Birmingham News
September 5, 2003

Opinion

Containing the truth:  Incinerator leaks show need for candor from Army

09/05/03

Journalists were treated Thursday to a demonstration of the nerve gas monitors at the Army's chemical weapons incinerator in Anniston. It was an effort to counter concerns generated by several sarin leaks at the facility, including one that the Army insisted for weeks had just been a false alarm.

The Army's demonstration was a good first step. It's important for the public to have a full understanding of what happens at the incinerator, and members of the media are crucial conduits. But the need for the Army to be open and to maintain its credibility in its day-to-day operations can't be overstated.

The Army now acknowledges that, in addition to thousands of false alarms, 10 actual sarin leaks have been detected at the Anniston incinerator. But it says all of the leaks were in pressurized areas that should have kept any contamination from escaping. Officials also suggest that such leaks within the incinerator complex are inevitable, and that they shouldn't be of any great concern to workers or the public.

If a leak were ever not contained at the incinerator, the Army promised, the public will be notified quickly - unlike a case in Utah, where residents weren't notified for hours after sarin leaked from a chemical weapons incinerator.

"That will not happen here," said Tim Garrett, the Army's project manager at the incinerator.

That, of course, should go without saying. But the fact that Garrett even has to make such a vow shows how much work is needed to build public confidence. This is the first of the Army's chemical incinerators to be operated in a heavily populated area, and it's not a short-time operation.

The incinerator's work to destroy tons and tons of chemical weapons is expected to continue a decade. The Army will need the public's trust over the long haul, and that won't happen if people think for one second that the Army is concealing the truth from them.

Let's hope that the Army did more than demonstrate its nerve gas monitors on Thursday. Let's hope it demonstrated that its focus from now on is going to be containing leaks, not containing the truth.