Published August 22. 2005 6:01AM

Sibert ranks first nationally in weapons, security risk

By Kim Craft
Times Staff Writer
A study commissioned by the Department of Defense ranked the former Camp Sibert as the top site of its kind nationally in potential hazards associated with leftover chemical weapons and security risks.

Camp Sibert's top ranking was detailed in a report the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers sent to the Alabama Department of Environmental Management and led to the state agency issuing a cleanup order two weeks ago to the Corps.

Camp Sibert was the largest chemical training base during World War II and encompassed 37,035 acres near Attalla in Etowah County and near Steele in St. Clair County.

ADEM based the state-directed cleanup order on information contained in a chemical weapons and security study.

"The former Camp Sibert was ranked No. 1 nationally," ADEM's order stated.

The scoring system used in the study showed Camp Sibert scored a 35, the maximum number of points, in security risks, and it achieved a 96 on a scale of 100 in the chemical weapons hazard evaluation.

Live mortar discovery led to top ranking
Corps spokesman Pat Robbins, with the agency's Mobile District, said "the reason Camp Sibert got such

a high ranking" is because a round with chemical material was found on the site in 2002 - and it was in the middle of a field where there is no perimeter fencing.

Robbins said there were 92 sites evaluated in the nationwide study. All are part of the Formerly Used Defense Sites program established in 1986 by Congress to clean up former military properties.

"The situation really hasn't changed just because the report came out," Robbins said. "Because you have found a live chemical round, that puts the project up to the top of the list until you know you've gotten them out of there, because obviously you don't want them laying around. That, plus the fact the round was found in an open field and there are no security measures around it."

Robbins said FUDS properties are ranked periodically and noted Spring Valley near Washington, D.C., "used to always be ranked No. 1. You won't find that now because they've done so much work there and the amount of work to be done is less."

Robbins' explanation on Camp Sibert's top ranking referred to the discovery of the only live, unexploded ordnance found on land where the military camp operated.

The mortar shell, about 21 inches long and 4.2 inches in diameter, was found buried in a pasture near Steele. It was nose-end up, about 6 to 8 inches deep in the soil. The mortar was detonated and the choking chemical agent inside it was neutralized.

The mortar shell was the 67th remnant found, all practice rounds and "nothing explosive," according to the Corps.

Thousands of anomalies detected
"On that same site, there were several thousand anomalies," Robbins said. "That doesn't mean they are rounds."

Anomalies are detected through above-ground readings by machines that act as metal detectors for substances below the surface.

Robbins said the anomalies could be anything made of metal, including nails, horseshoes or pieces of shrapnel from rounds. He explained anomaly "hits" are rated as high, medium or low based on the amount of feedback.

"A horseshoe would indicate a medium to high hit because of the amount of metal in one," Robbins said.

ADEM's cleanup order recognized the Corps' report of 8,900 anomalies detected on Site 8 in St. Clair County. The site includes land where the live mortar was found in 2002. Site 8 is described as a toxic munitions impact area and consists of 250 acres, mostly cow pasture. Some of the land is owned by the city of Steele, and manufacturing and distribution facilities are nearby.

"Due to the documented use of this site, the expectation that the site contains more live chemical mortars, as well as the lack of security and land use controls at the site, it has been ranked as the highest priority" chemical warfare material site in the country, according to information the Corps provided ADEM.

The Corps' report indicated the likelihood that unexploded chemical mortars remain there and concluded that 50 chemical warfare items remain at Sites 8 and 2A that will have to be destroyed. Investigations showed 10 large anomalies at Site 2A.

The 20-page cleanup order in response to revelations by the Corps noted ADEM's concern with numerous other areas of Camp Sibert.

Robbins said Sites 8 and 2A will be the first areas where digging occurs when money becomes available for the work.

Funding needed to continue testing and cleanup work
The Corps report to ADEM prior to the cleanup order estimated that, with full funding, investigation, removal and remediation actions could be completed on Site 2A and Site 8 as well as five other site areas by the end of November 2007.

ADEM outlined a time frame it wants the Corps to follow for removing chemical weapons left at Camp Sibert in its cleanup order issued to the Corps.

According to the order, work by the Army Corps of Engineers on cleaning up Camp Sibert should begin in November and be completed by the end of November 2007. The work is expected to cost more than $36 million.

ADEM wants the cleanup to be completed in an expeditious manner because of health and environmental issues associated with chemical weapon remnants.

Robbins said people who come across an item suspected as a military weapon should call local law enforcement and not disturb it.

"I don't think the risk issue is any different than it was three months ago," Robbins said. "It's a risk because the possibility exists they could be there. If they're there, we want to get them out as quickly as we can."

Robbins said determining what the anomalies are requires digging and there is no money available for the work.

"As soon as funds are made available, we'll go do it." he said. "That plan is proposed. We're waiting on funding."

The Corps cannot move forward with additional phases of site analysis until some time after October, when money is appropriated by Congress for the next fiscal year.

The Corps gets about $1 million annually through the FUDS program to do work at Camp Sibert, which competes with 9,000 old military sites nationwide for appropriations that typically range between $240 million and $280 million.

Because of Camp Sibert's top national ranking in the chemical weapons hazard evaluation and security study, "We would anticipate some additional funding," Robbins said, "but we don't know that for a fact."

Analysis of Camp Sibert began years ago
The Corps began a three-phase process of testing and analysis of Camp Sibert in 1997, which includes contracting site work with the firm of Parsons Engineering Science Inc. of Norcross, Ga.

The Corps conducted an on-site analysis at Camp Sibert in the summer of 2001 that determined the specific areas where the in-depth tests were done during the summer of 2002.

Before the on-site analysis in 2001, the Corps conducted follow-up work at Camp Sibert from 1995 to 1997 based on detailed work in the area in 1993, when the agency produced the "Archived Search Report Findings" for Camp Sibert.

The book included interviews conducted with area residents and former military personnel stationed at Camp Sibert. It also outlined the site history, site description, real estate ownership information, results of a visual site inspection and evaluation of potential ordnance contamination.

It concluded chemical weapon materials were disposed of at Camp Sibert and the possibility existed some disposal sites remain. While stating there were no confirmed ordnance disposal sites through interviews, the report outlined potential sites that should be further investigated.

The work plan compiled by Parsons Engineering in August 2000 outlined investigation studies to be done on 13 sites, in two phases. Five other sites are to be investigated in a third and final phase.