilities had released much larger amounts of chemical agent to the environment," Kolb said.

He added that monitoring levels at the facilities are highly protective of worker and community health and safety.

His information did not quell the anxiety of concerned residents and incineration opponents at the meeting.

One of the most pressing questions of the evening came from citizens concerned about whether Kolb could assure them no chemical agent would end up in their air, and about what information they could obtain to verify this for themselves.

Kolb said a charcoal filter system will be used in Anniston to guarantee their air is safe.

"Maintained properly, these filters should remove any agent or toxic material created in the incineration process," he said.

But he added, "it's the real world, and the best destruction system, if it's not done right, can go wrong."

The charcoal filter is being tested for the first time in Anniston's trial burns. The first time it will be used with live agent will be in Anniston, Kolb said.

"So we're being used as guinea pigs?" one resident called from the crowd.
Kolb said data on the results of the trial burns, and other public information about the incineration of chemical weapons, could be obtained through the state or at the local outreach office.

Holding orange signs that read, "What about maximum protection?" and carrying banners supporting neutralization, several activists charged the report contained inaccuracies. Kolb denied that charge. The activists also asked why neutralization could not be used in Anniston.

Just before the meeting, incineration opponents had gathered outside the meeting room to speak in front of television cameras about the report and in favor of the neutralization process.

Kolb said the report did not discuss neutralization because it was not charged to do so. He said neutralization has its own problems. No chemical weapons disposal process is without waste, he said.

"It is an across-the-board problem no matter what kind of process we use to clean the agent," Kolb said.

He later added in response to further questions that the National Research Council, under which his committee operated, has not ruled out neutralization. The Army has recommended neutralization for use at other chemical demil facilities.

The audience also pressed Kolb as to why the report did not analyze a March 30, 1998 incident in which a significant amount of chemical agent went into a chemical demil furnace at Tooele. An attorney at the meeting, representing the Chemical Weapons Working Group, which opposes incineration, said he has evidence that agent was released into the air in that incident.

Kolb cited Army reports saying the agent did not escape. He said for that and other reasons, the incident was not included in the report. The Star has had outside experts examine Army documents about that incident. Those experts determined evidence as to whether any agent escaped is inconclusive.

Other residents asked Kolb what the report means as far as Anniston receiving protective gear for local first responders. The report recommended improved safety training, equipment and emergency response plans. Kolb said specific recommendations on protective suits should be addressed by other area state and local emergency and environmental groups.