Mobile Register
September 15, 2003

Opinion

Anniston deserves answers

09/15/03

IT'S GOOD that the Army is destroying more than 2,200 tons of deadly
sarin and other nerve gases, but the 35,000 residents who are in the
highest risk area within nine miles of the Anniston Army Depot deserve to
be more assured that the military is doing all it can to protect them.

Granted, the Army has done a lot already -- including installing monitors
for sarin releases. And, true, some extreme, not-in-my-backyard critics
will never be satisfied. But U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby isn't extreme.

Sen. Shelby, of Tuscaloosa, isn't known as a malcontent, nor a political
grandstander, and the fact that he isn't yet satisfied with the Army's efforts
is reason enough for the Army to rethink its procedures.

Specifically, Sen. Shelby and others are concerned that the Army isn't
monitoring for releases of PCBs, dioxins and heavy metals, and there are
no alarms around the perimeter of the site. Moreover, they have questions
about whether the Army's response to false alarms from monitors within
the site has been adequate. These issues deserve to be addressed.

The Army has no choice but to destroy these weapons of mass
destruction (one drop of sarin can kill a person). The United States has
agreed to get rid of them under the terms of an international treaty. And,
unfortunately, the incinerator that will burn them has to be located in
somebody's "backyard."

Nevertheless, because it's in Anniston's backyard, the Army is obligated
to go overboard to assure that city's residents that everything possible is
being done to prevent harm to them.

Pete Conroy, the director of Jacksonville State University's Environment
Policy and Information Center, told The Associated Press that "this
community (Anniston) deserves the best technology, and with the best
technology, whatever that is, comes a higher level of trust and comfort."
He's right.