Lexington Herald-Leader
March 12, 2003

Suit filed over incineration

A federal lawsuit filed yesterday in Washington, D.C. claims the Army hasn't considered alternatives to burning its chemical weapons stockpiles in four communities. Several organizations, including the Chemical Weapons Working Group in Berea, seek to ban any additional spending on incinerator construction or operation in Utah, Oregon, Alabama and Arkansas until the Army reviews and updates its plans.

Public pressure has forced the abandonment of incineration in Maryland, Indiana, Colorado and Kentucky. Alternative disposal methods will be used in those states. Yesterday's lawsuit seeks the same for the communities in the first four states, said Craig Williams, director of the Chemical Weapons Working Group. "Those sites have never been given what we were afforded. That is a chance to look at alternatives and compare the environmental and public protection aspects ... side by side with incineration," he said.