Anniston incinerator must pass on small measures, too

"The issues cited do not pose a risk to the public, the work force or the environment," said Timothy K. Garrett, the Army's site manager. "They are, rather, primarily administrative in nature."

Administrative - as in failing to close a container of hazardous waste.

Administrative - as in failing to properly mark seven 55-gallon drums of hazardous waste.

Administrative - as in letting a container of hazardous waste leak onto the floor of a munitions corridor.

Administrative - as in failing to inspect a leak detection alarm.

You get the idea.

Garrett's response suggests these are kind of nit-picking observations from the Alabama Department of Environmental Management. Yet, as Garrett surely knows, when it comes to environmental rules and compliance, the devil is often in the details.

While there are certainly violations that pose more of an imminent threat to the public than these, Alabama residents should expect and demand that the incinerator complex abide by all the rules, from the smallest to the largest.

What makes Garrett's comment unsettling is knowing the Anniston Army Depot's environmental record. Without even taking the incinerator into account, the depot, which builds and repairs tanks and other equipment, has been far from a model citizen on environmental issues.

Indeed, an environmental group cited the depot as one of the state's worst polluters, saying it had refused to get required permits and continually violated environmental rules. When challenged, the depot claimed it had "sovereign immunity" from enforcement.

Garrett's fallback position - that violations were "administrative in nature" - suggests he is not taking the state's environmental interests seriously enough. However, his statement goes on to insist that's not the case. Garrett said the incinerator will review its procedures, retrain its workers if necessary and resolve the problems. Moreover, he said he welcomes ADEM's oversight and the opportunity to fine-tune the incinerator's operations.

That's better - assuming the expectation is that no environmental violation is acceptable.