Defense Environment Alert
August 12, 2003

CITIZENS DECRY RULING AGAINST INCINERATOR RESTRAINING ORDER MOTION

Citizen activists are objecting to a federal judge's decision last week that allowed the Army to proceed with its plans to start incinerating within days chemical weapons stockpiled in Anniston, AL. The activists are vowing to continue their fight for the use of a non-incineration destruction technology at the Anniston Army Depot, including pursing other legal action.

Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson, who sits or) the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, July 8 denied a motion by several citizen groups for a temporary restraining order against the Army. The groups, which include the Chemical Weapons Working Group (CWWG), Sierra Club and a chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, argued that the Army has not yet implemented several community safety measures and thus beginning incineration now would put hundreds of area residents at risk.

Specifically, the citizens argued that persons with special needs, such as the elderly or handicapped, who live near the incinerator have very limited means of evacuating or sheltering in place in the event of an accident or unexpected release of chemical warfare agent, "despite assurances that such capabilities would be in place prior to initiation of incineration activities." Although reports vary, records indicate that as many as 750 to 1,800 people in the Anniston area may have special needs, according to the citizens' motion.

Additionally, public schools in Anniston have just opened for the new school year, but the over- pres surizatio n of the schools is not expected to be complete until October. "In addition, if an accident occurs before over-pressurization is completed parents are very likely to go to school to retrieve their children, which is exactly what emergency planners want to avoid," the motion says. "The resulting chaos will cause unnecessary injuries and deaths."

Also, businesses and employees located near the Anniston Army Depot have not yet received protective hoods and three-day shelter-in-place kits, the motion says.

And, finally, the Anniston area already has significant contamination from polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and incineration of the chemical weapons will result in the emission of additional PCBs, the citizens allege.

But Jackson "was not convinced that the incinerator presented an 'imminent' danger to the community and therefore we did not meet the burden of proof requited for a Restraining Order," CWWG Director Craig Williams said in a statement after the ruling. "Our argument that the objective of the law was to 'prevent' harm, not wait until after it happens, was not accepted by him."

The Army announced its plans July 31 to within a week begin burning sarin-filled M-55 rockets at the Anniston incinerator, following state regulators approval of an operating permit. The Army says it intends to start operations utilizing a "limited burn" approach until certain schools and community facilities are overpressurized this fall.

Under this approach, the Army will only process M-55 rockets containing nerve agent GB, also known as sarin. The rockets will be punched, drained of GB agent, and sheared on a continual basis. The sheared rocket pieces will be disposed of in the deactivation furnace system in accordance with the facility's permit. Rocket lots that have been identified as potentially containing gelled agent will not be processed during this initial period.

The GB agent drained from the rockets will be collected and stored in the agent collection system, and then disposed of in the liquid incinerator only during certain pre-announced periods that will be limited to weekends and the hours of 6 pm to 6 am on weekdays, the Army says.

Once the school and community facility over-pressurization projects are completed, the Army says it will ramp up to full operations. "In addition, the Army will continue to implement actions previously agreed to with state and local officials related to the special needs population; the activation of sirens, tone alert radios and the Emergency Alert System; and the use of updated toxicity thresholds for community emergency preparedness planning," the Army said in a July 31 press release.

"Our community has been waiting a very long time for us to begin safely treating and disposing of the chemical weapons that have been stored at Anniston since 196 1," Timothy K. Garrett, the government's site project manager, said in the press release. "We have a work force of more than 745 well trained and highly motivated government and contractor personnel. The team and the facility are ready for us to commence operations."

But the activists say Jackson's decision marks a sad day for the nation. The Army, state regulators and many federal officials "call the dangers of incineration 'speculative,' even 'acceptable.' They trust the trial burns and permit process to weed out all the problems," Williams said Aug. 9. "But just yesterday [Aug. 8] we find out that the Utah chemical weapons incinerator, after seven years of operations, failed its VX trial burn for PCBs and dioxins! This is totally unacceptable, especially for a community like Anniston, already overburdened by these toxics."

Williams said Utah state regulators have affirmed that the Army's chemical weapons incinerator in Tooele, UT, emitted levels of PCBs higher than those allowed by federal standards, and that one remedy to the problem may be to reduce the throughput rate. That, said Williams, should give Anniston officials pause.

The Anniston depot has 2,254 tons of GB and VX nerve agents and mustard agent in hundreds of thousands of rockets, artillery shells, mortars, land mines and large containers.