Chattanooga Times Free Press
December 6, 2001

Chemical weapons close to home

By Barry Graham
Staff Writer

It is not in New York City, but some people call it Ground Zero. The name is used by those who live near Alabama's Anniston Army Depot, about 130 miles southwest of Chattanooga.

For 40 years, the depot has stored chemical weapons now totaling 2,254 tons, about 7 percent of the nation's stockpile. But the Army plans to dispose of the depot's mustard and sarin gases and other lethal substances next year by burning, and that has nearby residents concerned. In the event of a terrorist attack, there might be cause for concern as far away as Chattanooga, according to a National Weather Service spokesman.

"It would depend on a lot of factors," Bernard Meisner, assistant chief of the Southern Region Scientific Services Division, said last week. "It depends on the wind. The longer it blows, the more diffuse the substances would get."
Although he acknowledged a possible danger, Mr. Meisner said he could not answer accurately without knowing the concentration of the poisons, or how long they might remain active.

"I brought up that question after (the accident at Russian nuclear plant) Chernobyl," he said. "At first, people seemed surprised that I was talking about it ... and then they started calling me about it."

On a recent Sunday evening, Anniston resident Mike Sisk drank sweet tea with his fianceé, Laura Kileff, as they sat at a table outside their trailer. It was sunset but still warm enough to relax outdoors, even in late November. They were surrounded by nine picturesque acres of land owned by Mr. Sisk's parents. The couple has four dogs, and a neighbor has three horses.

Another neighbor has tons of chemical weapons.

"We're scared," Ms. Kileff said. "So are other people. People want to leave, but it's hard to sell, because this is driving property prices down. Leaving isn't viable for us financially."

U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., said last week he wants the chemical weapons destroyed in "the safest possible way." Army officials have said they believe incineration is the quickest, safest means of disposal. Others argue that it would be quicker and safer to disassemble the weapons and neutralize the chemicals.

Sen. Shelby said he received a U.S. Defense Department letter dated Oct. 11 committing $40.5 million to resolve "critical safety matters" at the Anniston depot as quickly as possible.

"I believe the Army will do all it can to destroy the weapons safely," he said.
Lt. Col. Bruce E. Williams, the depot's commander of chemical activity, has said Army officials are concerned about the possibility of chemicals leaking from the concrete igloos where they are stored. He said the stockpile should be destroyed.

About 75,000 people live within a 10-mile radius of the depot. About 35,000 of them live too close to the base to be evacuated in the event of a poison gas leak, according to The New York Times. Some residents said they don't feel reassured by the federal government's safety provisions for them, which include the issuing of duct tape and plastic to seal windows and doors.

"They assume we're just ignorant," Mr. Sisk said.

Col. Gerald Bates, the depot's garrison commander, did not respond to a written list of questions submitted by the Chattanooga Times Free Press. Jay Johnson, the depot's director of law enforcement and security, said the questions couldn't be answered for security reasons.

For some residents, fear of an accident has become secondary to fear of a possible terrorist attack.

Keith Howland's house is slightly more than a mile from the depot. "Look," he said, pointing. "It would be easy for somebody to park right here, then climb up that little hill right over there with a mortar and take out these igloos that have the nerve gas."

There are 1,300 igloos at the depot, only 155 of which contain chemical weapons, according to the Army. There is a depot map on which the igloos with chemical weapons are shaded in gray. Mr. Howland's house is perhaps half a mile from those igloos. "By the time any alarm goes off to warn us about poison gas," he said, "I'll already be breathing it in."

In the past, when faced with questions about possible dangers from the weapons stockpile, Army officials responded by saying the only way anything could go wrong would be if someone were to crash a plane into the depot. After the hijackings and crashes of Sept. 11, those words are not reassuring.

Ms. Kileff and Mr. Sisk are members of an organization called Families Concerned About Nerve Gas Incineration. The group argues the depot's chemical weapons should be "destroyed by an alternative method ... that is safer for the surrounding area than incineration."

Army officials have said depot security has been beefed up, but have declined to give details. On a Sunday evening the gates were open, and the only visible deterrent to intruders was a sign warning against trespassing.

"That is a concern, too," Sen. Shelby said. "I know they have added security. I guess you could always ask that question, if security would be sufficient if there was to be a terrorist attack. I think it would be, but it is a concern."
Sen. Shelby said he has confidence in the depot's security.

His confidence is not shared by Lonnie Coker, who has owned a trailer park in the area for 13 years. So many of his tenants have left, he said, that he estimates the park's monthly revenue has dropped from $2,700 to $300.
"People moved because of it," he said of the depot. "It scared them."

Sitting at the table outside her home, Laura Kileff can drink her tea and watch her dogs run around. "Everywhere else they have these weapons, it's always someplace remote," she said. "Here, it's at the back of my house."